How to make climbing grips By,
Items needed: * Items may be needed depending on your preference. - Carving Foam - Level Table - Cardboard - Pen - Ruler - Straight Edge - Box cutter - Hot melt glue gun - Hot melt glue sticks - Good music - Release agent - Nitrile gloves - Ear protection - Protective eye-glasses - Protective respirator (for organic vapors & dust) - 2 4000ml mixing cups - 3 1000ml mixing cups - Mixing sticks - Disposable clean-up rags - Silicone rubber & catalyst - Personal assistant to do all the work for you ;) - Stiff toothbrush - Rigid Polyurethane - Belt Sander and Sanding Belt - 5/8 and 3/8 Masonry drill bit. - 15/64 Wood / Metal drill bit. - 5/8 Dremel grinding bit - Drill press - 3/8-16 climbing hold bolt - Hand held drill * Air Compressor * 100 grit sandpaper * 500 grit sandpaper * Your cut vinyl logo - Sharp knife or razor blade - M6 washers - 3/8 SAE flat washers (We use the hardened ones) -Climbing wall to put your new gourmet grips on :) - Donʼt forget to Tag us on Instagram! Wo! That s too much stuff!!! Don t worry, you probably already have most of it, especially if you are not new to the whole Do it yourself thing. While they may not all be available right away, we plan to make the harder to find items available at threeballclimbing.com You won t have to go searching around for days and weeks and possibly buy the wrong thing. Before you get started: Safety safety safety! Making grips can be fun, but it can also be harmful if you are not careful. This is your project, and it s up to you to take care of yourself. Three Ball Climbing LLC. and our staff strongly encourages you to purchase and use the proper safety equipment, (Vapor / dust mask, ear and eye protection, gloves)
Make a mold box Okay, lets get started. First thing you need to do is grab the foam copies of the shapes you have already designed, and a piece of cardboard for the base of your mold box. *Shaping techniques will not be covered in this document. Arrange your shape or shapes on the cardboard and leave about 5mm between each shape. Next draw a line around the shapes about 1cm away from the edge of the shapes. This line will mark where you will be glueing the cardboard wall to contain the liquid silicone. Grab the tallest shape in the group, and measure the height. This one is about 1.75 inches tall, so we will make the walls of our mold box 2.5 inches tall. (add.75 inches to the height of your tallest shape.)
If you haven t already, now would be a good time to plug in that glue gun. Now you ll need a long piece of cardboard to make the wall of the mold box. Measure and mark the right side, and the left side at the proper height, (height of tallest hold +.75 inches) in our case, 2.5 inches. Using your straight edge as a guide and box cutter, cut the long strip of cardboard from the mark on the right side to the mark on the left side.
Find a good corner you can use to bend each section of the cardboard and make it more flexible. If you are making a rectangular box you don t need to do this. Next take your perfectly measured and cut mold wall and wrap it more or less around the outline you drew earlier. If your piece is too long, trim off the excess with your box cutter. We usually trim the base of the mold box at this point to make it a little easier to work with.
Glue the wall to the base Grab that glue gun and squeeze out a nice even line of glue onto part of the outline you drew on the base of the mold box. Little by little. If you squeeze out too much it ll harden before you can get the wall in place. Quickly and carefully grab the piece that you will use to form the wall of the mold box and place it directly on the hot glue. Hold it firmly in place until the glue cools enough. (30 seconds or more) Once the first section of the wall is firmly in place, grab your glue gun, squeeze out another line of glue. Bend the wall section over and hold it firmly in place on top of the glue for 30 Seconds or so.
Continue this gluing/holding process until you have completed a mold box that will be able to contain the liquid silicone. Once you ve got the wall in place, squeeze out another bead of glue along the outside seams of the entire box. You want to be sure the box will not leak. When the glue is fully cooled and you are sure silicone won t be able to leak out of the box, put on your organic vapor respirator, safety glasses, and protective gloves. I said put on your gloves!!!! When you are ready, grab your release agent and spray the inside of the box evenly. Be careful not to spray too much in one spot. If you feel you need more, it s better to give it another thin layer when the first layer is dry.
Thats better, you should always put on your safety equipment before you use the release agent. The purpose of the release agent is to make it easier to remove the mold box once the mold is ready to be pulled out. After you have sprayed the mold box, let it dry / air out for 30 minutes or so before you start mixing silicone. Some types of release agents can keep the silicone from curing properly if it hasn t completely dried when silicone is applied. Before you start measuring silicone, you need to know a couple things. Silicone used for making silicone rubber has many different elements which can separate over time. It is important that you rotate your container of silicone frequently to keep it mixed. Don t leave it sitting in the same position day after day. It s completely avoidable, but If the components separate, the silicone will not cure properly, and you may end up ruining your shapes. The silicone (white) must be mixed with the catalyst (pink) at a Ratio of 10 to 1 by weight, or about 10 to 1.1 by volume.
