Some time ago I asked about Microman joints in the newer figures. Well I got my hands on some figures (broken & missing pieces, but free!) and I only salvaged 1 ankle joint, so I need suggestions on making castings of this tiny part.
I don't want to buy 2 part process with the release agent and all that mess for this little thing, so any help is appreciated.

How much casting experience do you have?

Have you purchased any casting materials yet?

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If it's small parts you want casted, you probably could use Green stuff to make a mold of it. Ball up a bit of the GS, and smash it into it halfway. Then put vaseline over the green stuff after it hardens and repteat the process on the other side so they don't stick together. TO actually cast the piece, you'll have to use the two part resin or some other way to cast the piece.

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No, I have not purchased anything yet. Mainly because everything I've looked up in the past has been pricey, and I don't plan on doing a LOT of casting.

And I thought about using epoxy sculpt (I have a cheap Super Putty from the dollar store,but it gets solid) to make a mold like suggested.
I think I'll try that this wknd.

I would suggest NOT casting then. Because it's so small...you're gonna have a lot of waste if you use resin to cast it one at a time. Without making a 2-part squash mold I think you'll have air bubble problems either way.

If you're not going to make a lot of an item, it's too expensive for you, or too much work for the payoff, Casting is not the way to go.

The issue you're facing is that you need a ball(or is it a post?) to connect into the foot, and a ring to connect the ankle. Find yourself some Styrene rod or tubing the diameter of the Ring you need. Cut out disks and drill holes in them if necessary. Then Use a different diameter Styrene rod glued on to make the foot peg. You could also consider finding a bead the size of the ball you need...and securing it to the ring by drilling and pinning it.

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I thought about the ring-pin-bead thing also. I got calipers so I can get the ball size. I can try that too. Thanks. I'll upload some pics of whatever I do, cuz that's what this forum is all about, right?

If you were going with resin, I would suggest using a pressure cooker for small parts. It would cut down on your waste, but you might still face some of the air bubbles and stuff like that. Also I think most of the resin casts of pegs and stuff like that would be to fragile to use.

I would go with Nova's suggest. You would get the best out come for what it seems you are doing.

momaw nadon

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Is there any sort of illustrated how-to out there on the pressure cooker method? I've not seen even a detailed explanation anywhere on this, but one with pictures would be even more handy

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Pressure Cooker is I think the same thing as a pressure pot. The idea is you incease the pressure on the resin in the mold so it crushes the air bubbles that are trapped in the resin down to a size so small you don't notice them.

Alumilite.com has decent vid tutes of pressure casting for their clear resin.

The problem with small parts is you only need a small ammount of resin...prolly 1g or so. The catch is that the smallest batch of resin you can mix up is about 15-20g After all of the measuring, mixing, pouring and the ammount of resin you leave on the sides of your cups...you need to have at least 15-20g to maintain a proper A to B ratio.

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Yes, the cooker is the same as the pot. There is a guy on Rebelscum.com that is the master of this type of casting. I'll see if I can find anything he tells on how to for this.

Nova is right on the mixing. Forgot about that, as when I make small parts I try and make more than one at a time. That way when you mix a batch you just fill in all your molds at once. Also if anyone know when working with resin, sometimes the part doesn't work and you need to try again. If you make more than one mold of the same part, you can almost cut that step completely out , as you have others to use. That is, if the first one doesn't work or come out right.

momaw nadon

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I think you could be creative and make green stuff molds kinda like this.

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