Want Vs. Need

Interesting

Resin Casting

The resin that was in the workshop was awful, one tin wouldn't even open and the other was pretty much crystallised, gave it a go anyway to see what would happen, it looked green before it got poured in but it came our clear alright

The resin really wasn't in any fit state to be worked with. So for the time being until i can get my grubby little paws on some better stuff, decided to make them out of J-Cast instead. Made another silicone mould so that four halves (two pills) can set together at the same time 

(as you can see, didn't make the same mistake twice with the silicone..)

When roto moulding with J-Cast, i've mixed in pigment before pouring it into the mould but didn't quite get it right on the first attempt here, its a bit too pink

After that though i got the hang of it and they came popping out like a dream

Colour continuity is still a little bit of an issue though. J-Cast might not have the same shine as resin will be but i quite like it!

Just need to get them finished off and joined together now!

Pills

To make the pills look more effective they'll be cast in resin. Turned on a lathe to start with the block of material had to be cut to shape for the lathe to hold onto it

Pretty hard thing to get to grips with this lathe business. I kept getting confused with lefts and rights and ins and outs and almost completely destroyed it a fair few times. Because it had to be millimetre perfect it took me ages to get i down o the right size, through fear of stripping away too much material. Leaves a really nice finish on the surface of the material though. 

The rounded edge was created with a bit of free hand filing while it was rotating. Don't have many photos of the process, all my time was spent concentrating on not ruining it.

So to cast them in resin a little silicon mould had to be made, 

(the pills were made in two parts as they are eventually going to be different colours, so both ends clear and coloured can be left to set together), two moulds in one

The silicon looks so awful because the while part, which was the RTV that was poured in before the catalyst was added, poured back out off of the side of the jug... brilliant...

Hopefully it should still work the same though, if not, lesson learned!

Packaging

So with the glue holding the foil and plastic together the fake pills were put it before it was sealed and this was the outcome. Obviously the cavity is too big for them but the wooden mould that was used was meant for the liquid ones, but i thought i'd pop the pills in one just to see what it looked like at this stage.

Problem is thought they're too big for the box, either the gaps in between the cavities have to be reduced( but i'm not sure that'll work as the spaces for the hole on the vac former are pretty far apart and it's important that the wooden moulds sit on them properly) or i need to knock up a bigger box...

This plastic is pretty awful, i think it's HIPS plastic. Reminds me of the kind of plastic things get packaged in and sealed then when you try to cut it open it rips your hands to shreds... got a fair few cuts off of this stuff so the sharp edges on the plate will have to be filleted for sure. 

For the ones containing liquid the cavities that were made were built to hold a volume of 25ml (one unit of alcohol), wasn't too sure how well glue water and foil would mix, i don't think this would be very safe to drink from but for now this is just to see what it would look like...

And as i suspected it doesn't mix very well, soon as it started to leak there was no chance the glue was setting, took a fair few attempts to stop the liquid coming into contact with the glue, but got there in the end. 

 At the same time i also tried to re make the sachets with one of the original thicker plastics and moving the sachet a few time while it was being sealed to ensure there were to tiny air flows in it; I left them all sitting on my desk over night to see if they would leak, left them sitting on top of the cardboard topper on my desk incase the liquid that escaped evaporated overnight and it wouldn't be visible in the morning, this way if there was a leak, however small the cardboard underneath would warp and you would see exactly where the leak was coming from

 Night

 Morning - no leaks! :)

Amazingly, this time, i've cracked it!

Foil + Plastic =

Great success. Trying out different glues to add the foil tops. 

Heat sealer

You are my nemesis! Spent a whole evening making sachets and they instantly started to leak. A whole night - wasted, thank you very much, you piece of soon to be scrap metal.