Now that I had the mold designed and did a thermal simulation I ordered some aluminum and spent a couple days at machining it. I could probably have done it all in one day. But I go to the shop after work so it took a couple trips. I recently got a goPro camera and tried to take some time lapse videos of machining the parts. To be honest I didn't spend much time setting up the camera and I was more focused on machining the parts than making a great video. But maybe you guys will find them interesting.

I'm not a machinist by any means, but the past several years I have been slowly teaching myself to machine better and better parts. This project really pushed the limits of my ability. This is the most complex part I have ever machined. I started by square up the vice. I use a shared machine shop, so you never know how the last guy left the machine. Then I faced the part with a 1/2" end mill, and did most of the rough milling. After that I switched to a smaller end mill, and then a ball end mill to finish it up. For the holes center drilled them, then drilled a smaller hole then I need. For the through holes I used the correct drill size. For the dowel pins I drilled a slightly undersized hole and followed up with a reamer.

I did all the critical parts of the mold at one time without removing the part from the vice. This helped to keep things accurate. I did a little finish machining on the manual mill. The outside shape of the mold, the reliefs to open the mold, and the holes for the thermocouple and heaters, were all done manually.

I thought about some post machining polishing of the mold. I could sand blast the mold, or polish it by hand. But I decided to shoot the mold first and see how the parts came out. Then I could decide if it was needed.