anyone with silicone mould making experience?

My "chocoalte room" is visible to the public in our small store, and no matter how hard I try to keep clean, the melters are always a mess,

What I have now are two D+R melters on home made carts, the dark melter has a wheel. I've done the cling-film over the sides thing, and it is easy to pull off the dirty film, but it is a hassle. I do a lot of moulding, and no matter how hard I try, I still get drips down the sides of the melter and on the rim.

The melters are just big s/s boxes, each one holding a full size deep gastro-norm (hotel pan) pan.

What I had in mind was making a "Bib" out of silicone to fit on top of the melter and down the sides, with a collar on the top reaching down about 1" (2 cm) into the tub, and an other collar at the bottom catching drips. If made of food grade silicone, I can just yank off the thing, let the couverture harden, and shake the crumbs right back in.

However, I have no experience with moulding silicone. I will be putting an order in a Chefrubber for other things, and I know they have silicone mixes for sale, but have no idea how to use the stuff.

Any ideas?

Edward

Hi Edward,

I have silicone mold experience. Send me a note. paul at elemental dash chocolate dot com.

Paul

Hello Paul,

It would be nice if you shared your experience. After all, this is a forum. I think communicating privately defeats its purpose. Just my humble opinion.

Thanks,

Omar

I guess I deserved that comment Omar.

I have used silicone from Silicone, Inc and from Make Your Own Molds. MYOM is easy to use.

I don't really get the "bib" that is being described. I'm going to assume there is a negative for the silicone. Silicone captures a lot of little bubbles that need to be removed. A vacuum is the best device for this but not practical. $$$. I use a two pour technique. Mix using a scale according to manufacturer directions. Then long pour that mix into a new clean bucket. Long pour that mix to make your mold. The long pour is a thin strand of liquid silcone that stretches and reduces the air bubbles. Then I use a vibrator. Yes, that kind of vibrator to agitate the mold for several minutes. Remove as many air bubbles. It's pretty good not perfect.

Wear gloves because it can get messy.

Tell me more about the mold negative. Do you want a thin sheet to cut a bib from for the machine?

O.K., think a large box, pretty much like a restaurant soup warmer. I large (full size) hotel pan sits in the box with aout a 11/2" (35mm) border all around the pan. When I mold or even dip, I tend to get drips all down the sides, but worse is choc. build-up on the border--where the lip of the hotel pan sits on the warmer.

What I want is a covering that goes over the lip and continues a little into the pan.

Maybe it would work better if I posted a picture or two.

Ah yes, the negative mold, I don't know what kind of material I should make this out of.

I'll get some pics for tommorow

Edward:

As long as you don't cut them, I would think that something like a large Silpat could be made to work - no molding required. Just slip it under the edges of the pans.

As for custom mold supplies and information, here are two great resources: Chicago School of Mold Making and Chef Rubber .