Mouth guard gag silicone mold

thingiverse

**Description:** This is a mold for a guard-11_mesh__001.stl. It looked most sane as other meshes felt too big for me. Print parts on flat sides, tongue piece should be printed standing.The "insert" MUST be sanded. There is no tolerance in the STL in order to seal properly. Depending on your print you will need to sand parts. Everything should fit snuggly. You can sand inside of the mold if you want nicer finish and more sanitary surface. PLA can me demolded quite easy witout any mold release. **Silicone:** Use Platinum cured silicone(also called addition cure) of your choice (do not use condensing type silicone or tin cured silicone). I used Shore A 20 hardness its nice, thin parts are soft middle part is harder. If casting again I probably use Shore A 15. Volume of the mold is roughly 83ml, mix up little bit more (100ml) to account for some leaks and spills. **Casting:** Assemble the mold. Stems should hold everything together nicely, Put some rubber band around it and seal the seams. You can use hot glue or tape. Mix silicone according to the instructions. You can degass it, but with soft silicones you do without is, just pour slowly in thin strand from height of at least 30cm. This helps to reduce bubbles. The inlet hole is small, it might "clog". Use a piece of wire or toothpick to help it flow and release bubbles. After pouring vibrate the mold and tap it. Use anything that vibrates.This will greatly reduce amount of bubbles. Especially on top. You might need to add some silicone during this process. Slant on the top of the mold is not great. Give debubbling some time and care. You will be rewarded for it. Working in colder environment gives you more time before the silicone sets. **Demolding:** Remove sealing and rubber bands. Use the levers on top to help you crack the mold. Casting should stay in bottom part. Wiggle the insert and remove casting and the insert from the bottom and then finally remove the insert from the casting **Disclaimer:** This is just a mold around original design from barmy. It was my first dive into 3D modeling and silicone casting. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know, I appreciate every comment. If you can improve the original design remix it and I will upload updated version of this mold.