Can You Inject Hot Glue Into 3D Printed Molds? | DIY Cable Repair & Protection

[@PrintPractical]

Hi everyone, I'm back with good news! I published the video of how to draw a mold like this in fusion! Watch it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJDKpmCCo6eCaJY

[@Biru_to]

For those wondering, this process is often called "low pressure overmolding" or "low pressure insert molding". Typically overmolding when refering to plastic on plastic, and insert molding when it's plastic on top of something else like steel. Thanks for the video!

[@Biru_to]

You can use vegetable oil and a cotton swap for a cheap and accessible mold release. Then again, a spray can of professional mold release is only $15-$20 or so.

[@SpaghettiEnterprises]

LIke a small spring for strain relief?

[@alexbrown1050]

Thanks!

[@3DJapan]

I wonder how the hot glue will hold up though. That wire in your car on a hot summer day might turn into a sticky mess.

[@senseisecurityschool9337]

Yeah, the lower temperature glues wouldn't be great for outdoor / automotive use. On the other hand, you don't need the glue to remain *strong*, you just need it to not melt to the point it runs.

[@Evinosx]

3M High temp hot glue melts at a minimum of 350°f. It's going to be fine in the car on the hottest day. Or you're not going to be fine and then the wire doesn't matter.

[@Evinosx]

Turns out the low temp glue melts at around 250°f. So that's good too.

[@TheStigma]

Regular cheap EVA hot-melt needs to get pretty hot before liquifying, so I don't think it would be much of an issue. I always put a heat-shrink sock over top in any case. If you are concerned about this though then you should be aware that there are lots of different hot-melt plastics with different properties to fit almost any usecase. Probably need to order them online though - and be aware that cheap bog-standard hot-melt guns without a regulator may not be powerful enough to work with plastics that have considerably higher melting points. Part of what makes EVA so popular aside from low price is that it melts at a reasonable temperature and is therefore easy to work with.

[@TastySlowCooker]

@@Evinosx”oh no the glue melted, along with my dashboard and seats”

[@NigelTolley]

Two things. Ok, 3 things. 1) Great idea, and a good demo. 2) In industry, we use spray release wax. It does what your oil does, only 100x better. 3) Given the super low cost of 3D prints in hollow formats, a 0.3mm thick case that simply is designed to contain & protect the glue and remains in place might be even better.

[@ThumpertTheFascistCottontail]

also, every-day substances that worked (for me) as a mold release include boot polish, car wax and candle wax. and of course, if you're not sure of your mold release always do a test piece before using on your project.

[@KevinDay]

For this specific application, I just use some heat shrink tubing, squirt the hot glue in the end, and leave it on. They even make marine heat shrink tubing that basically has hot glue already in it. But injection molding with hot glue and a 3D printed mold is still cool.

[@theboots39]

There are times when that's difficult, though. The headphones I'm wearing right now need their strain relief reinforced, but to slip a heatshrink tube over the earpiece would require a tube so large that it would never shrink small enough to stay put. Something like this might be ideal for that.

[@KevinDay]

@@theboots39 Good point

[@sunnyfpv3694]

But the hot glue is hygroscopic which is too bad for marine applications...for any applications

[@2bakeww]

I do the same heat shrink trick but with epoxy.

[@Tunedawg23]

Putting heating shrink on probably misses the whole point of the video brother

[@superalpha]

I do this for cables with strain relief and black hot melt glue. It looks like a professional overmold. PLA works fine. Use vasoline as a mold release. Also, I have a second mold without the gates, and I will heat it with hot air and finish it with a nice pretty mold and texture.

[@NWGR]

Good tips here!

[@SpaghettiEnterprises]

Oh the texture part is brilliant

[@newmonengineering]

Suggestion: for each half of the mold, design 2 tabs one on each side, and offset the tabs so one half has tabs that are not inline with the other. This way you have a way to twist with your fingers to pop off the mold. It is super simple to do but adds leverage and allows super simple demolding. Its just a small extrude per tab. I think it would make this much easier.. just my 2cents. Good job.

