Making Plastic Parts at Home in Five Simple Steps

People normally think that making plastic parts at home is not at all possible because it requires large machines. But with the advancement of material sciences nowadays it has become possible to mold plastic parts at home. And if you really want to give it a try, then the following five steps are all you have to perform:

1. Get the right mold material: The first thing you need to have for creating a plastic part is a mold. The mold is a female replica of your original part. You need to create your mold with a material called RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) slicone rubber. The best part of RTV is it comes in the form of liquid until you add the required catalyst.

2. Make the mold: You need to have one master part for making the mold. The master part should be similar to the actual part. Place the master part glued inside a cardboard box (this will be the mold box). Suppose, you want to make a door knob in your home. You will need to fix the master door knob by using glue in the cardboard box. Mix the "tin" catalyst with the RTV liquid and pour the mixture into the mold box you created. RTV takes 20-24 hours for setting up. After that you can remove the master part to get the mold cavity.

3. Get the casting resins: The just-prepared mold cavity is to be poured with casting resins to get the actual plastic parts. Casting resins are available in two-part liquids.

4. Pour the cavity: The two parts of the casting resins need to be mixed thoroughly and to be poured immediately into the mold cavity. It will not take more than 10-15 minutes for the casting resins to set in the mold cavity.

5. Remove the part: Finally, after setting the casting resins to the mold cavity, release the plastic part from the mold.

While molding plastic parts at home, you should give a paint coat to the master part in case it has porous surface or else your mold surface won’t be smooth. Also, use gloves and safety glasses while working at making plastic parts at home.