carlifirio
Active Member
Impressive 
I'd bet people would ask you were you bought it since it looks very professional!
I'd bet people would ask you were you bought it since it looks very professional!
GameCube Fusion, rev 4.
- Thread starter Ashen
- Start date
dark_samus
Active Member
dang these are some nice looking cases. I may buy one off of you when they're done though I may also go with a psp case for my GC portable which I just started looking forward to seeing more of what you put out Ashen 
Ashen
GameCube Révolutionary
I think I've been so excited about the casting process that I've forgotten to outline exactly what goes into this part of it. I'll probably do a video log later on of this part, but for now here's the typed version.
Before we do anything else we need to make absolutely sure the inside cavity of our silicone mold is perfectly clean. Anything left in the cavity before pouring will show up in the cast part. Dust, cat hair, fuzzies, lint, whatever, we gotta make sure its all out of there. Even the oily residue left over from a previous casting will make the current pour look terrible after casting. I've been wiping my molds out with isopropyl alcohol and a lint free rag. If they get really dirty you can wash them with warm water and dawn.
I've read that pre-heating the silicone molds is useful to aid in filling and curing. So I've been heating them in my toaster oven for about 15-20mins before I prep them for pouring.
Molds cleaned and heated, place on vibrating table thing and add some pour spouts:
I've found that the opening size on the actual paper pour spouts is super critical to getting a good fill. If your opening is too big, the liquid plastic will flow in too quickly and air will be trapped easier. If your opening is too small the liquid plastic may start to harden (cure) before the cavity is completely filled. Its pretty critical to find the idea pour spout opening size early on in test pours. If you vary the pour spout opening size to much with each pour you will get mixed and unreliable results.
Anyway, the type of liquid plastic I'm using is "Alumilite White" It gets mixed in equal parts (1:1) by either volume or weight So for example 70grams of "A" and 70grams of "b":
After the two equal parts are weighed out any dye that you want to add is mixed into the "A" side first:
From this point both "A" & "B" are mixed together for about 30 seconds. From this point on you've gotta be really quick. The "pot life" or working time for this stuff is very short after its mixed together. You've only got about a minute or so to do waht you've gotta do before this stuff starts getting curing and getting "gel like" and hardens from there.
So with the plastic mixed we now turn on our vibrator table thing to aid in filling, and pour this stuff slowly into our pour spouts. The cavity inside the mold will fill and eventually the liquid plastic will flow up and out of all of the vent holes and cover the top of the mold. At this point I've been taking the whole filled mold and quickly putting it inside a vacuum chamber and letting the vacuum run for a few minutes while the plastic "gels" up. Then I remove the mold and remove the excess overflow that's laying on the top of the mold where the vents are. Then the filled mold goes back in the oven for 15-20mins @ 150 degrees F to help aid in cure. This gives a better "hardness" of the cast part. After the 2nd cooking is done the filled mold is removed and left to cool to room temperature (40mins - 1hr). The part can then be demolded.
Thats about it. After what seemed like alot of pissing around yesterday, adding vents and doing test pours. I've finally got some front and back castings tht I'm mostly happy with:
There are still some very small imperfections around the edges, but I don't think I'll get rid of them without a more professional setup. I'm pretty happy, even if the end result still requires a bit of finishing and painting. It still beats the flax out of making each case from scratch.
Before we do anything else we need to make absolutely sure the inside cavity of our silicone mold is perfectly clean. Anything left in the cavity before pouring will show up in the cast part. Dust, cat hair, fuzzies, lint, whatever, we gotta make sure its all out of there. Even the oily residue left over from a previous casting will make the current pour look terrible after casting. I've been wiping my molds out with isopropyl alcohol and a lint free rag. If they get really dirty you can wash them with warm water and dawn.
I've read that pre-heating the silicone molds is useful to aid in filling and curing. So I've been heating them in my toaster oven for about 15-20mins before I prep them for pouring.
