At last years expo in NC I bought a mold from Scott Parsons and just tried it out for the first time. I bought 8# urethane foam and my first try came out heavy as an anchor!! I mixed a good amount of foam and filled the 1 1/4 pvc just under half way to the top. I put the plug and washer on and screwed it down. The mold came out great looking, just heavy. The color was a dark yellow compared to a small amout of waste foam that was not in the mold. I made a second mold using much less foam and did not put the plug in until after it was spilling over the top. This was very messy and the top third of the mold is not very smooth. It did come out substantially lighter then my first try. Can someone tell me what I did wrong and how to fix this?
Thanks,
Brandan Martin

I would steer you to the article in RodMaker Magazine on forming foam grips. With the method presented there, you are not confining the foam and will receive the density listed on the foam component kit.

What you have done with the mold, is confine the foam into a closed container which will result in a much heavier than required grip. The 8lb foam only delivers that density when used in a non-captive mold as outlined in RodMaker.

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Try pouring 3 or 4 ounces of foam in. It just doesn't take much and if you pour too much into your pvc mould and cap it off, you have quite possibly just made a bomb.

I don't think i made a bomb. More like a iron pipe!!! Tom, I did try to follow the directions in RodMaker Magazine, but I was not sure what to do with the cap. I'll try another one tomorrow with any cap on it. I was very suprised how hard the second one came out. I thought it would be much more brittle.
One more question: I had a few holes in the grip. Should they be filled prior to putting the skin on? Is there a method to eliminate these holes? Again, I did read the article and understand the timing of the pour to eliminate voids. I think I did this step fine.

Brandon, When I first started reading your post I thought you might have split the mold. What has happened is that you used way too much foam. I believe you have the 1 1/4 x 12" mold you only need to use grams not ounces of material. I don't have it here in front of me but with the 8lb try 20g of B and 23g of A the mixture is 1.15g of A to 1g of B. with it not right here in front of me A is the thinner of the 2 liquids. FYI for most grips I use the 4lb material and with my molds and the way it forces the foam to stay in shape, I have been experimenting with 2lb foam with excellent results also. email me directly and I will be glad to help you further.

Brandon,

The article in RodMaker showed a non-captive mold - there is no cap. I suggest you read it again.

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Tom,

I know the article did not have a cap. I bought a mold that did have a top cap and was unsure how to deal with it. I'll give it another go tomorrow. Thanks everyone for the help.

Scott,
With the lighter foam, are you using the heavier skin?
Steven

The mold you purchased was not part of the article. The foam is not intended to be used in a captive mold. Per the foam manufacturer's instructions, it's not recommended

Having said that, you can confer with Scott on how he's using such a mold and what you can do with it..

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