PLA Mold for Silicone

Hey everyone. Just a quick question. Has anyone ever experimented with making molds for silicone? I want to make some vibration dampeners out of some silicone. I don't want the silicone to stick to the PLA I will use though.

Thanks.
JTT

Very interesting idea!

Would it be possible to use a simple plastic film to prevent the silicone from adhering to the PLA mold? Also, won't the hot silicone melt the PLA mold?

You can mix a goo of corn starch and water for this.
Slightly sand the PLA surface for better adhesion of the goo.
Use a brush and place a thin layer of goo on the PLA, wipe off any excess on mating surfaces.
Let completely dry and then fill with your silicone.
You might have to experiment with the thickness of the goo, both in terms of making and applying it.
If you require a shiny finnish on the silicone you can try wax and brush it on - keep the temp of the wax low so it is still easy to brush on but not hot to just run off the plastic.

I used both methods and they do work if you take your time.
Don't try silicone or based agents to cover the mold, in my experiments they casued delamination after a while.

I will probably just make a little cylinder mold with spots to embed fasteners (screws or nuts) on each end of it. This would give me a good method for mounting it to parts. Thanks for the help Downunder!

I printed a mold for silicone using ABS recently. I was making a plunger for a syringe type extruder. The silicone was overmolded on a printed ABS core. I designed and printed a jig to hold the core in ts proper position within the mold then poured the silicone around it. After the silicone was set I broke the mold off and the result was perfect on first attempt.

See here: http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2015/07/making-a-plunger-for-a-chocolate-syringe/

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

That's pretty nice Dentist. It didn't stick at all to the ABS? That's what worries me.

Silicone realy only sticks to silicone. Just print the mold and try.
Just make sure to not use the silicone glue you get in DIY markets, get the liquid two component stuff and it will just work.
The heat it develops on curing shouldn't be enough to damage even PLA, it certainly does not damage ABS.

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The silicone didn't stick to the ABS at all. I ensured that the silicone would stay on the core by putting holes in the core for the silicone to fill.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]