propsculptor
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Registered: 05-2005
Posts: 14
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Re: HELP! Molding my SR Boot soles...
Nice Job on the Boots!
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8/8/2006, 6:37 am
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six21
BOTB Member
Registered: 05-2004
Posts: 49
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Re: HELP! Molding my SR Boot soles...
SR? Sentai Ranger?
The sole can be molded in either silicone RTV or rigid material, since you are making a ruber sole.
I would recommend a shore 60 urethane for your sole material. I am pretty sure that regular shoe soles are made of a hot-melt material and the tooling is very expensive.
I do know for sure that soles are molded separately and then glued onto the shoe. I don't recommend trying to pour the rubber into a mold that is attached to the shoe; it sounds messy.
I also recommend that you make the the bottom no more than 3-4 mm. Otherwise it would be stiff walking. If you want to tear appart an old pair of sneekers, you will see that there is a waffle pattern between the sole and the foot. That is for a little cushion on the feet.
The way that shoes are typically made is they sew the top leathers and stretch it onto a form called a "last." The last is an arificial foot in the shape of the shoe being made. Once the leather is stretched over the last and tacked down, a shoe cushion is added (see Dr sholes shoe insert) and the sole is glued onto that. To secure the sole to the shoe, the sole is stitched onto the shoe. This can be done by hand (slowly) or by ($10,000) machine).
One last recommendation: (You're gonna hate this one) I recommend making 2 mold of the sole. Use the first mold to make a better master. The clay is good but not great. If you cast your first sole in resin, or plaster, or wax, or whatever, you can clean it up to be prefectly straight and smooth. Then make the second mold of the clean master for the final product.
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8/9/2006, 4:40 pm
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JBrown437
Caped Crusader
Registered: 08-2004
Posts: 2122
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Re: HELP! Molding my SR Boot soles...
Thanks for the tips. I am aware that molding it with the boot in it could be messy, but I'm pretty sure that's how I want to do it. I was planning to use a 60 shore urethane, so I'm glad you said that, lol. I have gone the fiberglass/resin master route before, but for this project I am going to skip that extra stage. It just ends up being really expensive. Besides I am happy with the way they look as is.
I have decided to do a 2 part fiberglass mold and then pour enough urethane in to fill the bottom, then let that dry and then put the boot in the mold and pour the rest of the urethane around it, or something to that effect. Thanks guys!
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8/9/2006, 5:29 pm
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