[@Rollmops94]

What is a tab?

[@newmonengineering]

@Rollmops94 Just a small flat square or rectangle that proteudes outward. Some packaging or tool boxes have something like this. They use 2 side by side, one on the lid, the other on the box. They are close to each other so you can use them to twist motion both to open.

[@newmonengineering]

@Rollmops94 if you look at a rubbermaid food storage container they have a lip on the box and a tab on the lid. But any 2 tabs next to each other will work to give you leverage to open a box.

[@NefariousElasticity]

fwiw you can do the same with silicone, which will give a longer-lasting product. you don't have to use a two-part mix either, you can use caulk from the hardware store. just takes a while to set up.

[@cxob2134]

In RC model making there are a bunch of the molds up for sale, usually used to make strain relief for connectors like MPX or MR30, and alike. But they are usually CNC aluminum, but i might give printing custom ones a go. Teflon spray on the molds might help.

[@blaphtome9382]

Have used the system you based this on, only drawback is where there is resistance/heat; have had a couple melt off.

[@sierraecho884]

Most important rule about injction molding besides always having draft on your parts to demold is the clamping forces needed are always higher than you can even imagine xD I love those ideas, well done man

[@awkwardsaxon9418]

he could have put it in a vice

[@sierraecho884]

@@awkwardsaxon9418 Yeah which would rather brake the mold. Which leads to a more sturdy mold out of a different material ^^

[@Rollmops94]

@@sierraecho884 Plastic is very strong when compressed.

[@KayakingVince]

Great idea. Also look into polymorph/instamorph/PCL/polycaprolactone plastic pellets. You can soften them in boiled water and it sets like nylon when cooled. In the time it takes to set, you could stuff it by hand between your injection mold and clamp it to cool. It wont stick to most plastics when softened, unless the plastic is also very hot. You can color it easily by shaping it into a flat sheet and using sharpies on it then re-softening and mixing the color in. If you mess up, it can be easily softened and re-used indefinitely. It's also nontoxic, being used in many surgical and dental applications.

[@gydo1942]

That's very cool! I tried a similar thing a few years ago, where I'd use conical holes on two printed parts, sandwich them together and then inject hot glue. Once it cools, it shrinks a little bit and it keeps the two parts together like a rivet. I also tried molding shapes but it didn't go so well for me, probably because I was using a very cheap low-wattage glue gun and the glue solidified too quickly.

[@jamesnichols7507]

For strain relief on your NEW phone cord I have used for years wire heat shrink tubing. I use two different lengths to step down the amount of strain relief with the shorter going on first and then the longer piece of tubing starts closest next to the phone on the hard plastic and covers the first piece of tubing and then a little bit further on beyond the end of the first tubing so it bends easier.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

That can work, the issue tends to be that the shrink tubing only shrinks so much, which can be an issue to get over the top. Personally, I tend to just use duct tape and wrap it around however many times I need for the level of stiffness I'm going for.

[@jamesnichols7507]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade We have four iPhones at our house along with an assortment of iPads, iWatches, etc both in Lightning and USB-C plugs. I’ve been doing this for years with 3:1 non-adhesive heat shrink tubing. I use white tubing and you would never know of the modification unless you were looking for it. Get one of those kits of heat shrink tubing with multiple sizes all pre-cut at 4” in length available at amazon. It’s a tight fit getting the tubing over the plug but it does work and it does make the cord last a lot longer.

[@gs425]

Iphones are terrible for splitting the wires. Glue lined heat shrink is the way to go. Crimp it whilst hot to get to cable size in one hit.

[@HandiasTobil]

use acohol to make hot glue unstick

[@DavidClunie]

Came here to make this exact suggestion!

