I think this would not work. The tough plastics tend not to have a very
liquid state. They are usually injection moulded using heat and pressure
to get the plastic to conform to the shape of a mould.
Some of the features of the cap are so fine that a fairly low viscosity
liquid would be required to penetrate into the fine features of a mould.
A liquid resin like epoxy can penetrate such fine features. The strength
of such resins on their own is not terribly great on such a small scale.
Something like carbon fibres would need to be added for strength.
Getting the fibres into the small features within a mould would be rather
tricky.
The real problem is the very thin bayonet lugs. Only metal is really
strong enough to give such fine features any great durability. The other
problem is the severe undercut beneath those lugs. In any mould, part of
the mould has to occupy the space beneath the lug and then be got out
again when the part is removed from the mould.
The 'lost wax' method might work but you might as well cast them in silver
as the labour involved would be much the greater part of the cost.
A rather small CNC milling machine is what is required ideally I think.
Giles
Garth Wood wrote:
> I was thinking that perhaps copies could be made out of nylon or some
> tough polymer, using an original cap as the template, and something like
> the "lost-wax" process to do a casting. I have no idea if this is
> feasible.
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