Tooling boards are - unfortunately - very expensive for a hobbyist like me, especially if thicker and larger pieces are required. Therefore I wonder if there are alternative materials that have been used by other forum members instead of proper tooling boards to keep the cost low.

The obvious possibility is MDF but I'm not sure if there's a way to get the surface good enough. Does anyone have any suggestions?

My plan is to cnc mill the mould directly without making a plug first, but I could change plans for specific reasons.

Kind regards
Martin

Been looking for that very thing myself Martin ....................  I've spent weeks researching on the Net!
My solution will be to 'mould' my own   

But I'm having great difficulty in finding out what the actual tooling board materials are!

Like you,  my intentions are to CNC my plugs directly,  then apply Pattern-Coat resin  to finish off the plug.
As I'm making headlight prototypes,  CNC'ing the OffSide and NearSide seems obvious.  As opposed to doing them individually by hand as I've been doing.

'Smooth-On' make a wonderful array of expanding polyurethane foams available in various densities, some with a rubbery consistency. Some cure rigid and are quite strong apparently. They tend to use them for back-filling large moulds.  I've got some in stock for testing purposes,  just haven't had the time yet.  And I've also got to build the 'holding' box for it as well.  I think the general idea is to mix the two components,  pour that mixture into the box and secure a lid down, fast!  leaving a few air holes in the top of the box will force the expanding foam out,  the rest of the foam will be compressed to a machinable block of foam.

I just wish I could find a place where I could get my hands on a sample of the tooling board,  as a comparison,  I think it would be quite interesting.





TURK