[@Segphalt]

​@@DavidClunie Same, isopropyl only though denatured doesn't work with a lot of glue stick varieties.

[@wileymarm0t]

How much do I need to drink? I drank a couple of beers and it didn’t help.

[@mikabreto]

@@wileymarm0t use a solution with a higher alcohol content. I have found that a 60-40 ratio of Tequila to Margarita mix works best. YMMV

[@enosunim]

Do not drink isopropyl though, it is deadly poisonous.

[@1kreature]

Nice! You did make the iphone cable problem worse though, by not extending the overmold a bit onto the existing sleeve though. This just increased and focused the stress on the point where the original sleeve ended which was where the problem was to begin with.

[@Tunedawg23]

Yep should have been at least 4mm onto the thicker sleeve

[@SpaghettiEnterprises]

This is cool! I typically use the heat shrink that comes with glue inside for stuff like this, but this seems beefier!

[@DaveEtchells]

I think silicone lube spray would probably work very well as a mold release. Great vid, I’ve put this in my bag of repair tricks!

[@senseisecurityschool9337]

Nothing sticks to silicone. Hot glue sticks to everything. Does that mean the hot glue will chase the silicone around the room, trying to stick to it?

[@Cherockeeee]

It looks incredible! I might try on my cables

[@kamo7293]

simple concept executed perfectly amazing results

[@bndopp]

This is awesome! Definitely interested in the mold making process video.

[@paul.dev76]

I usually do this repair melting hotglue into the cable, then with hothair, remelt the glue and start rotating it until it forms a tube, then let it cool while still rotating. This fix looks cool, because we can make several sizes

[@ulysses_grant]

Good video! The only drawback I see is that if there's an overheat in the wire due to a short circuit or something like that, the hot glue will definitely melt, leaving the wire exposed. But it's a great hack anyway!

[@andrewmawson6897]

I made replacement buttons for the servo hand controls on my JCB803 digger this way a few years back - even managed to get yellow hot melt in a close match colour :)

[@Baatory]

Just what I've been looking for. Thank You

[@Veeshra]

I use hot glue a lot already and this seems like a pretty cool idea! My only concerns are obviously heat, but also the way hot glue tends to be a bit flexible, it's quite easy to break the adhesion of hot glue if the material it's on is able to bend and flex. That's why I can't say I'd trust something like this to actually waterproof a cable that is moving around a bunch, as I feel like the glue would work itself loose from the cable sooner or later and leave a gap for liquid to seep in. Even if not hoping to waterproof it necessarily, it will probably not remain in place too well unless it has good uneven surfaces to stick to and you take care not to bend the cable around much. I've had this problem a fair bit when using glue heatshrink for the same purpose on daily-driver cables that are constantly being moved. For more static cables or connectors though? Really cool concept!

[@LG01967]

Excellent work. I will try it 👍👍👍

[@daveh7720]

This is great! For years I've been wishing there was a way to overmold the home-made cables I use for my ham radios. I've made connector shrouds with the 3D printer but they don't give very good strain relief.

[@f.d.6667]

Yup, that's a tried-and-true method for small-batch production of cables/connectors in the automotive industry, typically for alpha series production. DuPont used to sell a small injection-molding kit for that purpose. Try a blend with LMPA so your molds will last longer - some glue sticks are made from this stuff...

[@daveh7720]

@@f.d.6667 A blend of what? Release agent? I tried to search for LMPA and Google just thinks I keep misspelling "lamp."

[@jsc230]

I have actually used 3d prints to prototype low pressure molds at work. Your air vents can be pretty small, depends on the viscosity of the melt but .001" I would think would work for hot glue. What you want to do is have the vents be short and go into an air dump, essentially a larger channel to channel it out of the mold cavity. You'll want these anywhere air can get trapped. Also holding pressure as it cools in the sprue helps with the final part. Like someone else said, clamping force will likely be higher than you expect. It will probably also be useful to make the molds larger and thicker so they don't warp under the injection pressure.

