Anybody have a good source for casting supplies?
The “Hobby” sources are so expensive. Anyone know of an “Industrial” supplier?
Ralph
I’ve bought a bunch of acrylic from TAP Plastics over the years. While I haven’t tried their casting supplies, I’ve been very pleased with their service (http://www.tapplastics.com/index.php?). Russ Miller works there and is also a large scale modeler. You can reach him via email over as russ over at tapplastics (just add that dot com thing after it. 
) He has been extremely helpful with my modeling projects.
In addition, there are a number of helpful videos at their site from making molds to working with acrylic. (http://www.tapplastics.com/info/video.php)
Depends on what you want, and how much you need. For silicone molds, I use Oomoo 30, which is made by Smooth-On. It has an easy, one-to-one mix by volume, not weight, and is fairly forgiving. You can get it direct from them, or from a distributor. I don’t use it in large quantities. Last time I bought some, I got it from Dick Blick Art Supplies:
http://www.dickblick.com/zz335/62/
For resin, I use Smooth-Cast 300. Again, you can buy direct or get it from Dick Blick or another distributor.
BTW, I’ve found that I can greatly extend the shelf life of these products by spraying a little bit of “canned air” (normally used to blow dust out of cameras or electronics) into the container before resealing it.