Need Instructions On Makeing A Pop Mold

[bronzeback185]

I need some instructions on makeing a pop mold from start to finish.I have read a little about this a long time ago and was wondering if anybody has ever had the idea of cutting a bait in half and glueing the two portions in a pan of desired mold size then pouring the plaster on top getting your 2 pieces wouldnt this eliminate the air bubbles since they rise?Just a brain storm prolly off the wall but I was just curious.

[DeltaMan]

I need some instructions on makeing a http://www.tackleunderground.com/community/topic/18007-mold-making/page__hl__plaster%20of%20paris__fromsearch__1 I had a lot of similar Questions so i hope that this helps you out

[mark poulson]

I made a two part mold by making a wooden box out of 1X2 pine and 1/4" masonite top and bottom, and then cutting it in half, and adding a pair of hinges to one long side.

I mixed the POP until it was like loose pancake batter, poured it into one half and smoothed it.

I "buttered" the masters that I was using for the mold with some of the POP, using a soft brush, to make sure it filled all the cracks and crevices in the master, and pushed them down into the POP until they were half buried. I used the same brush to even out the POP that had been pushed out of the way by the master, and removed some excess. Then I used the brush to smooth the POP as much as I could.

I let it sit for a day.

Then I brushed some pam onto the POP face around the masters, and let that "dry". After it had soaked into the POP, and lost it's wet look, I closed the mold halves together, and removed the top fact of the box, which was held on with screws. That exposed the bottom half, with the masters and POP.

I again buttered the masters with POP, and slowly filled the open face of the mold with POP until it was even with the top of the mold.

I reattached the top, and used a vibrator to try and get any air bubbles that remained to rise up away from the masters.

After another day, I opened the mold, and took out the masters.

I put the opened mold into the oven on warm, which is about 170 degrees, and left the door open a bit. I left it in the oven for about an hour, turning it end for end half way through.

After it was cool, I painted the insides of the chambers that the masters had created with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. When that dried, I put on another coat, and let it dry overnight.

I used a dremel with a wood rasp bit to open sprue holes in the tops of the chambers, made sure my vent holes were clear, clamped the mold closed, and poured.

It worked fine.

A couple of things I did might help you. I put drywall screws through the sides of the mold to act as attachment points, so the POP wouldn't fall out after it had dried and shrank.

And I used mesh drywall tape to reinforce the POP by laying strips into the mold before I filled it, to give the POP a little more strength.

Once I'd figured out, through trial and error, how to make molds, it only took me two hours to make another, leaving out drying time.

Edited February 13, 2010 by mark poulson