Drying Prior to Stabilization

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That's awesome Curtis. TYVM! This gets me pretty much on my way to a whole new world of learning and experimenting. Soon, hopefully, I will cobble together a pressure tank for casting some Alumilite blanks. I think that will pretty well round out the pen making workshop. I'll have to find out if the local chapter has anything going on. I'm thinking it would be cool to find some camaraderie nearby with similar setups and figure out a way to get together.
 
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If you ordered the CSUSA chamber, try to find a secondary container that will fit inside it. I recommend a heavy glass(though you will here objections to this) so it doesn't eat away at the container. Curtis can tell you what type of plastics will take his juice without damage. If you do this, you can then remove the entire container from the chamber, set aside to soak, and insert another container to start stabilizing while the 1st rests. This is similar to how I do it and it allows you to constantly run batch after batch. Hope this helps!
 
Steve, CSUSA does not have a chamber of their own. I believe he has one of my chambers that they carry. If so, it is 6" diameter and will not fit much of a container inside. As for what types of plastic...you can use pretty much anything common except acrylic.
 
MesquiteMan said:
Steve, CSUSA does not have a chamber of their own. I believe he has one of my chambers that they carry. If so, it is 6" diameter and will not fit much of a container inside. As for what types of plastic...you can use pretty much anything common except acrylic.
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Thanks Curtis. I thought they sold the large pots with acrylic tops, but honestly never really looked. Glad to hear your chambers are available from them as well, I did not know that.
 
NittanyLion said:
MesquiteMan said:
Steve, CSUSA does not have a chamber of their own. I believe he has one of my chambers that they carry. If so, it is 6" diameter and will not fit much of a container inside. As for what types of plastic...you can use pretty much anything common except acrylic.
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Thanks Curtis. I thought they sold the large pots with acrylic tops, but honestly never really looked. Glad to hear your chambers are available from them as well, I did not know that.
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They do sell a metal pot with clear lid from a different manufacturer but it is not their chamber.
 
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NittanyLion said:
If you ordered the CSUSA chamber, try to find a secondary container that will fit inside it. I recommend a heavy glass(though you will here objections to this) so it doesn't eat away at the container. Curtis can tell you what type of plastics will take his juice without damage. If you do this, you can then remove the entire container from the chamber, set aside to soak, and insert another container to start stabilizing while the 1st rests. This is similar to how I do it and it allows you to constantly run batch after batch. Hope this helps!
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Thanks my friend! It's nice getting great suggestions from the experts!
 
Putting together "The Lab" for my mad scientist experiments

This is where things are at the moment. Not quite there... Still need to marry the pump to the chamber. With a pile of wood to go though for good spalt markings and a Lazy Boy it's going to be a difficult decision on what to do next... ;-)
 

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Already I think I could use some help... This is for those who have already done this or are familiar with hooking up the CJ vacuum container lid to a Robinair pump (see photo above). I assume some sort of NPT brass coupler but I am not familiar with thread sizes and all that. Do I just need a 1/2" female - 3/8" female NPT coupler or something else? Thanks in advance! (and I'll send a freebie blank to you as a thank you). Having a great day yet? Me Too!
 
Harpazo said:
Already I think I could use some help... This is for those who have already done this or are familiar with hooking up the CJ vacuum container lid to a Robinair pump (see photo above). I assume some sort of NPT brass coupler but I am not familiar with thread sizes and all that. Do I just need a 1/2" female - 3/8" female NPT coupler or something else? Thanks in advance! (and I'll send a freebie blank to you as a thank you). Having a great day yet? Me Too!
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Send me an e-mail to curtis at turntex.com with your shipping info and an adapter will go out in the mail today. I have the required fittings but at the time of the initial order with CSUSA of my chambers we were trying to keep the cost at a certain point. I am now buying the adapters in MUCH larger quantities and getting better pricing so I am including them on all future chambers.
 
And no, it takes a special adapter to to do it right. You will not find the adapter locally, that is almost certain. It is a 1/4" 45° female SAE flare to 1/4" NPT male adapter that you need. I only know of 2 sources
 
The last remaining piece of hardware to complete the vacuum to chamber setup is almost here. Of all days to have an ice storm just on the day the the package is sitting 3 miles away at the post office and it may simply be too treacherous to deliver. Not sure how the PO handles this as an ice storm and its timing like this is rare. It just changed over to snow. No traffic is to be seen anywhere around here. Maybe it will just come late...
 