Molds cleaned and heated, place on vibrating table thing and add some pour spouts:
I've found that the opening size on the actual paper pour spouts is super critical to getting a good fill. If your opening is too big, the liquid plastic will flow in too quickly and air will be trapped easier. If your opening is too small the liquid plastic may start to harden (cure) before the cavity is completely filled. Its pretty critical to find the idea pour spout opening size early on in test pours. If you vary the pour spout opening size to much with each pour you will get mixed and unreliable results.
Anyway, the type of liquid plastic I'm using is "Alumilite White" It gets mixed in equal parts (1:1) by either volume or weight So for example 70grams of "A" and 70grams of "b":
After the two equal parts are weighed out any dye that you want to add is mixed into the "A" side first:
From this point both "A" & "B" are mixed together for about 30 seconds. From this point on you've gotta be really quick. The "pot life" or working time for this stuff is very short after its mixed together. You've only got about a minute or so to do waht you've gotta do before this stuff starts getting curing and getting "gel like" and hardens from there.
So with the plastic mixed we now turn on our vibrator table thing to aid in filling, and pour this stuff slowly into our pour spouts. The cavity inside the mold will fill and eventually the liquid plastic will flow up and out of all of the vent holes and cover the top of the mold. At this point I've been taking the whole filled mold and quickly putting it inside a vacuum chamber and letting the vacuum run for a few minutes while the plastic "gels" up. Then I remove the mold and remove the excess overflow that's laying on the top of the mold where the vents are. Then the filled mold goes back in the oven for 15-20mins @ 150 degrees F to help aid in cure. This gives a better "hardness" of the cast part. After the 2nd cooking is done the filled mold is removed and left to cool to room temperature (40mins - 1hr). The part can then be demolded.
Thats about it. After what seemed like alot of pissing around yesterday, adding vents and doing test pours. I've finally got some front and back castings tht I'm mostly happy with:
There are still some very small imperfections around the edges, but I don't think I'll get rid of them without a more professional setup. I'm pretty happy, even if the end result still requires a bit of finishing and painting. It still beats the flax out of making each case from scratch.
Blargaman91
Well-Known Member
This is by far the most amazing casework I've ever seen. I can't stop STARING at it. I must have one, I'm no good at cases.
dark_samus
Active Member
Blargaman91 said:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
orangeziggy84
Active Member
So are you going to sell these?
ShockSlayer
Probably SS
We all huddled around Bo's laptop at MRTNv2 and watched your video. I was really impressed that you even formed the bolts into the little flange thingies.
Herma says that a a more powerful vibration table would solve the bubbles 'n flax better, like using a drill or a palm sander or something.
SS
Herma says that a a more powerful vibration table would solve the bubbles 'n flax better, like using a drill or a palm sander or something.
SS
Ashen
GameCube Révolutionary
orangeziggy84 said:
Possibly. Though when I will start and how much they will cost is yet to be determined. Most likely I will not sell any until mine is complete. I need to make sure everything goes as planned before I start selling them.
ShockSlayer said:
Bigger vibrator, got it.
I wish I was there. :/
LOCtronicz
Formerly known as zenloc
Did you every finish one of these??
Ashen
GameCube Révolutionary
RISE FROM THE DEAD!
Yup, so 'ol Ashen has found some free time now that the kiddo's are back in school. I also found some magic pixie dust that makes these cast cases turn out pretty much perfect when cast. So no need to fiddle with painting and other silly nonsense. Expect progress. Soon.
Yup, so 'ol Ashen has found some free time now that the kiddo's are back in school. I also found some magic pixie dust that makes these cast cases turn out pretty much perfect when cast. So no need to fiddle with painting and other silly nonsense. Expect progress. Soon.
public-pervert
Well-Known Member
Heck yeah! He's back!!
I'm excited
I'm excited
LOCtronicz
Formerly known as zenloc
YES!!! I'm looking forward to seeing a high quality gamecube portable from you again!!!
You plan on selling them? Cause I'd be interested in one
You plan on selling them? Cause I'd be interested in one
LOCtronicz
Formerly known as zenloc
Yeah just the case I mean. The insides I can do myself. Well I'll just keep following your progress for now
Great to have you back.
Great to have you back.
