Dar Shelton
sheltech@webtv.net

 I decided to add the mesh piece to give the pour some reenforcement, like rebar in a concrete pour. It's just cut to shape with 3 tabs that bend down and act like legs. It floated on top of the pour.

This is built upside down. The underside of the acrylic plate will become the upside, that the pancake die sets on. To complete this setup after it's poured, a 1/2" aluminum plate is screwed on to encase the pour. When cured, the whole thing is flipped over,and the cap plate is now the new (sturdier) baseplate,the lower baseplate is taken off, and there it is.

This setup is on 13.5" square plates.I added a 30" long kevlar slide plate to this , so that the mold and die slide in and out of the press each cycle. It has a rib sticking up at it's end that catches the back of the upper platen and the mold hangs out the front while the die is loaded and unloaded. The mold weighs about 15 pounds and the die about 6, so it's not something you want to lift in and out.

I'd like to show more but can't. At least this proves that I didn't make it all up, huh? (^:# .

Dar    

This message contains the 93 kb attachment [ LeafMoldSetup.jpg ] Ready to pour....