DISCLAIMER: The info I give you here does not hold any responsibility on any injuries or whatever else might go wrong. Do yourself a favor and read the safety lables on the chemicals. No whining.
IntroductionAfter starting to climb in the gym a while, I noticed the same holds and started wishing I could make my own designs. After internet research, I found excellent information mainly through links in TradGirl. I've now spent 5 mo. (and a few bucks) improving the hold making and it is really a fun and easy way to jazz up a climbing wall. I'm lucky enough to have some holds bolted on in Boulders, the local climbing gym here in Killeen, TX. Climbers are constantly giving me excellent feedback on how to improve them or what they like. If you plan on making a wall at home, this will really help cut the cost from buying manufactured holds. I hope you find this guide helpful and really want to know how your holds turn out! Let me know! Email: teveman@medscape.com
Make sure you read through all the information carefully before you spend money. I've learned this can quickly become more expensive than just buying holds if you don't pay attention to the little details. That being said, making the plastic holds can be very cheap and easy.
Shopping List:Here's a list of what you will need and where to get it. I bought my materials from Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Walmart, and Hobby Lobby. If you have these or similar stores nearby, this should be easy.
CLAY, BOLT, KITCHEN BRUSH
Here are a few tips I've come to after many mistakes. Save yourself some cash and read this first.
Size Decide what your trying to accomplish, then try to minimize the size all you can. This will save you serious dough on wasted space.
Shape Your fingers have tendons under stress. They are your friends. Don't make corners that will mash them. It hurts.
Texture After 5 months of putting manufactured holds under the microscope to copy their texture, I think I finally figured it out. There are several opinions on a good texture to make your hands stick, so I'll explain a few later.
Usability Make the most of each hold. Molds are an expensive part, so making a hold that can be used in different directions really helps.
Stability Look at the pressure areas of your hold. Make these areas, such as around the bolt, well supported so they won't crack when torqued. I've also learned of a foam backing to stop slippage and prevent shaving off the texture on the wall.
Grab a clump of clay, wet your hands, and started shaping your rock. For your first try, you might want to make a crimper since small mistakes cost less. I suggest using a flat surface to sculpt on to keep the back flat. Now, make an indention of the bolt head by pressing the head (not the threads) into to clay. Make this only as deep as the bolt head. When this is done, flip the bolt over and using the smaller diameter of the threaded portion of the bolt, press this through to the back of your hold. (MAKE SURE THIS HOLE IS PERPENDICULAR TO THE FLOOR!) Round off the sharp edge of the lip for your bolt hole. When this is finished, you are ready to add texture.
As I mentioned before, there are several opinions on texture. I've found that ultimately, Polyester Resin is usually too smooth for sweaty hands. Some suggest cramming sand onto the outside of the clay prototype for a grit feel. Others paint a resin later on the clay model and fix sand into this. Some skip the clay and carve the prototype out of the green oasis foam used for flower bouquets. The surface of the oasis makes the texture. Please try these to find what you like.
I'm currently trying a new concept. After seeing that manufactured holds actually have a surface with millions of little pits, I'm copying this. For this guide, I'll start you out with this method. Get out your kitchen brush and lightly tap the bristle heads onto the moist clay surface. When you see the surface become saturated with pits, you're done. For a finer feel, use thinner bristles (toothbrush?). Please let me know what ideas you find in this area!
Making Your Mold:SILICONE IN CAULK GUN, CARDBOARD, TOOTHPICKS
Tear off a piece of cardboard that will allow at least an inch around each edge of your prototype. Lay the hold on the cardboard and stick it with two toothpicks from the backside to make it stick. Now I need to stress the important parts of applying the silicone. Dab it slowly and evenly over the entire surface making sure all the small pits are caught in the mold. Also make sure your layer is at least 1/4" to 1/2", or your mold will tear after the first few uses. As an option, you might want to try soaking the tube of silicone in hot water first. This will make it less viscous and help avoid bubbles.
If your hold has a positive area, an area incut that will require torqing of the mold to remove the hold later, reinforce this area with extra silicone. There are several methods to making molds, but this is the cheapest reliable way I've found so far. Some suggestions I've read include adding mineral spirits to the caulk and painting this on, or putting the caulk container in hot water to make the caulk less viscous. Again, let me know what you find.
Let the mold cure for a day or two. Test the outside to see if it feels squishy. If it squishes, give it another day. Once it is hardened, carefully remove the cardboard from the bottom, slowly pop out the prototype, and rinse out the inside gently with water. Your mold is ready.
Pouring the Plastic:FOR THIS NEXT PART, RESIN FUMES ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO YOUR SINUSES AND LUNGS. GO WHERE THERE IS PLENTY OF VENTILATION!!!
Let me explain the measuring first to make this easy. As long as you have enough resin and sand mixed together to get a goop not runny, but not clumpy, you're good to go. The trouble is knowing how much hardener to add to the resin goop mix. You may find this easy, but I've started using 5oz. Dixie Cups to help me keep track. This measuring cup must be disposable, so get familiar with how much 1oz, 2oz, 3oz... is in a Dixie Cup. You will soon be able to eyeball how much resin you use and save yourself from miscalculating and producing bad holds. Here's all the proportions I've found useful for eyeballing some magic goop:
3 to 4 oz. sand for each 2oz. of resin.
12 drops of hardner for each 1oz. of resin (yes, for 25oz. of resin, you must count 350 drops)