As the Head of Research & Development at Sugru, UK design engineer Jude Pullen has undoubtedly spent more time kneading the ‘moldable glue’ than most of us – and thanks to his uncanny ability to create fun and educational projects involving various prototyping methods and materials, we all get to benefit from it.
Previously, Jude has shared how to create ‘Detachable 360deg “Mag-Lights” for Workshop Glasses‘ and how to ‘Enhance Your Ceramics‘ by creating a non-slip base – and those are just Sugru-related projects.
On his own personal website Design Modelling, Jude shares both a variety of tutorials for creating physical models as well as tutorials for actual functional products – such as the process of creating an ergonomic mouse by hand.
“Much of the inspiration came from solving a problem or making something with a function – and this is still what motivates me in my professional work,” he explains. “I guess everyone works to their strengths in one way or another, and although my sketching is pretty lousy, I usually try to explain my ideas physically with quick models.”
For his most recent project, Jude pulled out all the stops and detailed the steps for casting objects – including metal! – out of Sugru molds. For the sake of the project, Jude used an object that most can identify with – a LEGO Minifig – however any object that can be cleanly made by hand or a 3D printer could theoretically be prepped and used, too.
“From this heat-resistant mould one can create a Pewter casting for jewellery and such,” says Jude. “Although a professional casting will deliver a more robust and larger mould, it is fair to say for small, detailed 1-offs, I found using Sugru to be a simple and cost-effective method. Indeed, the moulds I’ve made here have been re-used 3-4 times with pretty good results.”
If you’re looking for something to do with all of that spare Sugru laying around or simply just need to make a one-off model for that ray gun design, be sure to head over to the project’s Instructables page to get the full rundown.
