I think I'm ready to get started...

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Craftdiggity

Craftdiggity

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...I got my Simlar41. I have my trial pack of 99 Mica colors. I have silicone cups and pans for mixing. I made a couple of silicone molds and I made a rack of PVC tubes cut to size to be used as molds as well. That should do it, right?

I am wondering whether I need to get/make a pressure pot. What exactly are these and how do I go about making one?
 
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I found this article in the Library to be very helpful to me.

<edit> Old article. My Bad.
If building your own pressure pot is unsafe, maybe it should be removed from the Library.
 
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Craftdiggity said:
...I got my Simlar41. I have my trial pack of 99 Mica colors. I have silicone cups and pans for mixing. I made a couple of silicone molds and I made a rack of PVC tubes cut to size to be used as molds as well. That should do it, right?

I am wondering whether I need to get/make a pressure pot. What exactly are these and how do I go about making one?
Click to expand...


Chris,

Remember that GREAT show and all the money you made??? INVEST some of it in tools. If you MAKE a pot and it blows up when pressurized, you won't be doing shows for a WHILE!!! Not to mention your health coverage deductible is probably higher than the pressure pot cost!!!

(no fee for pain and suffering--self induced!!)

Harbor Freight paint pot, on the internet, about $100 including freight.
 
well, A good answer to that is probably "not right now". A pressure pot is a nice thing to have, it is mandatory for some types of casting, and never really hurts the rest, but you can cast perfectly wonderful PR blanks without one. Warm your resin a little to thin it out, pour carefully to avoid introducing bubbles, don't try to get too intricate with multicolor swirls and such then let the bubbles float to the top of your mold and you can get wonderful solid castings to turn.

The Pressure pot is mostly to further reduce the likelyhood of bubbles, and specifically to minimize the inevitable bubbles when you are casting other items like burl caps, pine cones, and small children into the resin. No, wait, that last one was for something else. Anyway, a few bubbles in a solid pr blank is not the end of the world anyway, most will turn away, and if there are a few in the final pen, they can be filled with tinted ca or epoxy, or they can be turned into a "feature" by adding contrasting agents.

Bottom line, Don't put off all the fun of casting just because you don't have a pot, jump in and get started. If the smell gets strong enough, I find that some Pink Floyd goes really well with it and a beer chaser. :)

Be sure to post some pictures.

James
 
James is right , you don't need a pressure pot to start casting . I haven't used mine in ages . Heat your resin and mix the mica into it , start with single colors first . Let the warmed resin sit for a while to let the bubbles caused by mixing the colors rise to the top and pop . Then very gently but throughly mix in the catalyst and pour into your molds slowly so you don't make any bubbles while you pour . The heated resin will kick very quickly so watch it and get your swirls just before it gels .
 
Yep indeed... you are super close to getting your feet wet!

Some blue painters tape for the bottom of the pvc molds. Duck tape will work, but will seperate due to the heat of the blanks curing, so the blue painters tape is best i have found. It leaves no sticky mess...

And as the penmaking masters have suggested, don't forget to gently warm the resin to 145 or 150 TOPS. This will make it kick super fast so be quick about pouring. Nothing sucks worse than ending up with a pendant blank hockey puck that was supposed to be a couple of pen blanks!


One other thing..... HAVE FUN!!! And don't throw away any of your mistakes. What you think is a mistake now might end up being the perfect material for a finial or something... Like Butch's siggy says.... It isn't a mistake, just a happy accident!!
 
You can easily cast PR without a pressure pot. A way to preheat the resin and a simplified way to vibrate the mold does make life much easier with PR....... So does some type of breathing apparatus.......This stuff stinks!!!!!
 
jskeen said:
Bottom line, Don't put off all the fun of casting just because you don't have a pot, jump in and get started. If the smell gets strong enough, I find that some Pink Floyd goes really well with it and a beer chaser. :)

Be sure to post some pictures.

James
Click to expand...


I find Pink Floyd goes better with CA fumes....For a really good time try some Lead Zepplin with PR fumes and tequila.... Ahhhh!
 
You may not need a pressure pot. (BTW: They're $79.99 at HF right now... Your choice of 3gal or 5gal on wheels!)

I don't use one and only very rarely get pinholes.
 
Glass Scratcher said:
You must have not been around back then or were smellin' the PR fumes not to know they are Led Zeppelin. :wink:
Click to expand...

I was definitely around back then.... It wasn't EXACTLY the PR fumes I was sniffing back, then....BUT I still kant farging speall:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
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