Homemade oop discs

[lost in ohio]

I recently was thinking I would like a whippet made out of champ or star plastic to fight the quick wear of the dx plastic. As we know they do not make this disk in theses plastics and, this is not the only disk that "suffers" from this reality. plaster cast molds can be made in a few hours and a trip to a craft/art store but the plastic is where I am stuck. It seems that you could cut up a random champ disc and melt it down pour it into your own mold and after a good cooling period have a star whippet. So the question, have any of you guys ever tried this? were you successful or no? also does any one have any ideas that may help in my own future experiments?

P.S. I do not think it is ok to make and sell any successful copied discs. This is only an idea on how to let fans of certain oop discs or, discs that are not made in certain plastics a way to keep hold of what may be their bread and butter.

P.P.S. As of yet I have not tried to do this. I am just looking for some info for a jumping point.

 

[TxDiscGolfBoy]

You are sadly mistaken sir. I have 3 CFR-Glow CHAMP and one STAR Whippet-X!!!

You can find D/S (double stamped) CFR Whippet for around 15 bucks and star ones for about the same. The CFR-Glow will NEVER -- I repeat -- NEVER beat up hommie.

 

[TxDiscGolfBoy]

Glow Whippet-X (CHAMP,,,,,,,super super durable champ)

 

[TxDiscGolfBoy]

I'd like to know what other discs you think they don't make in champ or star. Not raggin' ya, but I just think it'd be to your benefit to know is all. :thmbup:

 

[EL-KABONG]

Uh...wow
Wiley Coyote action!
I dunno where to start or how to be polite here because that is one seriously hare-brained scheme.

I admire your imagination, but injection molding isn't remotely close to pouring melted discs into a homemade mold. If you do this and end up with anything remotely resembling a whippet it will be a true miracle.
I do have a possible name for your "disc" though:

The Whippet X-crement

 

[lost in ohio]

Fair enough I stand corrected but I am still sure we could find a disc that is not available that people wish were. I also think it is an interesting idea. There was a thread the other day I noticed about saving the 2008 ace race disc i think it was. This may be a better example of a disc that people like that the may in the near future not be able to use.

And I guess I need to look harder for my next whippet

 

[lost in ohio]

Elk my dad said the same thing when I said I wanted to try this out. And you are very right about the molding process, but lots of things start off as kitchen experiments before they hit the factory for mass production. Tell you what as i go forward with this project IF I am successful I will dye Whippet X-crement on my "first run" disc.

 

[TxDiscGolfBoy]

Fair enough I stand corrected but I am still sure we could find a disc that is not available that people wish were. I also think it is an interesting idea. There was a thread the other day I noticed about saving the 2008 ace race disc i think it was. This may be a better example of a disc that people like that the may in the near future not be able to use.

And I guess I need to look harder for my next whippet

ol' JustSaying Might could help ya out with a whippet-x. hit 'em up. Along with many many others.

 

[adh56]

Best of luck to ya bro but it will be a waste of time, money and effort.

 

[adh56]

I think my favorite part in the plan is to use a champ disc and it will become star plastic.

 

[surgeflx87]

This made me laugh. Finding glo whippets and stars is not hard at all. I love both of these discs for my overstable needs. And the star is really stable, the top is almost flat. But the glows are $$$$

 

[billnchristy]

Don't discourage him guys...I really wanna see how this turns out.

 

[bwiese]

^ I agree, I would love to see pics and hear every step of the way. I love home projects, and experiments. Half the fun is the process, not necessarily what you get in the end.

Go for it.

I think you should grind the discs up first so they will melt better.

In the end you cant use this in pdga rounds though.

 

[booter]

bahahahahahaha . This thread delivers seriouz lulz. Thanks! While ur at it see if you can melt me a champ firebird from star plastic, I dnt think they make those

 

[DiscJunkie]

Come on, guys.
The Champ plastic to Star Whippet was just a simple mistake in writing.
Cut him a break, will ya?
Seriously, though, if I understand the injection molding process - you have to inject the molten plastic under pressure to prevent bubbles and voids. I believe that if you simply pour the plastic into a mold, it will cool too quickly and not allow the bubbles to escape; resulting in a very ugly disc
Then again, i could be dead wrong. I'm not an expert on disc making.

 

[booter]

not so sure it was a mistake,seemd for srsly

 

[garublador]

Seriously, though, if I understand the injection molding process - you have to inject the molten plastic under pressure to prevent bubbles and voids. I believe that if you simply pour the plastic into a mold, it will cool too quickly and not allow the bubbles to escape; resulting in a very ugly disc
Then again, i could be dead wrong. I'm not an expert on disc making.

If I had to guess, that's the issue I'd say he'll have. Without the pressure part of it, and a mold that can handle the pressure, and a mold with good enough tolerances to actually recreate the disc, you'll probably end up with something sort of resembling a circle. You wont' be able to "pack out" the mold so none of the surfaces will be as clean as you'd like and any corner or edge will be really horrible.

You may be able to get some stories on how some of the disc manufacturers got started from them, but I'm willing to bet that none of them have had any success actually molding up a successful prototype in their garage without an injection molding machine and a machined mold. They probably either had them either machined somehow or made by some sort of prototype house.

If you do try it, make sure it's a brand new disc and I agree that grinding it up is a good first step. You need it to melt evenly without burning.

I know that recommending a different way to get a Whippet in high end plastic is missing the point, but check out the E or HPP Blaze. They're pretty similar to a Whippet and are in regular production. I find that most any disc that's worth throwing is either in production or has a substitution that's close enough for someone with even moderate disc skills to use just as well. You have to be really good for the minor differences to actually matter to you and if you're at that point you're probably either sponsored and have access to what you want and/or are limited in the discs you can choose.

 

[jtencer]

To the OP and on topic:

injection molding machines aren't very complicated. You can basically make one using a hot plate and a hand pump. Building a serviceable substitute is very possible.

I have two questions.

1. Will your ceramic mold be able to take the pressure? If it isn't, you could probably reinforce it from the outside. The pressure isn't too high in these processes though, so it shouldn't be too much of a concern. Depending upon what you make the mold out of the temperature might be a much bigger problem than the pressure.

2. Will your mold be able to be fit to appropriately tight tolerances? This is the biggie. I think it's possible, but you might have to try a few times.

 

[curveball4]

Was there a Cheetah in anything besides dx? Not CE or the expensive stuff but regular star or champ??

 

[billnchristy]

KC pro.

Could you operate in a vacuum instead of pressure?