casting versus stabilizing

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Grenger

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I am new to this. What different equipment do i need to cast sylicone mold and also to stabilize wood

for casting sylicone mold I need a pot and a air compressor?
for stabilizing I need a pot and a air pump. :rolleyes:

Is this right?

can i use the same pot for both casting and stablilizing.


i am thinking of buying this and modifying it
10 Litre Paint Tank | Princess Auto

will that work.

thanks
 
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Equipment needed;
Casting = Pressure pot and a compressor.
Stabilizing = Vacuum chamber you can see through and a vacuum pump.

For casting Alumilite blanks I use a pressure pot. For that I took a used paint pot and modified it to hold pressure. I use 60psi for casting blanks. So you need a pressure pot and a compressor. I use silicon molds for some of my blanks.

For stabilizing with Cactus Juice I use a vacuum chamber that I can see through. It's important to be able to see what's going on when your stabilizing. I use the type of vacuum pump that can draw the vacuum chamber down to absolute minimum for my altitude. About 29 in. -Hg, which is important in order to get as much of the air out of your blanks as possible.

I hope this helps.

Happy tuning - Tom
 
HamTurns said:
Equipment needed;
Casting = Pressure pot and a compressor.
Stabilizing = Vacuum chamber you can see through and a vacuum pump.

For casting Alumilite blanks I use a pressure pot. For that I took a used paint pot and modified it to hold pressure. I use 60psi for casting blanks. So you need a pressure pot and a compressor. I use silicon molds for some of my blanks.

For stabilizing with Cactus Juice I use a vacuum chamber that I can see through. It's important to be able to see what's going on when your stabilizing. I use the type of vacuum pump that can draw the vacuum chamber down to absolute minimum for my altitude. About 29 in. -Hg, which is important in order to get as much of the air out of your blanks as possible.

I hope this helps.

Happy tuning - Tom
Click to expand...

thank you for the clarification...
if i understand, this is what i am going to do:
purchase a paint tank, modify it and use my compressor to do casting. Since i already have a compressor all i need to purchase is the pot

later i will get a stabilizing pot and a vacumm pump if i want to stabilize.
 
Grenger said:
HamTurns said:
Equipment needed;
Casting = Pressure pot and a compressor.
Stabilizing = Vacuum chamber you can see through and a vacuum pump.

For casting Alumilite blanks I use a pressure pot. For that I took a used paint pot and modified it to hold pressure. I use 60psi for casting blanks. So you need a pressure pot and a compressor. I use silicon molds for some of my blanks.

For stabilizing with Cactus Juice I use a vacuum chamber that I can see through. It's important to be able to see what's going on when your stabilizing. I use the type of vacuum pump that can draw the vacuum chamber down to absolute minimum for my altitude. About 29 in. -Hg, which is important in order to get as much of the air out of your blanks as possible.

I hope this helps.

Happy tuning - Tom
Click to expand...

thank you for the clarification...
if i understand, this is what i am going to do:
purchase a paint tank, modify it and use my compressor to do casting. Since i already have a compressor all i need to purchase is the pot

later i will get a stabilizing pot and a vacumm pump if i want to stabilize.
Click to expand...

one more when you cast resin mold, how long do you leave it the pot.

thanks
 
Gerry - For casting I use Alumilite resin, the model/type I use is Alumilite Clear. When you do a casting you can remove the casting mold from the pressure pot about an hour after you cast it.

For stabilizing I use Turntex resin, the model/type is Cactus Juice. Turntex also sells vacuum chambers.

So you are correct, the equipment I use for casting is different from the stabilizing equipment I use.

Happy turning - Tom
 
Grenger said:
one more when you cast resin mold, how long do you leave it the pot.
Click to expand...

If I cast with Alumilite, I can take it out of the pot after a couple of hours, but I know I can demold after about an hour if I need to.

If I cast with a polyester resin, I usually leave it in the pot overnight.

In either case, I do not leave the air hose connected to the pressure pot. I'll fill it to the PSI I need, and unhook. The pressure will go down over time as it seeps out, but it retains enough pressure to do what's needed until the materials start to harden.
 
thanks HamTurns and Jsolie for you quick response and good info.
I just finished setting un my pot, tested for air leaks (none)

READY TO CAST
 
when doing pens blanks... i see that there is a great deal of different colors.
question:
how do you get the colors, do you start with white resin then add colors or ...
 
You start with the base color (or clear) resin ....

You can add various things to it to add color and effects.

Alumalite doesn't like to play well with water and water based inks, so stay away from adding acrylic inks and dyes ... there are specific types of inks and dyes formulated for use with Alumalite. You can also use powder pigments to add color to your Alumalite, such as powdered chalks.

Another thing people like to add is a bit of sparkle ... just a little bit of Pearl-Ex powder goes a long way!
 
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