Dissolving MDF cavity molds. Anyone tried it?

[calmasacow]

So My thought is that using my carvewright to carve the a negative of the prop half. Then pour fill it with some thing similar. "Non water soluble" Then once the the plastic is hard throw it is a tub of water or something like that. My thought is that the MDF would then dissolve leaving the plastic parts.

-anyone tried this approach?

-or ever heard of it being done?

 

[calmasacow]

well it appears that MDF doesn't dissolve in water. Which I have to say baffles me. I mean ever time I so much as leave a drink on a piece of MDF it swells and turns to crap. Yet my sample as been soaking for about 24 hrs and I'm getting nothing. There has to be some sort of catalyst that will dissolve the glue I'm thinking. or perhaps taking it and getting is soaked and then letting it dry out then re-soaking it a few times.

 

[BGCrisis]

If the MDF gets soaked through and dries out a few times, it will turn to crap that can be easily broken apart. I had a display at work that sat outside for a while before going into the dumpster, and I had an easy time breaking it up thanks to all the moisture it had dealt with. I doubt it would flat out dissolve without something like an acid, but if you soaked it really good, I can't imagine that you'd have a hard time getting the two materials apart (though you'd likely have to clean some MDF out of the plastic in more defined areas).