Amazing Casting Products: Mold Rubber Monday Illuminated! LED Automotive Shifter Handle by Lonnie Sexton

Monday, March 3

Mold Rubber Monday Illuminated! LED Automotive Shifter Handle by Lonnie Sexton

Parts/Tools:

Amazing Mold Rubber
Amazing Clear Cast Resin
Amazing Mold Rubber
Mixing Cup
Mixing Stick
Mold Release
Poster Board
Hot Glue Gun
Box Knife (razor for cutting poster board)
Ruler
Sharpie
Vacuum Chamber
Scale
Bright Color LED's

Steps:

Create Primary Object – Auto Shifter
Prep Amazing Mold Putty Insert
Mold "Box"
Pour Amazing Mold Rubber
Remove Primary
Prep LED insert
Casting
Finish

Mold-able Primary

To create the primary, I started with an old shift handle

and stock shift-axle that was replaced with an upgrade.

I removed the threaded insert that fits the shift-Axel from the round shifter.

Cut some 1" diameter Delrin tube and added modeling clay to the top and bottom, molding the threaded insert into one end.

Amazing Mold Rubber Insert Collar

The Shift-Axle is going to hold the threaded collar inside the mold for casting, so it has to be apart of the molding process. Using old packaging containers, Amazing Mold Putty, modeling clay and hot glue secure the primary.

Bottom Amazing Mold Putty Collar.

Top Amazing Mold Putty Insert with recycled AMP container lid.

**Optional tip: It's a good idea to coat the Amazing Mold Putty

insert with Mold Release before next step.

Screw the primary shifter onto the shifter-axle.

Hot glue another recycled container around the primary.

Amazing Mold Rubber

Mix Amazing Mold Rubber per instructions and fill the inside

until the primary is at least 1/4 inch under the rubber.

Place in a Vacuum chamber to pull out all the air bubbles in the rubber.

Let cure per instructions.

Remove the primary from the cured Amazing Mold Rubber.

Pull out the threaded collar and set the delrin tube and clay aside.

Prep the LED's

The recommended/required supplies for soldering LED's. 22awg black wire, 3-LED's (red, white, blue in clear casing), side cutters, strippers, 1/16" heat shrink, vise/clamps, soldering iron, solder.

Strip the insulation of the end of the wire.

Solder tin the end of the wire and lead on the LED. (x3)

Slide the 1/16th inch diameter heat shrink over the soldered wires/leads.

Casting a new Handle

Hand drill 3 small holes in the Top putty insert and insert the wires from the LED's.

Place the bottom insert, Base/lid (used in molding) and top insert with LED's in position. Install the threaded collar on the shift-Axel end sticking up through the center.

Place the mold on the insert and seat the edge with modeling clay. Mix the Amazing Clear Cast Resin per instructions and pour into the mold. For best results, place in a vacuum chamber to purge the air bubbles in the casting. Let cure 24 hours per instructions.

De-mold by turning the mold and lid base (counter-clockwise) to remove the shift-axle. Remove the Amazing Mold Putty Insert and pull the new casting out of the rubber mold.

Testing the LED's

These LED's run on 3vdc. To run these from a car 12vdc you will need a DC to DC converter to drop the voltage. The driver circuit for this project is going to strobe, blink and cycle colors for different operation. When the Emergency Brake is engaged it will light red, shift RPM Blue. The white is for extra entertainment strobe effects that should sync with the stereo output. Due to the length of the tutorial to make one, I will skip the process for this post. For now, the LED test...

Red