How to Make a Rubber Mold to Reproduce Concrete Stepping Stones

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The following tutorial details how to reproduce concrete stepping stones (or pavers) from an existing stepping stone. You might use this method if, for instance, you would like to reproduce a unique stepping stone that is no longer available for purchase or if you’d like to produce concrete stepping stones from a model you created (e.g., clay, wood, 3D-printed or other machined models).

This tutorial only shows the making of one mold, which would be used for relatively low-volume reproduction. For high production applications, consider making a “gang” mold, discussed at the end of the tutorial.

Supplies & Suggested Tools for this Project:

A video tutorial of this project is available at the end of this article. 

The Project:

The walkway pictured below has a few crumbling stepping stones that need to be replaced:

Concrete Stepping Stone Walkway_Polytek
Crumbling Concrete Pavers

Step 1: Select a Model to Make the Mold of

Select the most intact stepping stone from the walkway. Wash off or dislodge debris from the stone as best as possible; rubber molds will pick up every detail of the stone (e.g., clumps of dirt).

Paver Stone Model - Mold Making

Step 2: Apply a Sealing Agent

If you plan to put the stepping stone back into its original position in the walkway, you might consider using a removable sealing agent, like Poly PVA Solution (below). It can be washed off with water after the mold making process. If you have a very porous model, like the one in this tutorial, you may have to apply more than one coat of Poly PVA Solution. We applied two coats of this sealer, waiting for it to dry (~ 1 hour) in between coats and before moving on to the next steps.

You don’t need a removable sealer? Consider paste wax, lacquer, paint, Pol-Ease® 2350 Sealer & Release Agent (you don’t need additional release agent if you use this), or PolyCoat Sealer & Release Agent (you don’t need additional release agent if you use this) as additional options.

PVA Clear Sealer for Concrete

Step 3: Construct Mold Box & Seal Edges

Find a suitable bottom board for your mold box and create vent holes; venting is required with porous models to allow trapped air to escape and prevent air from migrating into the rubber causing bubbles.

We often use melamine-laminated particle board (pictured below) for both our bottom boards and mold box walls.

Bottom Board for Model
Drill Holes in Bottom Board
Concrete Stepping Stone on Bottom Board

Seal the edges of the stepping stone to help prevent rubber from leaking beneath the stone. We used warmed plasticine clay in this instance; hot glue or caulk are other options.

Seal Edges with Clay

Construct the mold box walls. We left 0.75″ of space between the stepping stone and mold box walls to create 0.75″ thick mold walls.

We secured our mold box walls together with C-Clamps and also secured the mold box walls to the bottom board with screws.

Construct Mold Box
Secure Mold Box Walls to Board

Seal the outside edges of the mold box (where the walls meet the bottom board) to help prevent rubber from leaking outside of the box. Again, we used warmed plasticine clay.

Seal Outside Edges with Clay

Also seal the interior corners.

Seal Interior Corners

Step 4: Apply & Brush Out Release Agent

Apply Pol-Ease® 2300 Release Agent to the stepping stone, mold box walls and mold box bottom board and then brush it out with a dry brush to encourage even coverage.

Pol-Ease 2300 Release Agent
Apply Pol-Ease 2300 to Paver
Brush Out Release Agent with Dry Brush

Step 5: Determine How Much Rubber is Needed

Here are our calculations for this specific project:

1. Calculate Volume of Mold Box = 19.5″ x 19.5″ x 2.5″ = ~950 in³ [NOTE: We calculate the mold box volume based on a height of 0.5″ above the stepping stone so the thickness of the bottom of the finished mold will be 0.5″.]

2. Calculate Volume of Stepping Stone = 18″ x 18″ x 2″ = 648 in³

3. Subtract Volume of Stepping Stone from Volume of Mold Box = 950 in³ – 648 in³ = 302 in³

4. Take Result & Divide by Specific Volume of Poly 75-70 Liquid Rubber = 302 in³ ÷ 27 in³/lb = ~11.2 lb of Poly 75-70 Liquid Rubber

Step 6: Measure, Mix & Pour Mold Rubber

For this particular project, we used Poly 75-70 liquid rubber. Poly 75-70 is two-part polyurethane system that cures to a gray, Shore A70 rubber. Molds made from this rubber exhibit high tensile strength, tear strength, and elongation.

We recommend the use of polyurethane mold rubbers for most concrete casting applications.

Poly 75-70 liquid rubber has a 1A:1B mix ratio, 40-minute pour time, and a 16-hour demold time.

Poly 75-70 Liquid Mold Rubber
 

Poly 75-70 is a relatively firm rubber with a Shore Hardness of A70  (A70 is a bit harder than a standard car tire. More information on Shore Hardness here); we are able to use a rubber this hard because there are no undercuts on the sides of this stepping stone.

 
No Undercuts on Stepping Stone-01

Intricate stepping stones or stones with undercuts on the sides would require a softer rubber for demolding purposes. For instance, a rubber like Poly 74-45 (Shore A45) might be used for the stone below so the sides of the mold can be flexed to allow for removal of concrete castings.

Undercuts on Stone - Mold Making

Carefully weigh or measure Part A & Part B into a clean mixing container (we often use polyethylene pails). Thoroughly mix the rubber, scraping the bottom and sides of the mixing container several times.

Mixing Rubber

Carefully pour the rubber into one corner of the mold box and allow it to flow across the model. Pour rubber into rubber; avoid pouring rubber directly onto the model. Do not scrape the sides of the bucket as you pour as unmixed material tends to cling the sides of the mixing container.

Pour Rubber Over Stepping Stone
Pouring Poly 75-70 Liquid Mold Rubber

Immediately after pouring, spray Pol-Ease 2300 Release Agent across the surface of the liquid rubber to help remove surface air bubbles.

Allow Poly 75-70 to cure, undisturbed, for ~16 hours before demolding. NOTE: Although you can demold this rubber after 16 hours, we do not recommend use of the mold for at least 48 hours.

Step 7: Demold

Remove the mold box walls.

Remove Mold Box
Cured Poly 75-70 Mold

Carefully remove the stepping stone from the mold. This may require the use of a prying tool.

Remove Paver From Mold
Rubber Mold of Concrete Paver

Trim the edges of the mold if necessary.

Polytek Rubber Mold of Concrete Stepping Stone

Step 8: Cast Concrete

Apply a suitable concrete release agent, like Pol-Ease® 2650 Release Agent, to the mold.

Pol-Ease 2650 Concrete Release
Apply Concrete Release to Mold

Choose a concrete mixture most suitable for reproduction of your stepping stone and properly mix it. We had some SureCrete Xtreme Concrete Mix laying around our shop, so we used it for the purposes of this demonstration.

Mix Concrete

Pour the concrete mixture into the mold and vibrate if necessary.

Pour Concrete into Rubber Mold

Remove the concrete casting from the mold and finish and seal the stepping stone as necessary. Use the mold to reproduce as many stepping stones as needed – polyurethane molds can last for many years and can cast hundreds to thousands of parts when well taken care of.

Concrete Paver Casting from Rubber Mold

Wash the Poly PVA Solution off the original stepping stone model with water and then place the original stepping stone and reproduced stepping stones into the walkway.

For high volume casting operations, you might consider making a “gang mold”, or multi-cavity mold (pictured below), instead of a single-cavity mold.

Multi-Cavity Mold
 
Video Tutorial
 
 
 

Do you have questions?

Get in touch with our Technical Support team