[@mhoover]

I'd suggest a spray -on mold release.

[@the_str4ng3r]

Baby powder (talcum powder) makes a great mold release and your molds/cables won't get oil stains all over everything they touch :) This is a really cool idea and I have tons of PETG, now I am just wracking my brain trying to think up a universal model so a new one doesn't have to be printed for each cable diameter... hmm maybe a mold with a set of common insertable "bushing" style ends.

[@brocktechnology]

I saw that same ad and had the same idea. It was pretty obvious it wouldn't work so I didn't try it. I previously gave up on getting acceptable prints in PETG on my printer, Maybe I'll try again.

[@altonschultheis]

I bet there’s a lot of fun to be had trying this out with other kinds of adhesives/sealants! Something like a silicone caulk would probably cure way too slowly to be used for the same quick jobs as hot glue, but it might be a good option for making some really robust strain reliefs and things like that

[@ChrisWMF]

That would be a great idea for making air-tight bungs on cables for stuff like car speaker installs.

[@PammyStevensonEquest]

You could design the mold to be left in place. Avoids the adhesion issue and provides extra mechanical protection. Thanks for the video. Cheers

[@thewatersavior]

Thanks for trying this! Was also looking at doing silicone molding

[@oljobo]

Love it! So much more creative ideas come out of this! Thanks! Would love to see more videos on various aspects the subject 👍

[@nameinvalid69]

thats actually pretty interesting, good trick to learn

[@yayinternets]

Definitely a cool experiment, thanks for sharing with us! I think practicality wise, I'd just stick to marine grade shrink tubing that already has adhesive inside of it. However, I think this is a good demonstration to get someone thinking about how they could use molds. Btw, no idea what the temperature range or UV resistance is of traditional hot melt glue is, but it is used a lot in the industry for packaging and temporarily holding something in place. May not do well in a hot car. No idea! There are way stronger and more durable hot melt glues available. For instance, the kind you might want to use in this application are the ones normally used for potting electronics. Again, great job, and no shade intended at all! Just adding some practical things to consider if someone is going to push forward with this idea and use it.

[@Smokinjoewhite]

Funny this popped up just as I was about to make a mold to make soft feet that I can heat and adhere to various projects, I too was going to use vegetable oil, I have some terrible cheap canola oil spray that I now have a use for.

[@mikeschroder4787]

Cool Idea. And yes, mold video pls. Greetings from Germany

[@PrintPractical]

Coming soon!

[@JacknVictor]

You can get the glue sticks in multiple colours. Another thing that you can use in a glue gun is wax crayons, which are good if you need to make wax injection moulds for things like lost wax casting, maybe for jewellery making etc.

[@bmartell06]

I was thinking of doing the same thing but I'm not good with design. Thanks for you effort!

[@camdenjohnson6189]

For mold "release" on 3d (sla) printed injection molds, I like to use a dry lube. Powdered PTFE in a solvent in a can, its magic and cancer simultaneously. It works similarly to the old baby powder mold release method.

[@jamesnichols7507]

I have the Spliseal hot melt injection mold wire seal I use for our outdoor Christmas lights and it works great. I use their Butt Connectors and a Knipex MultiCrimp pliers. It’s a slow method of crimping wires together but it’s a tight permanent seal. A caveat, the hot melt glue is like napalm if it drips on you.

[@CyrusDemar]

Great idea. I see a few things around my home that really could do with something like this. Shrink tubing is great and all, but I can only get black where I live. But I can get hot glue in all kinds of different colors. Have you tried PLA? That stuff is, in my experience, harder to glue anything to than PETG.

[@frequencywatchers]

There needs to be baking soda inside already and then you inject the super glue, wonderful thing for antenna connectors with silicone or hot glue because they are weather tight, good idea, will follow up on this

[@TheStigma]

You always want to use some form of release agent to prevent sticking. Especially if your mold is a rough, unpolished DIY. There are many sprays meant as release agents, but you get a decent effect by just spraying or brushing on a thin layer of any light oil, even household cooking oil if that's all you got.

