source for very large mold?

[Nina Falk]

I'm looking for a very large mold, and before I have it custom made, does anyone have a source for large molds? I've tried the advertisers listed at the top here.

[Nina Falk]

I forgot to mention, I need a stainless steel mold. It should be fairly easy to make, but if I find it already available, that's even better.

[Brock]

Try metal spinners or commercial restaurant supply

[Nina Falk]

thanks Brock. I had never heard of Metal Spinners but I looked it up and they might be able to help. what gauge stainless is desirable?--I need a mold roughly 10" x 40".

[Bert Weiss]

Not enough info. What does "large" mean to you? What shape?

[Nina Falk]

a barrette mold for a giant: 10" wide and 40" long, 3" high.

[Brock]

Metal spinners make domes . . .

[Bert Weiss]

a barrette mold for a giant: 10" wide and 40" long, 3" high.

Go to a waterjet shop with some thin 304 stainless steel sheet. 2 pieces 5" x 43" and one piece @40" x 12". In the 2 rectangular pieces the length of the mold, cut out a slit in the arc you want. Then bend the 12" sheet to slip in to the cut arc. Do not attach anything, let it expand and contract as it wants to. You gotta do the math to get the right length for the arc piece. I hope that was understandable. It is an outside the box approach to mold making. I have done this on a smaller scale and it was slick.

[Nina Falk]

Bert, I think it's great that you feel comfortable doing this yourself, but I do not, and this is not a good time for me to learn. I will seek out some experienced people here. thanks.

[Morganica]

If you don't know any metal sculptors in the area (they usually know where to find guys who do this if they don't), look up metal fabricators in your area. There should be a bunch.

Talk to a few on the phone about what you want. If your experience is like mine, most won't mess with a smaller job like this but will usually point you to someone who does. Find a couple, take your sketch and model down to their shops and show them. Be very open to suggestions for doing it differently--I've saved hundreds by letting the metal guy tell me how to do it.

Then just pick the one you're comfortable with. Dewey, my metal guy, thinks I'm nuts but grins, shakes his head and does it at a very fair price.

[S.TImmerman]

Nina, i had several made here- they are very reasonable www.innofabsource.com

18:19: inch

[rosanna gusler]

Any decent metal shop can do this. I made molds like that by drilling holes along the edges of the metal and using wire to hold the arc. R.

[Nina Falk]

Thank you everyone. Rosanna, that's a great idea.

[Terry Gallentine]

I have used sheets of stainless that I have had rolled into curvatures that are a slightly larger in radius than the curvature that I need. Then I block up the edges with hard brick until I get the desired radius. This gives you a nice straight edge in the bent piece. Most metal fab places have some sort of metal rollers especially the ones that make any sort of metal tanks.

[Nina Falk]

Interesting, Terry. I am curious, why do you roll them into a larger radius than you need?

[Bert Weiss]

Terry

My approach is to work with stainless so thin that it will not hold a shape on it's own. It is simple to define the shape you want with a slit in a piece of supporting steel along the curved edges. This is cheaper and heats and cools much easier. If you don't weld any pieces, they can all expand and contract without twisting.

[Terry Gallentine]

I have them rolled to a slightly larger radius because it is much easier to push the sides in with the bricks than it is to somehow spread the mold if the radius is too small. The molds that I use that are like this are used for architectural glass and things like china cabinets. There are no welds, distortion is minimized and they last for many years.