casting plugs

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spitfire

spitfire

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Joined
Dec 22, 2007
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417
Location
bloomsburg,pa.
I want to start casting labels but am not sure where to get the plugs. I would like to buy them locally if I can but if I have to order I will. I know people use dowel rods, I plan to use Sierra kits for the labels, what size dowel do you use. I also know people use cork and rubber stoppers and put a little weight in the tube to keep it from floating. I searched but couldn't find where to actually get the supplies to plug the tubes.
 
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Jason,
Locally, you can buy the rubber stoppers at Lowes, or Home Depot. I order mine from McMaster Carr in packages of 50. I think they are somewhere around $6.00.
 

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I use balsam wood as a plug and put a couple of BB's in the tubes to stop them from floating. You can cut the balsam to the right diameter by pushing a tube into it. The balsam is available at most hobby shops.
 
The ones from Lowes, what dept are they in? I guess I would plug them into the tube and then glue wood to the other end? I didn't think anout the balsam wood, that is a good idea. PTJeff, thanks for the links.
 
The rubber stoppers at Lowes and Home Depot are located in the speciality screw drawers. Before I bought a silicone mold i took a plug cutter and made a 1/2 inch round piece of wood (cut from a paint stir stick, compliments of big box home center), glued it to the cork stopper, one in each end of the tube, set this in a 6" long 3/4 inch tube of PVC pipe, stacked verically in a rack, taped shut at the bottom of course, and poured PR into the tube. The PVC was good for about a dozen casts before it got too hard to release. I still find it easier to just cut the cork off with the saw rather than to pick out the rubber stopper. I guess i'm just too, um impatient to turn.
You will try a few different methods and find one you really like.. to each his own
 
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