Measure out about 500ml of silicone and about 55ml of catalyst. (It s better to have a little too much catalyst than not enough) When you are sure the mold box has aired out enough, mix the catalyst with the silicone. (While wearing your respirator, eye protection, and gloves) * You won t be able to wash silicone out of your clothes, so be sure to wear something thats okay to get spots on. You want to mix thoroughly, and gently. Try not to introduce too many bubbles into your mix. Be sure to scrape the sides and the bottom of your bucket well. When you think you ve mixed enough, mix a little more. Now grab a little dab and smear it onto one of your foam shapes. Your going to be making what we call a skin coat. The purpose of this step is to eliminate bubbles from the surface of the mold, so your grips come out with nice consistent texture. Press firmly, but not too hard. Press just hard enough to fill in all those tiny holes in the surface of the foam. Keep smearing and pressing until the entire shape, except for the very bottom is covered with a thin layer.
When you are all done applying the skin coat, apply a thin layer of silicone to the bottom of the mold box. Arrange the shapes in the mold box with even space between the shapes, and between the shapes and the wall of the mold box. When you are all done applying the skin coat, apply a thin layer of silicone to the bottom of the mold box. Arrange the shapes in the mold box with even space between the shapes, and between the shapes and the wall of the mold box. Break time! Cover the mold box with a piece of cardboard to keep it from being contaminated by dust. Before you start mixing up more silicone, you ll need to let the skin coat cure for a couple hours. If you pour too soon, your shapes won t stick to the bottom of the box and will float to the surface. Okay, breaks over. get back to work! When the skin coat has cured long enough to keep the shapes from floating, get your safety equipment back on, and get ready to measure and mix more silicone :)
You are going to have to estimate the volume of silicone needed to fill up the mold box. You ll need enough to cover the tallest shape with a 1/2 inch or so of silicone. This will get easier as you make more molds if you keep a record of the volume required to make each of your molds. *Molding and casting MUST be done on a flat level surface. When you feel like you ve got a good idea, mix up the silicone with the catalyst and start pouring it in the mold box. It s best if you pour into the lowest spot in the mold slowly from a height of 24 inches or more. This will help some of the air to escape from the silicone. If your estimate was good, and you got lucky like I did, you ll have juuust enough to fill up the mold box :)
we ve molded over 1,000 shapes, and this part is still exciting :) When the silicone is firm in about 24 hours Use the box cutter and carefully cut the side of the mold box. Be careful not to cut the mold itself. Peel off the wall of the mold box. Peel off the bottom of the mold box. Using your box cutter, carefully trim off the excess silicone that is sitting on the very bottom of the shapes. Be careful not to cut any of the silicone that is making contact with the side of a shape. Peel the foam shapes out of the mold. They are probably going to break, but don t worry about that.
Brush out the foam residue with a stiff nylon brush. Do not use any kind of a metal brush. Brush and wipe out the foam until your mold is nice and clean. a terry cloth or micro-fiber cloth works well. When it s clean you are ready to start casting! It s best to heat the mold up to about 190 degrees before casting. A conventional oven works just fine. Most silicone rubber doesn t need a release agent until you ve done a dozen or so castings, but it really depends on what kind of urethane you use. Some urethane mixes are stickier than others. If you need to use a release agent, be sure to read and follow the directions carefully. In a few minutes you ll be pouring the first plastic copies of your shapes! While the mold is heating up, we like to put some cardboard or something on the table to keep from getting urethane on it when you pour. You ll also need to grab 2 small measuring cups, 1 mixing cup, and 1 mixing stick.
Okay, your Pouring Table is protected, you ve got your respirator, your glasses, and your gloves on, and you are ready to pour! You are going to use one 1000ml cup only for measuring Part A of the urethane, and one cup only for measuring part B of the urethane. Once again you are going to have to estimate the Total volume needed to fill your mold cavity. For the two holds shown we estimated 700ml would be enough. This means we ll need 350ml of part A and 350ml of part B urethane. Measure equal amounts of part A and part B urethane. (We use rigid Urethane for this part) Pour the part A (Polyol) into your mixing cup. Put a few drops of dye into the part A and mix it well. Pour the part B into your mixing cup and mix for about 40 or 50 strokes. Pour the urethane mixture into the mold cavity or cavities until the the level of urethane is almost, but not quite as high as the top of the mold.
D molding!! When the plastic is hard to the touch in a few minutes, and the edges are the same color as the rest of the plastic, the grips are ready to be removed from the mold. Bend the mold backwards and carefully peel the sides away from the urethane, before pulling the holds out of the mold.
