And here's that sand bed I mentioned.
I got this at a garage sale for .50 cents. The sand is sugar sand that I got along side a highway cut thru a hill. This is the same silica sand used in fracting for gas and oil. The cups in the sand are either 6 or 8 ounce pyrex custard cups and work great for my small batch work. I mixed water and elmers glue together to wet the sugar sand enough to be able to mold it around the cups after I made a 1/2" bed on the entire bottom. Once the cups were in place and the sand was allowed to dry I filled each cup with cooking oil, the slowly brought the heat up to 340 degrees. When it hit 340 and stayed there for 1/2 hour I supper glued the rheostat at that setting so I wouldn't have to fart around guessing where things were at. The glue in the sand helps hold everything in place. The cups come right out and are as clean as clean can be....no sand stuck to them.
When I want to use this I simply plug the puppy in and allow it to warm up with empty cups in place. I make my plastic in the microwave in a different cup then just swap cups when the plastic is at working temp. I like to have all the holes filled with working plastic so there are times I'll have three cups of one color and one of another, or two, one and one. You get the idea. I have a sheet on aluminum, actually part of an old cookie sheet, that sets atop of the cups when I am not actively using them and yet the heat is on so heat isn't lost to the air. This get-up works great and the price was certainly right.
I'll just mention that these custard cups I use are restaurant quality pyrex. Some are 4 ounce, some 6 some 8. I maybe have 200 of these, all bought for change at garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales. They are the absolute best way to work small batches of plastic, leaving those pyrex measuring cups for bulk cooking. I have a dozen of the Pyrex measuring cups and rarely use them. I have found that for me its way easier to control heat and plastic longevity by working with smaller cups. That's just me but it works well.
DF brings up using multiple molds to get the most out of the plastic before headaches have a chance to show up. Another course to take may be to invest in a more commercial mold...more cavities. Sometimes the cost of one mold with thirty cavities is cheaper than buying three ten cavity molds. Whatever is practical for you will work though. Once you get this little glitch worked out I suggest you pm DF and spend some time chatting with him on color and how to manipulate the art of laminating as the man is an absolute master at it.
