Here at smallstuffstudio we’re always keep an eye out for new tools to do small series of top grade handcrafted Designer Toys. To be able mold & cast larger resin toys we decided to start building our own Rotocasting Machine! This is a project in collaboration of Pepe head of smallstuffstudio and swiss based artist Inigo Gheyselinck who does stunning ceramic work. After many hours of research and some technical advice from the very best sources we think we are able to build this double rotating monster!

We would like to share all our experience and researches in this continuous tutorial series with our readers! When we have this thing up and running we’ll also share all resources and technical plans here. Our DIY instructions aren’t the only way to build a rotocasting machine so feel free to tweak it to your needs/size and take this more as a guideline. If you have questions or helpful suggestions & improvements about this rotocasting tutorial please drop a comment or send us a email to info [at] smallstuff.ch

Now let’s get ready to rumble!!! :]

Before we start with a quite large project like this, it’s essential to do some technical researches and find suppliers for the hardware you will need. When everything is more or less definite about the materials you want to use, you can start to draw building plans. This is the most important step and if you do this properly it can save you a lot of time and money!

You can see in the first picture our plan of the support rig and the two rotating frames printed in scale 1:5. Also the two X axis and the Y axis for the inner frame are defined so far. Now we begin our adventure with building the two frames. For the frames we’ll use 40x20mm hollow aluminum profiles. You can easily go with a smaller diameter or even with wood timber but our intent is to build a sturdy machine with a long lifetime. First we saw the eight hollow profile to the precise length we need and bevel the sharp edges on each side ot them.

Here you can see aluminium profiles of the two frames ready for further machining. Click on the thumbnails to see the pictures in a larger resolution.

To bolt down the frame profiles we’ll use aluminium blocks with two screw threads which will fit inside of the hollow space at each end of the four shorter beams. We also have to chamfer these slightly to fit perfectly. Of course you can also use angle brackets outside to do this join.

In the next session we will assemble the two rotating frames, drill the metric screw threads, the holes for the axis and do the two beams for clamping the mold in the middle of our inner frame.

One of the tricky parts of this project will be the power transmission from the main frame to the inner frame. We’ve been watching videos of the home made rotocasters people have made and it’s kind of confusing to see how many people have used the same gear on the main shaft as on the secondary shaft. That’s not very good at all, because the mold should rotate with a slight out of sync movement, this helps to better distribute the resin. We will cover this subject in a following part of this tutorial series.

As i mentioned, we are also willing to share here on smallstuff.ch our material take off and the finished & revised plans for free after everything works as it should. We hope this motivates you to start with your own rotocast machine and you will stay tuned for Part 2 of the Rotocasting Machine Tutorial! :]

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You can see on this short slideshow the silicone molding process of AncientCritter ALTRO.  I have placed the the prototype and the seem line in a slightly strange position for this two part mold but I had the feeling I should give my silicone-plug-system-technique™ a shot

Now after the first few resin copies i have to say, casting is going pretty well so far …and I’ve got some wicked ideas for these fresh Resin Critters right now! Stay tuned.

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SQUIMONK – my second entry for the Aarting DIY Toy Challenge.
Today is the deadline for the DIY Contest at aarting.com. I really want to participate with an another toy design than my “monopear”. But to realize with 3D modeling what I’ve got in my head, time was to short to learn all the stuff so quickly. Now then, I’ve done my second entry the old-fashioned-way: sculpting, sanding, molding, casting in resin, again sanding and finishing with white primer (well i guess, not really less time-consuming… ) The prototype stands only a 3/4 inch high, so i would love to see them much bigger as an Aarting DIY Toy ready for you to customize!

This afternoon I’ve grabbed my cam and finally hunted some blank SQUIMONKS in the wild …check the picture series.

SQUIMONKS lives high up in the threes and rarely come to ground to pick up the jummy fir cones. That’s the reason why they have a slightly beer-belly, they know very well how to do really tasty fir cone beer in their brewery

Please vote on aarting.com for the SQUIMONK!

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For the time being i’m working on a new series of five critters for a small limited series. It’s a new way to sculpt my creatures out of wax after done a quick mold of the clay prototype. I haven’t finished yet my actual sculpting tutorial on this but i do take hearty work in progress pics, so be sure to check the tutorial section again. Until then, i’d like to share with you some of the finest online resources about sculpting, d.i.y toymaking and molding stuff. Enjoy!

SCULPTING:

Smellybugs Maquette Tutorial
best clay sculpting tutorial i’ve seen so far! just watch and learn

GoreGoreGore
not much to read, but tons of pictures about the sculpting and molding process

SouthernGFX Tutorials
clay / super sculpey tutorials (you have to scroll down the page one section)

AB Sculpting Studio Tutorial
andy is sculpting a bust in 1/3 scale

FigurePunk Interview on mnartists
sculpting tips and how to produce your own vinyl toys in china

Fanboy – Vinyl Toy comes to Life
step-by-step guide to the making of organ donors

BehindTheToys Figure Creation Process
how an action figure gets created

Gremlins in the Garages – How to
work in process articles and how to make garages kits

Willow Products – Demonstration Videos
all about sculpting waxes and tools to work with it

Dave Pressler – Making Stuff
dave describes the process of making his first vinyl toy

MOLDING:

Dan Perez Studios – Workshop
molding / casting tutorials and some sculpting tips

Hirstarts Mold Making
how to make simple silicone and latex molds

James Rogers Sculptures Studio
figure molding, check how they make the air canals into the mold

MyHeap Molding and Casting Resource
process of making molds, casting up to things like making milk plastic

Jumping Brain – flickr sets
flickr prototyping photosets from emilio garcias jumping brain

Tessetoys – Silicone Mold Guide
how to produce a figure using silicone rubber and resin plaster

B9RobotResource – Molding
silicone rubber mold making – how-to guide

Paint-Sculpt – Mold Making Tutorial
mold making step by step

Alumilite – How to
all kind of mold rubber & cast resin video tutorials

Freeman – Mold Making Videos
silicone rubber and urethane casting resin video tutorials

TAP Plastic – YouTube Chanel
video tutorials about their own rubber products

Pity Mold Suply – YouTube Chanel
different techniques and sfx related molding video tutorials

You have some topic related links to share? please drop a comment and this archives can grow, thx. I will add some book references and communities soon…

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