Casting Blanks

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jttheclockman

jttheclockman

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Question for those that cast blanks with tubes in them, what do you use to plug the holes of the tubes??? I am about to start some of these and I was reading on another forum that people who use cork stoppers had problems with the resin leaking through the cork. If you use cork do you first coat the cork with CA or something??? I was going to use cork stoppers. Thanks for the replys
 
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I also use corks. Look at my snakeskin tutorial to see the process. You can find it at http://www.RedRiverPens.com/articles
Do a good turn daily!
Don

jttheclockman said:
Question for those that cast blanks with tubes in them, what do you use to plug the holes of the tubes??? I am about to start some of these and I was reading on another forum that people who use cork stoppers had problems with the resin leaking through the cork. If you use cork do you first coat the cork with CA or something??? I was going to use cork stoppers. Thanks for the replys
Click to expand...
 
Don

You were the person I got most of my instructions from by following your tutorials. I have not casted yet but the thing was I got the cork plugs from the place you suggested and I will try them. The thing that surprised me I read from more than one person they had a problem with resin being pushed through the cork, not around it. Being cork is somewhat pourous I guess until it gets wet and expands. I guess I just need to try for myself. Got the rest of the parts for my pot yesterday and should work on getting it together tonight. Hopefully I can run some tests this weekend and check for leaks and then it is off to the races. Thanks for the replys.
 
I use knitting needle point protectors from Walmart and fill the tubes with BBs.

PointProtectors.JPG
 
I also use corks, the same as Don. I go one step farther I fill the tubes with modlers clay, now when I put the blanks in the pressure pot I've not had a single loss due to PR entering the blank.
 
I went online and found medical equipment suppliers who had rubber test
tube stoppers. I think they were about $9 and change for around 1000.

For pens, get a bag of 00 size and also 000. That should cover all the pens
that we do.

I forget the name of the company I ordered from, but they were backordered
anyway, so I canceled the order.
But I know that when I went searching again, I put in 000 rubber stopper
and came up with suppliers in the search engine. Make sure you get the ones
that DON'T have holes in them! :tongue:
 
Man, wish you could find that source. I just googled 000 rubber stoppers and the cheapest I found were 100 for over $20. Maybe I'm not looking at the right places.
 
Glass Scratcher said:
I've checked 2 local super Wallys and they don't have them here. Perhaps they have been discontinued since you bought them? I also checked the local Jo-anns and no-go as well.
Click to expand...

Not all WalMarts have the same stock, I've found. Jo-anns should have them,
but the last few times I went there, they were out and hadn't replaced them
since I bought the last of them.. At Jo-Anns, they're right near the knitting
needles and crochet hooks. They've usually got the big green ones (too hard)
and the small neon green ones (too small, they get sucked into the tubes)
so go for the purple ones.
 

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rjwolfe3 said:
Man, wish you could find that source. I just googled 000 rubber stoppers and the cheapest I found were 100 for over $20. Maybe I'm not looking at the right places.
Click to expand...

http://www.labdepotinc.com/Product_Details~id~115~pid~9358.aspx
I don't remember if this was the place or not. Looks like 4 lbs (200 pcs?)
for around $8-9. I seem to remember a lower price, like a 10# bag for that
price.. but the memory isn't what it used to be. Still, that's 1/4th the price
you found, so we're headed in the right direction..
 
Roy shared this with me last year and I;ve been doing the same. I have also stopped gluing in the corks and I don't remember the last time I had any leakage. Thanks Roy for sharing the clay trick.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

OKLAHOMAN said:
I also use corks, the same as Don. I go one step farther I fill the tubes with modlers clay, now when I put the blanks in the pressure pot I've not had a single loss due to PR entering the blank.
Click to expand...
 
Rubber stoppers and cork stoppers must not use the same size codes. I use a lot of #1 and #2 cork stoppers for sierra, cigar, baron, jr statesman and jr gent and several others. The full size statesman, gent, majestic, emperor and others take #3 and #4.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
NewLondon88 said:
For pens, get a bag of 00 size and also 000. That should cover all the pens
that we do.
Click to expand...
 
