My husband, a co-worker, and I climbed Mt. Blanc in June 2023. I want to create a mold and cast of the Mt. Blanc topography and give it to him as a Christmas gift, ideally made of chocolate..
I was trying to find the easiest way to recreate the topography of Mont Blanc, and through some googling, I found an STL file here I uploaded the design into SolidWorks to reduce the mesh by 80%, then reimported it as a solid body and built a box around it. I manufactured the part using SLA printing. It took about 18.5 hours to finish the print.
To seal the holes in the mold, I used a hot glue gun. Then I weighed equal parts of A and B, food-safe silicone, and poured it into the mold. I used the vacuum to remove all the bubbles; however, I think I left it in the vacuum too long, which caused an exothermic reaction that loosened some of the hot glue and made the silicone escape the mold. I only realized this about 5 hours later. The mold held perfectly for the first 30 minutes or so.
Try 2. I secured the area with hot glue after failing to get duct tape, electrical tape, etc., to stick to the mold's sides.
,I poured new silicone and left it overnight. It wasn’t dry the next day, so I returned on Monday morning. Once I removed the silicone mold, it was still sticky. It could be due to resin 3D printing, or perhaps the measurements were off, or I didn’t mix it long enough, etc.
I decided to use the toxic silicone, and it was pretty simple. It took about 7 hours to dry and turn out well. Removing the mold was quite challenging, and Dan suggested I use an air gun, which worked perfectly. The walls of the mold were too thin and ripped easily, so I used hot glue again to reinforce them.
Mold Complete!
I then cast it in plastic. It was really easy! However, during my first attempt, I used the vacuum for about 2 minutes to remove the bubbles, which caused it to fully solidify.
Second attempt was much better; however, it was a little dirty, so I redid it, and the cast turned out. well!
I also decided to still use chocolate even though I can't eat it. I used the molding chocolates and microwaved them for one minute, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds. I got a little impatient waiting for the chocolate to dry, and when I took it out it fractured.
