Fun With Oogoo: Make a Folding Indoor Frisbee

Intro: Fun With Oogoo: Make a Folding Indoor Frisbee

Make a folding flexible Frisbee that fits in a pocket. It is thin and light and it collapses when it hits things so it can be used indoors fairly safely.

This instructable will also show how to make a mold using Oogoo and how to cast Oogoo in an Oogoo mold.

The short video shows the Frisbee flying and hitting glass.

STEP 1: Materials

Corn starch-found in grocery store.

Linseed based oil paint from an art store

Naphtha solvent-found in hardware stores
Or Citrus Solvent from: http://www.dwellsmart.com/Products/Lumber-and-Wood-Products/Citrus-Solvent

Can of spray lacquer-found in hardware stores.

100% Silicone caulk- found at Walmart for about $3.

Caulk gun found at Walmart

Small paint brush

Plastic knife

Plastic mixing cup

Frisbee or pie tin or plate to use as a pattern for the mold.

STEP 2: How It Works

Oogoo is an inexpensive, easy to use silicone clay that can be cast into a flexible Frisbee that is thin and light. As the step 2 pic shows, Oogoo has incredible shape memory and even when compressed will bounce back to its original form.

The cast Frisbee is thin and floppy, but when it is set to spinning in a toss, it regains the original shape of a Frisbee. It is a little trickier to throw, but it has similar flight characteristics to a regular Frisbee.

For more details on the uses of Oogoo see here: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/

STEP 3: Make an Oogoo Mold of a Frisbee

Mix The Oogoo And Mold The Pattern
A mix of 1 part corn starch to 1 part silicone caulk is used to make the mold. Mix up about 8 tablespoons of silicone with an equal amount of corn starch.

Mix up a batch with the plastic spoon and then use it to coat the Frisbee with a thickness of around 3/16" to 1/4". As the Oogoo gives off acetic acid fumes, it is a good idea to do this outside or near a fan. Vinyl or nitrile gloves are recommended.

Finishing the Mold
After the Oogoo has set up for an hour or two, mix a small batch of fresh Oogoo and put enough on the bottom of the mold to support the bottom and sides. Flip it over Frisbee side up and put it on a piece of polyethylene plastic on a flat surface. Let this set up over night.

The thumbnail pic shows the finished Oogoo mold.

STEP 4: Casting the Oogoo Frisbee

Spray Mold Release
A couple of thin coats of spray lacquer on the mold will keep the casting Oogoo from sticking to it. It dries fast, so you only have to wait about ten minutes before giving a second coat.

Mix Oogoo Gel
Mix up some Oogoo with a 2 silicone caulk to 1 corn starch ratio. I found about 4 tablespoons silicone to 2 tablespoons corn starch was enough to make the Frisbee. About the volume of 2 peas of linseed based oil paint were added to color the mix.

Add Naphtha solvent until you have the consistency of a gel. WARNING: the Naphtha has nasty fumes so this should be done outside with good ventilation while wearing vinyl or nitrile gloves. A less poisonous solvent like Citrus Solvent can be used instead, but it is more expensive and harder to obtain. It also takes longer to cure.

Coat the Mold
The gel consistency makes it easier to spread the Oogoo thinly in the mold.
Spread the Oogoo gel thinly in the middle ( about 1/32" to 1/16") and thicker ( about 1/8") on the circumference. A small paint brush can be used to smooth it out while still wet. The step 4 pic shows the coated mold.

Remove The Cast Frisbee
After the Oogoo has cured, carefully peal the Frisbee from the mold. Bits of lacquer flakes may be stuck on the surface. The sticky side of duct tape can be used to remove them. The step 4 thumbnail shows the finished Oogoo Frisbee.

STEP 5: Other Possibilities

Paint A Frisbee
A thinner mix of Oogoo can be made using more solvent and painted into the mold. This will result in a much lighter and more flexible Frisbee which will probably be trickier to throw.

Extruding Oogoo
The step 5 pic shows a large wiffle ball made with extruded Oogoo. You can throw it at high speed and it flattens when it hits to distribute the force harmlessly. The Oogoo was extruded using a 50cc syringe. The lines were extruded on a plastic ball and then pealed off after the whole thing cured. Where the lines cross each other they tend to fuse together. All kinds of wiffle balls, juggling balls or lamp shades could be made using this technique.