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its_virgil said:
Rubber stoppers and cork stoppers musk not use the same size codes. I use a lot of #1 and #2 cork stoppers for sierra, cigar, baron, jr statesman and jr gent and several other. The full size statesman, gent, majestic, emperor and others take #3 and #4.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Click to expand...

It is possible they have their own scale. I never looked up the corks.

Sorry, I pasted the grid in here, and in the preview, it looked great.
But after posting it looked ..er .. less than great.
But it is on the page I listed above. It shows the 000 rubber stopper
as having a top diameter of 13mm and a bottom diameter if 8mm
 
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http://www.labdepotinc.com/Product_D...~pid~9358.aspx
I don't remember if this was the place or not. Looks like 4 lbs (200 pcs?)
for around $8-9. I seem to remember a lower price, like a 10# bag for that
price.. but the memory isn't what it used to be. Still, that's 1/4th the price
you found, so we're headed in the right direction..
Click to expand...

Well I almost ordered some till they tried to hit me with a $25 shipping/handling fee for 1 lb. Gonna keep checking.
 
OK I have the corks that you mentioned Don. I have the shot you mentioned. See I am listening.

Now what is this thing about the clay in the tubes??? This is the first I am reading about this. Please explain this step.

NewLondon, you have an assignment. Please rattle the brain and remember the source you speak of about the rubber stoppers. I bought some off ebay awhile ago but they happened to be a wrong size. Report back to us when something comes to mind.

Thank you all.
 
I'm looking, but I can only find them around $8-10 per pound.
But that's still over 300 rubber stoppers, more than we'd ever use.
But $25 shipping??? That's nuts!
 
I am now using the rubber molds sold by gadget. The wooden standoffs I glue to the end of the corks hold the tubes in the mold and the lead shot I no longer use. I use clay in place of the lead or BB's. I cut the standoffs just a smidgen bigger than the slots in the mold and they hold the tubes in place and no floating. If you are casting in a tray mold, you will have to use something to keep the tubes from floating. Maybe the clay will work and don't use the lead. I pack as much clay as I can and leave just enough room inside for the corks.

You are doing fine. I really should update my snake skin tutorial with all of the different things I (and Roy) are now doing.

Let me know if I need to explain more....
Do a good turn daily!
Don

jttheclockman said:
OK I have the corks that you mentioned Don. I have the shot you mentioned. See I am listening.

Now what is this thing about the clay in the tubes??? This is the first I am reading about this. Please explain this step.

Thank you all.
Click to expand...
 
Cap one end of the tube with a cork stuff the clay into the tube and leave just enough room for the other cork, you now have taken up any room inside the tube that resin could have seeped into.[I also use Gadgets molds and I pick up from lowes paint stirers which are slightly wider than the molds, I cut them 3/4 inch and attatch the corks to the center of these and insert into the molds, thus centering the blank. I hope this makes sense. BTW Don is still MR. Snake and he has shared his knowledge freely with all, for this I thank him.




quote=jttheclockman;797429]What is the reason for the clay???[/quote]
 
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its_virgil said:
I am now using the rubber molds sold by gadget. The wooden standoffs I glue to the end of the corks hold the tubes in the mold and the lead shot I no longer use. I use clay in place of the lead or BB's. I cut the standoffs just a smidgen bigger than the slots in the mold and they hold the tubes in place and no floating. If you are casting in a tray mold, you will have to use something to keep the tubes from floating. Maybe the clay will work and don't use the lead. I pack as much clay as I can and leave just enough room inside for the corks.

You are doing fine. I really should update my snake skin tutorial with all of the different things I (and Roy) are now doing.

Let me know if I need to explain more....
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Click to expand...

So I am guessing the reason you now use clay is because you had failures with resin getting into the tubes???? I guess I will have to try a few and see what happens.
 
