Pipe Mold Rack (Casting Polyester Resin)

(Last post of the night, I promise. I've been sitting on these ideas for a while and just need to get them out.)

I own lots of molds from expensive silicone molds where you cast the resin straight to a pen tube, down to lowly pieces of plastic pipe. The pipe are my favorite molds. They use less resin per inch of usable blank than a rectangular mold, and are more flexible than the "Resin Saver" molds with the pen tubes. Plus they're round, so the resulting blanks are easy to drill.

I use two sizes: 1/2" and 3/4".  The small one is for Pentel pencils and 7mm kits, the larger one is for everything else. I also use 2" pipe for "bottle stopper" sized castings, but that's outside of this article.

Anyway, the biggest challenge to using the pipes is how to keep them standing upright both during pouring, and when moving around (I'm ADD... I can never do only one thing at a time!)

If simplicity is brilliance, I should call MENSA. I made a rack to hold 'em. Took two lengths of "white wood" from Lowes (1x4 aka 3/4" x 3.5"), used a 1 1/4" forstner bit and cut holes. The top board got the holes all the way through, the bottom board got them 1/2" or so. Ripped some scraps from the wood and fastened them with Kreg pocket hole screws.Slapped a coat of garnet shellac (what else am I gonna do with that stuff?) on it to seal the wood. Then sanded smooth and put a buttload of wax on it with the buffer to help keep drips from sticking.

Works a treat! First cast is in there now. I love it! I can't believe I didn't think of this before!!!