3d Printing
The Oogoo extrudes so well I am working on making an automatic extruder that could be used in a 3d printer. I have also been experimenting with additives that vary the density of Oogoo from very hard to super flexible.

Comments

[dmorphew1]

I am in the process of trying to extrude and 3D print with Oogoo. What mixatures and methods have you used for 3D Printing?

[Corinbw]

I really want make a waffle ball. I have the materials, but I was wondering how thick the oogoo should be for extruding?

[mikey77]

A 3 to 1 mix of silicone to corn starch, by volume, works well.

Mix in small batches, 3 tablespoons or less, so that it does not set up in the syringe while extruding.

[Corinbw]

if I don't have a syringe, then what do I use... A plastic bag does not work very well, it just breaks

[Corinbw]

Such a great instructable for something big fun and useful out of oogoo

[critopadolf]

I'm trying to make a two part mold of a little glass gem thing and I'm wondering if u can make the mold and fill it all with oogoo if you spray on mold release or something.

[cccincocc]

Your instructables are fantastic and the Citrus Solvent tip is GOLD!

[roelofdevilliers]

Thank you so much for this. I read your Oogoo instructable as well. I am looking for ways to thin the silicone. After reading your suggestions and lots of other sources on the web, I have decided to use mineral turpentine. But I also want the final product to be very flexible and have good tear strength, if possible. So I am interested to hear what additives you have been experimenting with (you mention it in your last sentence). Thank you in advance!

[Xthinker]

So, it was extruded on a ball, how did it come off! Did it wrap all the way around?

[mikey77]

It was wrapped all the way around and I had to cut a slit to remove it from the ball. I then re-glued the cuts.

[hawkfrost64]

could you make a video of the wiffle ball in action?

[coast2coastcreator]

Im amazed with this stuff, did some interesting things with your cornstarch method. Im going to be trying some different mixtures tomorrow, first one is a set of hygroscopic particles which will be given doses of steam to. Im curious if these will independently produce faster curing times. Another idea which will take me a few days to piece together is to use this and spread it over an assortment of tiny lattice-works made up of high tensile strength fibers, to offer more rigidity. Once again, fine work, this frisby is an excellent example of what can be done with this stuff, I'm actually really surprised that i dont see more people doing awesome things with this!

[kwe]

hi, nice job
could you tell us more about the aditives you've tried please
would 90°alcool work?
thanks

[maralyn1969]

Omg! I hope your getting this patented. This is an awesome material.

[germeten]

As for the frisbee, I would add a layer of fabric laminate reinforcement as an underlayment to the next coat of oogoo. I would cut a disk with notches toward the center to form the curvature. Ballistic fabric would be best. Your frisbee would be stiffer, albeit still foldable, and your dog could catch it without putting his teeth through it. And for that matter, why haven't you contacted WHAMO about this because you've invented the next generation frisbee and they should pay you bigtime.

[iminthebathroom]

3d printing - Everytime that someone makes either a CAD based cutter or 3D extruder on this site they always win the grand prize for instructable contests. I think you could do it, it just might be a little slower to allow set-up times. Have you tried curing oogoo under water? In theory it should speed up the curing process.

[mikey77]

Oogoo does cure under water. In water taken to the boiling point it cures slightly faster. In cold water, it cures slower than in air.

The problem to be solved with 3d printing of Oogoo is coming up with a reliable valve that can almost instantly stop and start the extruding Oogoo which is under pressure.

[iminthebathroom]

hmmm, will see if 12 hours of night shift draws an anwser. Course the first thing that comes to mind would be how I would draw back a syringe (im a nurse) In theory you just need one large piston. Varying pressure on the piston causes varies flow rates coming from the nozzel. Draw back on the piston and the material should be sucked back. I think the bottle neck is the controlled pressure, not so much the valve.

[roliop]

Since it's not a mould that's poured into, perhaps you could save a step by painting the blue stuff onto your ( hopefully not too precious ) frisbee directly.

[mikey77]

Yes.

You could mold the Oogoo on the inside of the Frisbee and that would work. But if you look carefully at a Frisbee you will see lumps and ridges on the outside (top) that are designed to make the Frisbee more aerodynamic. You have to cast the outside of a Frisbee to get a precise duplicate of a Frisbee.

Also, the purpose of this instructable was not to simply make a Frisbee that will fold up and fit in a pocket. It was to show how to cast Oogoo in an Oogoo mold which can be useful for making other things..