Rock Climbing Hold Mould

This project encompasses many steps. Follow along to learn how to take a 3D model and turn it into a silicone mould to cast multiple pieces.

Supplies

You will need a rock climbing hold to use as a mould, I 3D printed a rock climbing hold and used that

A water tight container for the mould to cure in - I used a old yoghurt container

A container to mix the silicone in

Silicone rubber and silicone hardener

A harder finish material for the final cast, could be resin, I used bio resin

*Recommend! Use gloves because silicone and bio resin can get very sticky and messy

Step 1: 3D Print Your Mold

A quick search on thingiverse lead to a suitable rock climbing hold for this project.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34290

Step 2: Make the Mould

To recreate the 3D printed piece, first place the rock climbing hold into the bottom of the container, maybe 2 or 3 centimeters taller then your rock climbing hold so that the bottom of the mould will be thick. Once your rock climbing hold is in the container mix the silicone with the hardener. You want the silicone to fill your first container, when the silicone starts to thicken pour it into your first container and wait about five minutes for it to harden.

When the silicon has hardened cut a small line on the edge of your container and slide it out, removing it from the container and then remove the part from the silicone, leaving the negative of the desired piece.

Step 3: Cast a New Rock Hold

The first test we did we tried to use coffee as a filler, mixed with bioresin, and the compression of the coffee/resin mix ended up being so much that it became more of a finger hold then a hand hold. S

So we tried two more times with just bioresin and got two hand holds that are much better suited for rock climbing. We even added some food coloring to the second one to give it a bit of character.

Step 4: Build the Mounting Board

With our two new rock holds we now needed a mounting board to attach them to. Using some old scraps, we were able to get enough material together for our purpose. Screwing and gluing the pieces together allowed for some fingerboards to be added to each side of the holds as well as on top to make it a bit more challenging to use. With the layout set and in place we attached the rock climbing holds in the middle by first drilling through the bioresin holds and then bolting them to the board in the right place using bolts, washers, and nuts. With a good tightening the holds stayed and the climbing board was ready to use!