My first "batch" questions

[sperry]

I'm going to talk to the guy who sold me the mold ... but maybe you all have some ideas. I bought the 18 bar tray and the guy who makes them told me that it would be fine for M&P. For this "batch" I used only two center slots, and taped around them to prevent the melt from running all over the tray. That worked fine. But I'm very nervous about using the entire tray. When I poured the fluid into the mold, it was almost as thin as water, and I know for a fact that the tray doesn't hold water. Will the melt spill through the mold, or will it quickly cool, harden and "seal" the bottom? The other thing that happened was that the center of the bar is much thinner than the edges. It looks like capillary attraction or something... the edges creeped up the sides of the mold (I poured one inch of melt into a 1 5/8" mold... maybe you just can't do that?). But even without that effect, the top of the bar is definitely concave. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[sperry]

Ok... answered one of my own questions. I used a corner slot in the tray for a couple bars.... the place that is most likely to leak. NO leakage. I guess it cools quickly enough to seal the leaks. Frankly, I don't care if it's magic. Not a drop on the garbage bag I placed underneath the tray. (Second batch still has curled up edges, though.)

 

[soapcakes]

That's great that the mold will work for you!

I'm not sure why the edges would be like that, would you be able to post a picture of what it looks like?

 

[sperry]

wow... great idea posting a pic. I'll try. I am going to do another bar or two all the way to the top of the mold and see what the top looks like.

 

[sperry]

Next time I will try to answer the questions before posting. I think I know what is going on with the concave shape. There is a little bit of melt seeping under the edges of the tray mold. The edges cool slightly before the center, so the center is what drains away, so it droops. Sounds right to me, anyway.