Making a plastic mold

yea I agree, I mean injection molding would be great but the startup capital of a project like that is pretty expensive. However if your planning on making quite a few of these things (1000's) then the investment might be worth it to you in the long run. Also if you planning on doing a big run like that I dont think an Aluminum mold is the way to go. Go carbon fiber, if you producing a smaller number. Just get a small box with some heat lamps in it to cure the resin/hardner(8 hours usually). release and wax your mold and you could easily pump out one per day per mold. If you want a good finish you can try using a vaccume settup and a layer of fiber glass.

I do not know much about working with carbon fiber. Is it almost like working with fiberglass resin? Where do I purchase the materials to create a carbon fiber mold. Also, can carbon fiber be painted?

Working with carbon is almost exactly like fiberglass. It can be painted and I think select products has everything you need.Nik

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The process of fiber glassing and carbon fiber are very similar depending on the aplication and finish you want to get. You can check out this site to learn about it: http://www.fibreglast.com/showproducts-category-Epoxy%20Resins-5.html You can definently paint and bondo carbon fiber. And as far as making a mold you can actually make a mold from the carbon fiber as well. If you go to any local marine boat shop and buy some gel coat. Now I am assuming you have a plug (a positive mokup of the finished product), so if you have a plug preferably made from some type of metal then you can brush on a few layers of gell coat cooking the plug and gellcoat for about 15-30 minutes between coats. Then you can begin to layer the carbon fiber over the gellcoat until you have a good 7 to 10 layers to ensure that its a stong mold. Dont forget to wax the plug with some sort of mold release wax. I could give you alot more specific instructions on how to go about fabricating the mold but without being able to see the product I cant really tell you the best way to layer and press the mold. In other words it makes a difference if the final product will be hollow, solid, heat resistant,etc.. What I have told you so far can be applied to the piece as well. you can wax and release the mold you just made and coat the sides with gellcoat and then fill with carbon fiber (sheets or tows) depending on the application. Tows are long strands of carbon fiber which look like shoe laces and you run them through a resin/hardner mixture and fill your mold. Keep in mind that the tows have their strength along their length, unlike the woven carbon fiber sheets which have strength in both directions. There really is a whole scien behind carbon fiber fabrication, but if you are familiar with fiber glass fabrication then I would say that you can use the same techniques. I hope this helps, Adam PS: if you need some specific direction or answers related directly to you product you can PM me.