Still a no-go with the newly provided adapter. The adapter I received is a male to female reducer and in order to use this I will need a coupler to fix. Remember, I'm flying by the seat of my pants here with no illustrations on the placement. So, it looks like I will be off to the hardware store for a female to female coupler to get it going. Definitely some room for improvement for a seamless setup but I'm sure it's a work-in-progress that will be resolved. It just adds a dimension to the challenge especially when you're disabled.
 
That was it! The coupler from NAPA did the trick. I will probably want to get a more appropriate NPT fitting arrangement. For starters, the pump will require more counter space unless I am able to attach to hose to run parallel to the pump motor body.

With no Cactus Juice in the chamber I was able to pull a vacuum down to 28.5 in well under a minute. I have very dry spalted maple blanks ready to go in but I have one step I will do before my 1st stablization attempt.

Although I have a gallon of CJ I didn't want to use the entire lot on a first try. Who knows what benefit this might bring... In order to cut the juice and catalyst for a smaller amount I'll have to weigh the activator and do some math. Now, however, it's break time... :)
 
Harpazo said:
Although I have a gallon of CJ I didn't want to use the entire lot on a first try. Who knows what benefit this might bring... In order to cut the juice and catalyst for a smaller amount I'll have to weigh the activator and do some math. Now, however, it's break time... :)
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Please do not do this. Just activate the entire gallon and be done with it. That is the way it is designed to be done. Once activated, you have a year shelf life. If you try to split it up and the ratio is off, it can cause polymerization problems. If this happens, unfortunately you will be on your own since the activating directions were not followed.

As for the adapter and it not working...we should have included a female hose barb with it but did not think to. The way you received your chamber is the way CSUSA choose to purchase at the time. We have since changed the spec now include the adapter already assembled to the hose and ready to simply screw on to the pump. Personally, I would return the female/female adapter to NAPA and buy an air hose quick connect and plug with female connectors on each end. Then attach the male plug to the pump fitting and the female quick connect to the hose and you will be able to easily disconnect the chamber from the pump. This is backwards of how an air hose connection woudl be made so keep that in mind. Also, remember, this was an attempt at good customer service and the part was provided at no cost even though the chamber was not purchased from me.
 
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No problem Curtis! Glad you caught me before I messed up. It's far more likely I'll use up the gallon in a year's time. I was just thinking to be extra cautious in the unlikely event of a problem. I was a product tester for many years and I appreciate being able to work directly with developers and their teams. We dealt with large atmospheric chambers (walk-in room sized) and every other sort. We could make it snow inside if we wanted to (not good for open electronic circuits)! We were pretty adventurous types but never got into too much trouble.
 
BTW, my intention is to document my journey into this craft in the event someone might benefit. I don't mind constructive criticism at all, I appreciate it. Neither am I unhappy with CSUSA. Things hapened as they did but others might do well to see that this is a process that you don't just jump into and hit the ground running. As I am open to correction I also expect my business partners, suppliers, etc. to be able to resolve issues as they come up. CSUSA did their part when I had delivery problems and Curtis has gone the extra mile as well. Thank You both!
 
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MesquiteMan,

I am totally new to making my own blanks and am searching through these forums too to figure out what I am doing. What is your advice on keeping blanks from cracking WHILE they are drying in the oven for so long? I am attempting to dry manzanita burl which is quite wet because it was part of the root ball. I've tried cutting into slabs and blanks (although I didn't cut the blanks oversize, which I just learned reading today) and I am getting a lot of cracking. I haven't tried the oven thing yet, but even after sealing this stuff with Anchorseal, I still get some cracks. I'm getting more of this manzanita (legally) and I want to find out how to do this right. Thanks! -- Jeff
 
Manzanita is like trying to dry rocks. You can't throw it in an oven and expect it not to crack. It needs a very gentle drying process, and can often crack after that. It just doesn't want to give up the water easily. You're not trying to stabilize it are you? I can't imagine that stuff will take any liquid in it. No porosity at all.
 
Interesting comments on the manzanita.

That's the first thing I tried to stabilize recently. It seemed to go fine. I had one "crack" on the inside, but I cannot tell if that was from me or already there. Either way, the cactus juice filled it.

I followed Curtis' instructions and just dried it for around 36 hours at around 220F.
 
I found that drying manzanita in a toaster oven at 200F for a couple of hours is not a good idea. The manzanita changed color quite a bit and darkened too much. My cheapo toaster oven that I bought at the goodwill store (which by the way had a recall for catching on fire that I didn't know about) has a dehydration function and I think I will use that for manzanita or dense hardwoods with good color going forward. It may take longer, but I didn't like what the heat did to the manzanita. I'm learning as I go.
 
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