Time to break out that camera! Take some pics and post them on our Facebook fan page! Sand & Drill Put on your respirator for filtering dust, and your safety glasses. Make sure you are not wearing long sleeves or anything that could get caught up in the sander or drill press. The next steps are going to require the use of a sander, and a drill press. We use a sander that fits 6 wide by 48 long 80 grit sanding belts. For making regular size holds, pretty much any drill press will do. Sand the backs of your holds until they are clean and flat like the one shown above. The next step will require the use of the 4 drill bits noted in blue on the items needed list, your drill press, and possibly a handheld drill.
Now Change the bit to the 5/8 masonry bit. Little by little drill down and enlarge the top of the 3/8 hole. You are making space for the head of the bolt. When there is almost but not quite enough space to hide the head of a bolt, stop. When you ve decided where you want to make the bolt-hole, use your 3/8 masonry bit and drill press to drill a hole all the way through the shape.
Replace the 5/8 Masonry bit with the 5/8 Dremel grinding stone. These stones happen to be about the same size as the head of a 3/8 socket head bolt. Grind down your 5/8 hole until the top of the bit is flush with the surface of the grip. When a bolt is placed through the newly drilled bolt-hole, the top of the bolt should be flush with the surface of the shape :) The next part is pretty easy. You ll need the Hand-held drill, 3/8 masonry bit, and the 15/64 wood bit.
You ll need to find a spot on the shape where you want to be able to fasten a deck screw. If used, this will ensure the hold won t spin when bolted to the wall. Set screws are not always necessary, but it s nice to have the option. Use the 3/8 Masonry bit and drill a small cavity just deep enough to fit the head of a deck screw. Next make room for the rest of the screw by drilling a hole through the center of the 3/8 cavity using the 15/64 bit. When you are done, your grips should look something like these two. Blow them clean with some compressed air and get ready for the next step!
Logo If you don t have a logo you d like to place on your grips you can skip this step and move on to molding. If you ve got your logo in the form of a cut vinyl sticker follow the next steps to make it permanently part of your grips Here we go: Find a spot on the shape where your logo will fit. The next thing you ll need to do is smooth out that spot a bit to allow your sticker to stick. Be careful not to sand so much that you lose all the texture and you change the look of the surface. Use the 100 grit sandpaper to start the smoothing process, then finish up with the 500 grit. When you think you ve got it smooth enough, blow off the dust and try to adhere your sticker. If it doesn t stick, your shape is either not clean enough, or not smooth enough. This isn t totally necessary, but if you d like, cover the logo and give grip a light spray of release agent to prepare it for molding.
The first mold you made was a Master Mold. You ll want to store it in a safe clean room temperature place. If the master copies of your grips get damaged, or you decide to sell your shape to a hold company you ll need to pour new copies from the master mold. Production Mold From here you are going to repeat the molding process just like you did with the foam shapes. We are not going to cover it in detail at this point since this process has already been covered. Make the mold box... Apply the skin coat of silicone... after a couple hours, fill the box the rest of the way to cover the shapes like before. * If you ve reached this point and decided for whatever reason that this whole grip making thing isn t for you, don t worry. Three Ball is happy to help. Send a copies of your urethane master shapes to us. If we like them we ll make arrangements with you and see about making the production mold at our shop and sending you a couple finished copies :)
When the mold has cured for about 24 hours, remove the mold box like you did for the master mold. Grab a sharp knife and carefully trim off the excess silicone from the back of the holds. Remember, It s better to trim too little than too much. When you ve got the mold cleaned up, carefully pull out the grips and put them in a safe clean place. Congratulations! You re new mold is ready for Production!
Casting Final Copies If your silicone needs a release agent, get your protective equipment on, give the mold a light coating of release agent and use your fingers to evenly spread the release agent around the surface of the mold cavity. Next put a washer on each stem as shown. Make sure each washer is sitting flat against the base of the stem. When the mold has aired out enough, mix up some urethane and cast some copies of your new shapes! When they have cured for a few minutes pull them out of the mold. They ll be hot, so be careful!
It s best to pour in a warm mold (around 190 degrees). If you want several copies, now would be the best time to pour them. They ll release better and the texture of the mold will be preserved longer. When you are done pouring for the day, and all the grips have cured for at least an hour, sand them and blow the dust off like you did with the master copies.
You are Done!!! Your new grips will be ready to be used on your climbing wall once they have cured for about 12 hours. As I m sure you expect, we d love to see some pics! Please feel free to tag us Instagram so we can see your work!
Sources of Raw Materials: Alumilite: RC3 Casting Resin is great for Rigid Holds. We also use their polyurethane dyes. Reynolds Advanced Materials: Reoflex 40 Moldmaking rubber is great for making the Master Mold of the Foam. Mold Max 10 is great for production molds. Polyurethane dyes are excellent. SC325 is perfect for making bomber Semi-Rigid grips for contoured concrete walls. (Make sure you heat up your molds to 180 degrees before you cast with SC325) General Plastics is a great source for shaping foam. We use FR-3703 Freeman Supply has and excellent ISOkote 531 Wax Release agent Please tell them we referred you!