[@BallBusta]

Looks a lot better than a liquid electric tape repair. I'd probably use this to repair my extension cord if I had a 3d printer to make the mold.

[@ЕгорСмирнов-ш7д]

nice video! thanks! cool trick with checking waterproofness and cable repare

[@pplo]

this is a nice idea that I'm actually planning to do as well. Not only with hot glue, but with 'liquid rubber' (stuff people uses to finish dumbbels and several other things). I use the liquid rubber a lot to repair cables and as a general heat tubbing makeshift. I'd suggest you to use liquid rubber on your cables, is easy to apply, even without a mold and cures fast. Anyways you inspired me to try again 3d printed molds, for liquid rubber and now for hot glue. Ah someone already said, but use alcohol to release hot glue. a single drop will do. be careful not to get it on the inside of yout casted piece, as it will slide on the cable, probably.

[@pplo]

I did some with hot glue, while waiting for my liquid rubber arrive. they came out nice. I also did some molds for bitcoin coins and other fun stuff. With some learning I managed to make interesting molds. To release I tried mineral oil, which worked, but I don't like the oil messing around. So I tried powders (actually corn starch) and didn't work well. Alcohol is a must to release hot glue and it works fine, but for more detailed molds (like my cripto coins) I learned that using spray lubricant (silicone one) made very easy to release.

[@petergamache5368]

Molds typically get polished, or at least machined as smooth as possible. While you can't easily do that with 3D printed plastic, you can use some other tricks to reduce the dependency on lubrication - like making the cutout hex shaped instead of cylindrical, which gives you plenty of draft angle to help eject the part. Also, it looks like the short demo you had inset in the beginning used hot glue with a lower viscosity (runnier) than the typical hobby stuff. That might be worth researching too.

[@Carl-sh7kf]

Use clear shoe polish as a release agent. I use it when bedding a rifle action. Works very well with Devcon.

[@PrintPractical]

Hey everyone! This video has gotten a lot of traction, thanks a lot! I will definitely put out a video soon on designing one of these molds, and I will include the STL files with that video. Thanks again!

[@BericHolt]

Can't wait to see this, and the STL files you've made. Great video!

[@Missing_Texture.]

the fact that so few people know that hot glue can be removed with alcohol really irritates me. alcohol separates glue and surface, even from wallpaper it just falls off

[@superalpha]

@PrintPractical experiment with different size strain reliefs. I use a centering cable featuring my 3D printed mold that over molds the connections on a connector and has the strain relief built in. I also get a lot of 3D printing done with the HP multi-jet fusion with pa12 nylon dyed black and then I make a mold with the same 3D printed stuff. The black Hot Melt glue is a perfect color match and since the texture is the same for the mold and the connector, it comes out perfect. I wish I could post a picture on here and you could see. I also have tapered alignment pegs for the two halves of the mold which is pretty standard and then I use threaded brass inserts with encapsulated screws on the other half of the mold so you can lock it down without using a clamp but we found that the standard Irwin Vise clamps work just fine.

[@Splarkszter]

This was awesome. Thank you so much for this video!

[@Splarkszter]

And yes I would love a tutorial on how to make one of those molds :)

[@KORUPTable]

Isopropyl alcohol is great for removing hot glue it would work great as a mold release agent

[@maximthemagnificent]

How do you prevent the cable being against the side of the mold? Bit of tension on the wire?

[@thegrumpytexan]

VERY nice! Side note, you can get glue sticks in other colors (including black.) Now I need to see about making a mold for injecting DIY ethernet plugs for added strength.

[@krazekilla224]

Any chance you could run us through your design process? And what filament type do you use for this?

[@carlschmitz7909]

Would PTFE spray also work as separation agent instead of the oil?

