Well, it's a start....over

I really wasn't happy with the first set of molds, jigs, & etc. that I made so I decided to start over.

We went to Home Depot the other day for some stuff. I was looking at the router bits, dremel parts, and other power tools. I started looking at the hand held routers and my parents were like; "You know, we have one of those".

Where have you been all my life? Turns out it was sitting in the basement after being used once by a neighbor. This thing made life so much easier and I was turning out mold pieces left and right.


So yesterday and today I was busy in the garage.

My portable Brazilian granite bench with the new stuff.


More power! I got some super huge bulbs. One specifically for heat, and the other a flood light we had lying around. These things throw off some serious heat. The thermometer I used to check the temp for the first attemp barely reached 120. With the new bulbs, I had to pull the thermometer out after it went past 190.

Here's the new mold. I made a better template using the body style of one of my ukes. With the new tools I was able to get it accurate. It's a wee bit tall though. I'm also going to have to modify it for a spanish neck setup like the Hana Lima plans show.


It comes apart like some of the other ones I have seen too.


finally, I made a side drying station like Dave G kindly suggested.



Now I just need to wait for Hana Lima to get their kits back in stock....

Nice mold but it does lookway too tall. My molds are 1-3/8 tall. You need the top and bottom of the sides to extend beyond the mold so you can shape them and glue on the kerfed linings.
I suggest a stronger way to attach the mold sides together. I've used those metal plates in my older molds and they can allow some flex.....then your sides are not square to the top and you get all kinds of hassles dealing with that. A strip of scrap MDF screwed accross the ends with two or three screws on each side would probably work.