Skye said:
Well, I think when you add a lot of pressure to the equation it promotes PR filled tubes.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping this might solve that problem, as well as the problem of adding
weights to hold down the tubes, wood to hold up the tubes and larger molds
that eat resin. Three people are testing them now, but after I get their
suggestions and refine it, I hope to offer them here.
That is if they don't tell me to scrap the idea..:eek:
 

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When I backed off the pressure to 30 psi it stopped a lot of leakage but yes, I still had some. The clay seems to stop resin from entering and I no longer glue in the corks as I once did.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

jttheclockman said:
So I am guessing the reason you now use clay is because you had failures with resin getting into the tubes???? I guess I will have to try a few and see what happens.
Click to expand...
 
Charlie, you just might have hit on a great Idea, if you could use the mold for 2-3 different kits. I noticed that the stoppers in your mold are stepped, what different kits will these work for?
 
OKLAHOMAN said:
Charlie, you just might have hit on a great Idea, if you could use the mold for 2-3 different kits. I noticed that the stoppers in your mold are stepped, what different kits will these work for?
Click to expand...

They're stepped only because that's a prototype straight out of the mold and
I didn't trim the stopper. I used a step bit to drill, but that doesn't
make it usable for other kits. The length of the mold is sized to
accommodate the individual kit. Some kits use the same tubes. But a Sierra
mold (for instance) won't work for a Sierra Click (and vice versa) as the
tubes are different sizes.

The final mold won't have as much of a stopper in it, as it isn't necessary.
The mold size and the diameter of the stopper both work in conjunction to
keep the resin out of the mold. The length isn't needed, and in fact it may
make it difficult to get the tube in and out. And those tubes can be sharp
on silicone..

I'm working on several kits right now. With the exception of the Slims and
similar, I'll be able to do molds for all the kits currently available within a
couple of weeks. (after testing, feedback, revision etc.)
One of the people testing it suggested larger molds with multiple kits in it.
The one pictured is two Sierras, but a final mold could easily be 6 or 8 as
long as it will fit in the pressure pot :tongue:
 
Thanks Charlie, I'll be following your post on this, as I'd like to try a mold for the jr.'s when your ready just LMK the price.
NewLondon88 said:
They're stepped only because that's a prototype straight out of the mold and
I didn't trim the stopper. I used a step bit to drill, but that doesn't
make it usable for other kits. The length of the mold is sized to
accommodate the individual kit. Some kits use the same tubes. But a Sierra
mold (for instance) won't work for a Sierra Click (and vice versa) as the
tubes are different sizes.

The final mold won't have as much of a stopper in it, as it isn't necessary.
The mold size and the diameter of the stopper both work in conjunction to
keep the resin out of the mold. The length isn't needed, and in fact it may
make it difficult to get the tube in and out. And those tubes can be sharp
on silicone..

I'm working on several kits right now. With the exception of the Slims and
similar, I'll be able to do molds for all the kits currently available within a
couple of weeks. (after testing, feedback, revision etc.)
One of the people testing it suggested larger molds with multiple kits in it.
The one pictured is two Sierras, but a final mold could easily be 6 or 8 as
long as it will fit in the pressure pot :tongue:
Click to expand...
 
I've been holding off making them till I get some feedback on how they work.
They might need some tweaking, and I'm a beginner at casting so I left it to
the pros. There's three sets being tested so far..
 
workinforwood said:
YEA...so where's Roy's and My mold to test? We'll put those babies through a workout! :)
Click to expand...

Roy tested one and posted a review.. I just stopped to figure out how
much it cost to produce these.

WOW! :eek:

Maybe I need to find a different silicone supplier, buy in larger quantity
or consider a different RTV.. not sure yet.

OK, back to cutting masters.. I gots molds to make...
 
when i cast my beetle wings, I used a potato.
I just pushed the tube in to make the plugs, kept going untill it was full
I did not have any moisture leaks.
I did not use the Pressure Pot on this one
I used alumilite
 

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JayDevin said:
when i cast my beetle wings, I used a potato.
I just pushed the tube in to make the plugs, kept going untill it was full
I did not have any moisture leaks.
I did not use the Pressure Pot on this one
I used alumilite
Click to expand...
What are the yellow blocks made out of?

I've previously just used old wood cutoffs, but recently I found out that some kinds of wood inhibit my PR from hardening.

(BTW, happy birthday.)
 
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