Hello everyone, we're back with another regularly scheduled production update along with the final installment of How They're Made and other news and tidbits. Here we go!
And here we are, at the final couple days of production for Dragon's Hoard Remastered! We're getting the last few molds that need some extra casts knocked out and as we mentioned in our previous production update we had already begun transitioning some labor towards assembling kits. On that front we're approaching 40% completed, so we're in great position to begin fulfillment in fairly short order, probably around the time we're posting the next campaign update. Huzzah!
As a reminder, we'll be locking addresses in the days before we begin fulfillment so please, please, please get any address changes done before then if you need to. You can log into Backerkit and update your address or you can email us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to assist. Also, if you're a backer from outside the United States we highly suggest making sure you have a phone number listed. It greatly helps ensure your pledge makes it to you in the event FedEx has issues finding your location as they will be able to contact you directly to arrange to get your shipment to your door.
How They're Made Part 3
Alright, let's get into the final steps in how we take a miniature from concept to reality. If you missed any earlier installments: We covered how we come up with a concept for a mini and then design and sculpt it in Part 1. Next we covered the mastering, molding and vulcanizing processes in Part 2.
Two halves of a mold
Now that the mold has been vulcanized and cooled, we'll remove it from the SioFrame that it was built in. The two halves of the mold will then need to be pried apart and separated. Next, the masters and sprue channels will be removed as carefully as possible. When we use metal masters we won't have any issues during this step, but if 3D printed masters were used, they may have cracked due to the pressure during vulcanization or may crack while being removed from the newly vulcanized mold since the silicone has now transformed from a sort of putty-like consistency to a fairly rigid form with less flexibility.
We didn't touch on the sprue channels in the last installment, but essentially they are pieces made out of metal or teflon that we arrange in the mold to set how the plastic will flow through the mold when injected to reach all of the model cavities. Once everything has been removed from the mold and only the two silicone halves remain, we'll then begin to "cut" the mold to ready it for production. This entails trimming out any silicone that seeped between the channel pieces during vulcanization, which would hinder the flow of plastic through the mold. We'll also punch holes in the top of the mold for the plastic to be injected into and for the vacuum pump to suck air out of during injection (to prevent air bubbles from getting stuck in the cavities). Lastly, we'll cut air vents from the cavities to connect to the vacuum line and mark the mold with our internal reference code for that model.
Screens for calibration and production cycle
Now we're ready to begin calibrating the mold for use in the SioForm machines. Calibration consists of dialing in (as close as possible) the amount of plastic that will need to be injected to fill the model cavities. To do this we start at baseline settings for injection time, injection speed, cooling time and the closing pressure placed on the mold during injection. We'll start with a small amount of plastic and see how it is filling the cavities. The goal is to balance the cavities so that they fill at the same rate. So if one cavity is filling at a slower rate than the others, we will need to open up the channel connecting to that cavity by trimming off a little bit of silicone with a knife to allow for quicker flow to that cavity. After a few rounds of this the mold will be balanced and we can then dial in the amount of plastic needed to fill the mold to about 95%.
Once we're there, we will then introduce compaction into the process which is essentially force being applied behind the plastic after it is injected so that it fills all the little nooks and details in the cavity and helps any trapped air hopefully escape. This is important because it is what allows for us to capture all the little details we pack into the models in the final product. However, too much compaction will cause "flashing" (plastic escaping the cavity and getting in between the two halves of the mold) so it is a delicate balance. We'll then do some more rounds of adjusting the injection time/speed and compaction time/speed settings so that everything is filling acceptably and the mold is ready for production.
Production in progress (gotta tell those guys to organize those molds!)
Now that the mold is ready for production, we'll add it to the production cycle for one of our SioForms. Since the plastic is being injected into the molds at 235 degrees Celsius, we can't just inject one mold over and over and over again. If we do this, the mold will become incredibly hot and casts will begin to exhibit worse and worse flash. It also speeds up the degradation of the mold. So we need to be running 8 or 9 molds at a time in a cycle to ensure the molds are able to cool down sufficiently between injections. Some particularly thick molds will even be placed under fans to assist in cooling.
Our plastic mix that is melted and turned into minis and "Aerosmith"
Throughout the day our employees will monitor the various factors in production, such as ensuring the plastic in the melt tank is at the right temps, cycles are completed in the appropriate times, molds are sufficiently cooled between injections and also spot checking casts as they are removed from the molds so we can fix any problems during the day if a mold is having issues. To be frank, the SioForms can be pretty fussy with all these factors involved so keeping a close eye on them ensures we stay running efficiently.
The casts for the day are organized and set aside to be broken down, quality inspected, counted and stored. Any minis that fail QA will be collected and re-ground so we can melt them into new minis.
And there we have it, the full process of how we make your minis! We hope you enjoyed the series and if you have any questions about how we do what we do, let us know in the comments and we'll answer as candidly as we're able.
Dragon's Cache
As any of you who follow our updates is probably aware, our new Dragon's Cache campaign over at Kickstarter is live. We've reached our funding goal and the first stretch goal for the Night Hag has been unlocked! If you haven't yet, please check it out!
That's all for today. We'll be back in a few weeks with another update which should signal fulfillment is close at hand. Thanks for reading and we'll see you in the comments!
