Welcome to How to Cast Your Own Parts 101. For those of you that haven't figured it out yet, I'm MicroDoc. Today we will take you on the journey of how to cast your own parts.

For this demonstration, you will need the following material

• Paper toweling or something disposable to wipe up spills and messes
• Your molds
• A release agent
• Casting Material
• mixing cups (I use cheap plastic picnic cups from the grocery store)
• A stick to stir with.
• measuring spoons

I use products made by the Smooth-On Company. The reason I use the products made by Smooth-On is because they offer the simplicity of adding equal parts of A to Equal parts of B. It gets to be too much of a headache to measure out amounts based on a 1:8 or some other ratio .Smooth-On offers a wide range of products. If this is your first time casting and you have never ordered from Smooth-On, then you may want to take a look at their trial kits. The first time you purchase a trial kit from them, they are inexpensive. You can buy kits later on again from them, but at more of a cost.

You can also purchase Smooth-On products from various distributors around the US. Most of these distributors offer quantities of molding and casting material in greater amounts. Instead of just buying a few ounces of material, consider buying a gallon or two.

Where can you get casting and molding supplies from then? If you just want small supplies, then I recommend you go to Micro Mark (http://www.micromark.com) This online company gets it's casting and molding supplies from Smooth-On. The products have different names, but they are still the same. If you would like to order larger quantities of materials, you need to contact a distributor. Smooth-On has a list of distributors on their website. I use the following distributor

Eager Plastics 3350 West 48th Place Chicago, IL 60632 (773) 927-3484 http://www.eagerplastics.com

For this Demonstration, I'll be using the following casting materials from Smooth-On

1. Smooth Cast 300
2. The equivalent from MicroMark is CR-300 Casting Resin #81544
3. There is another resin from Micromark CR-600 Casting Resin
4. If you would like a somewhat clear resin for see-through parts, I would recommend the ColorCast Resin from Micromark. Most of the casts will be see-through, but an amber like color
5. Universal Mold Release (A release agent)

First, We need to select what molds we want to make parts from. Here I've selected to gun molds that we will use. Make sure that your molds are clean of foreign material. If you don't, that materiel will be cast in the resin and may deform your part. For some reason I found several beer cans in these molds. That's what I get for leaving them too close to the recycle bins

Next, To help preserve the mold, and to enable our parts to come out easier, I spray each mold with a mold release agent. Make sure you read the directions on the release agent before you spray your molds. Also make sure you give your molds some time to absorb the release agent, otherwise it may pool at the bottom of the mold. If it does pool, turn your mold upside down and allow some to drain out. If you don't then you may deform your part when you pour in the resin.

(Special Note: If you are using the ColorCast Resin, you may want to skip spraying your mold. The mold release will cause the resin to become cloudy instead of see-through)

If you can, I recommend finding a set of ketchup and mustard bottles to store you chemicals in. Preferably bottles that have been cleaned out. The reason is that it is easier to pour the materials from the bottles instead of the jugs or containers most of the resin comes in. If you purchase your resin from MicroMark, you won't have to worry about that since they come in bottle like those you see behind me.

I've placed some of my Smooth Cast 300 materials in some empty bottles of the ColorCast Resin that I had. Behind me we have Part B on the left, and Part A on the right of Smooth Cast 300. Notice that Part A is yellow while Part B is clear. ColorCast Resin also has it's Part A yellow and Part B clear. Just So I know the difference, I marked my bottles so I don't mistake which material I have in what.

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