[@68HC060]

This is a great video (as a proof of concept). -But the right way to insulate cables, is to use heatshrink (heatshrink with glue is even better). If you *must* use 3D-printing and hotglue, then 3D-print a plastic-sheet and hotglue that onto the wire, then finally iron it, so it melts around the cable. -That said, I'll definitely have the hotglue mold in mind for other purposes. 😃 Edit: The hotglue becomes very fragile over time (it won't take many days of use, then things like strain-relief will fail. Heatshrink is a good solution for strain-relief (not perfect, but way better than hotglue). Heatshrink usually shrinks 3:1 or some only 2:1, but most are 3:1, which means an Ø9mm will shrink to 3mm, Ø6mm will shrink to 2mm. For the iPhone cable, I'd use 9mm 3:1 with glue; it should easily go over the plug. If not, 12mm 3:1 with glue would also do the trick.

[@harrison3753]

Yes make that next video of how you did the cad for the project

[@cinobro6393]

You can also get high temperature hotmelt glue that only melts over 100c Also look into low pressure molding, lots of interesting automated and handheld machines for cable overmolding.

[@muha0644]

One small issue: hot glue is actually not water-proof. The wire will be exposed to the atmosphere, or water if it is submerged (it may not conduct electricity, but trust me it will rust if you leave it long enough, because the plastic is porous just like PLA). Not to mention that even a small amount of WD-40 will completely separate the hot glue from the wire. A solution already exists for this issue: electrical tape.

[@paulmeynell8866]

I have had a little go with fusion soma mold making tutorial would be great thank you

[@t1mmy13]

Very cool method!

[@paulmeynell8866]

Silicon spray would be a good release agent as the oil may transfer onto wire and stop glue from sticking

[@benpryce]

brilliant. Definitely going to use this trick! thanks for sharing

[@timyee22]

Please Don't use an Multimeter for Isolation testing. That's not even a little accurate. Us a Isolation tester,they measure with more than a few volts (250-1500v but they have a limitit current, that they are safe)

[@MrKenstar2]

I have no experience. I dont know if this is gonna work! “ ill think ill make a video” that sounds like a good idea

[@SojournerDidimus]

Why did you choose to not mold over the original strain relief of the apple cable? Doesn't this create a weak spot between the mold and the strain relief?

[@jamesking1265]

generic cooking spray works good as a release agent as well

[@Hitmare]

i wonder if something like babypowder or the like would do the same trick as the oil but less "messy"

[@antiest08787]

I'd like to see how you designed the mold

[@danielbuckman2727]

I have an idea. Why even bother lubing the mold to remove it. It's just a small 3D printed part. And could be left on for added strength. You could obviously make the outside look a little more sleek. Also add tabs to lock the two pieces together permanently.

[@urdnal]

Maybe with TPU or something like that, but jot a stiff material like this one.

[@SojournerDidimus]

Or have a "two part" mold; a jacket that's just a sliver fitting exactly into the mold, then the mold itself. Now you gain the benefit of easy removal, and the flexibility to make a neat cover over your hot glue.

[@neckrath]

I rarely ever comment on any video. In fact this would be my second comment on KZbin anything. Thank you for this video! I was just considering this recently!!! Thank you!

[@gguy156]

Cool technique

[@kenabi]

literally did a month ago to redo the strain relief inside a monster cable after i replaced the svideo plug (broken pin) for a og xbox av/cable. worked a treat. used pla, no issues, since i didn't plan on keeping the mold past the single use.

[@SianaGearz]

Most hot melt glue formulations are extremely weak to alcohol vapours, both ethanol and isopropanol but must be highly concentrated. Simply dab a little around it and in a minute or two, it will release from the substrate and fall apart in large satisfying chunks. You can use this to clean your mould. Or you should beware near your items made from hot melt glue. I have done hot glue molding with HIPS and PETG. I just usually pour it around the cable and then quickly clamp the mould around. Done some cable strain reliefs that way, Ethernet and whatnot. Never designed one of those moulds, downloaded them from the usual places. You can also do silicone moulding. Any number of ways.

[@Missing_Texture.]

ethanol does not make it fall apart, but isopropanol does. and from my experience if isopropanol is low quality it can dissolve surface of glue making it sticky

[@Elislavkat]

U could make the shell thinner, to give cable ability to bend

[@91rickstar]

@PrintPractical use hot potting sticks they are like hot glue but it’s used to encase electronics in enclosures typically black clear or white in color when it cools down it’s way harder and is better for higher temperatures compared to hot glue you can use the hot glue gun or you could melt it in a soda can and pour it in the mould

[@91rickstar]

Will you give the stls on printables

[@warrenali8151]

Bees wax. Will work much better than oil.

[@mikabreto]

Please expand on the beeswax method. How you apply it to the mold, etc.

[@ABTallerDisenio3D]

It also works with release wax, which is used for fiberglass. It is applied to the mold and then cleaned with a dry cloth to remove the excess and is ready to use and nothing will stick.

[@warrenali8151]

@@ABTallerDisenio3D fibreglass mould release wax is bees wax. Just rebranded for a premium

[@CuLozus]

PETG already becomes soft at 80° and actually hot glue sticks to PETG way to well. I already tried this before. Maybe use some more heat resistant plastic? Just in case.

[@danielpas368]

So you can get hot glue lined heatshrink and it's not that expensive, just use that for cables, much easier. What this would do very well for is terminations at connectors, like D-sub or USB, injecting a shape to hold the single conductors in multistrand for strain relief as is done in factory cables often.

[@wild-radio7373]

Fantastic first look. Imma use silicone ❤

[@Der_Ed]

other ideas: mold for the mold. so, a mold to cast this mold from silicone. this should remove the need for the oil/ lubricant. or, possibly better, do that but have a printed outer shell for the silicon mold part to sit inside to keep the shape better (depending on how soft the silicone is). or cast it using silicone instead of hot glue. that would improve heat resistence, no need for lubricant, etc

[@JustisSaayman-y8y]

Awesome video man!

[@MrSamucbr]

Man really cool idea indeed

[@i52freedom]

❤ Can we get the mold print files?

[@jacobframe8769]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. Subscribed.

[@michaelenglund]

You forgot to tell the glue it wasnt supposed to stick to the mold 😉 If you let the mold stay on it you kind of have solved the problem of protecting the ends 😎 Kidding aside. You did good with the veggie oil.

[@GeoffreyOwenMiller]

Are the files available anywhere? I know how to make one, but would have to make few to get dimensions right.

[@rgi9509]

STL files?

[@bavarianrider]

Bump

[@lautaroeldj]

yeah pls

[@magic.marmot]

You could also use a section of a straw and inject the hot glue into that.

[@shortymcsteve]

How do you stop the hot glue gun tip melting the insertion point? I just tried this and while it worked great, the mould deformed due to the heat and failed the second time because the insertion point got too deformed.

[@darrenreed6667]

Would like to see a tutorial on making the mold

[@cynic5581]

Use heat shrink on the solder joint as intended and on the iPhone cable as well. You can get heat shrink in a size that fits over the lightning connector (or USB C) and shrinks down to the wire size. A long piece can over half the connector as well. You can also get heat shrink with hot glue already inside it. I realize that’s not what you goal of the video is just saying there is already an easier and better solution to the problem. Btw that iPhone cable has a burned contact on the lightning connector. Toss it in the trash because that’s also burning the connector inside the phone. You could clean it with a dental pick if you really wanted.

[@mattadata2]

yes, please do the video on modeling the mold.

[@sirseriously]

Sugru works great for wire repair and a bit easier/quicker.

[@ryguy1]

Isopropyl alcohol is great for removing hot glue from anything, would be good to clean your molds.