Nectarine/Peach pips Crushgrind Shaftless Pepper Grinder WIP

[dai sensei]

This project has been on the go for a while and I had the chance to finally finish it today whilst in Mt Isa. Here's the WIP of how it was done:-

1. Eat heaps of Nectarines and peaches placing the pips in the freezer to dry. This is to ensure they dry without getting mouldy.
2. Place pips in the oven at 120C to dry to 0%MC
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3. Drill each pip with a small hole to ensure all pips' hollow can be filled with resin
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4. Place pips in vacuum tank with Cactus Juice (with some other stuff) to impregnate them, then bake again at 120C to set resin and stabilise the pips.
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5. To cast I use a standard silicon soap mold that is 70x75x240mm. So to minimise resin I use a 70x70 dressed piece of pine and turn down with a central timber dowel (that is ultimately turned away) and timber "ends" that form the tenons to turn each component. The little plug for the pepper grind is formed using a hole drilled with a 50mm forsner bit
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6. Sanded each pip with flats at each end to help glue and ensure pips fit in mold.
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7. Each pip is then glued to the timber with CA (super glue).
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8. Place the timber with pips into mold ready for casting
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9. Pour in clear casting epoxy resin (Megapoxy HX) tinted with pearlex (blue and purple) and tint (black). Then place mold into pressure pot at 75psi (safe working limit of my 20litre pot) for 24 hrs to set
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10. Take mold out of pot and take cast out of mold
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12. Cut off plug cast, that must be turned 90 degrees to other components, and turn components with tenons ready for final drilling and turning.
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13. Turn components and finish (I sand to 600 and finish with 6 coats of nitrocellulose lacquer on outside, Hard Shellac on inside)
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14. Glue in Crushgrind mechanism and assemble
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[Nubsnstubs]

Sorry about the "wants pictures". My finger got ahead of my brain.

Beautiful. Thanks for the tutorial. That's an absolutely gorgeous outcome for a mill. My only concern is how long will the seed last before it starts oozing oils. I ask because I did a Magnolia pod once with Alumilite resin, and I missed 2 seeds. When I turned the pod, the seeds were exposed. I thought nothing of it, and the next day there was a small oil slick around the seeds.

I also doing pretty much what you showed with very small limb sections that have little nodes that look like tiny burls. The current problem is not having the finances to get the proper resin to gitt'r dun. The forms I'm making will be hollow forms and small bowls. Thanks again for posting this. It's imagination run amok............... Jerry (in Tucson)

[turnerted]

A lot of work Neil but a spectacular result.
Ted

[dai sensei]

....My only concern is how long will the seed last before it starts oozing oils..

As the pips were dried and then stabilised, plus finished product coated in lacquer, I am not expecting an issue. I have had a pen out of the same pips for a few years without issue.

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[rtyuiop]

Fantastic Neil. Makes me think about learning to stabilize and cast!

[maddog 62]

saw the grinder being finished unreal
its set a pretty high bench mark

[artme]

Just too good by half old mate!!!:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[double.d]

You had me wondering what the hell you were doing until right to the end :?. Fantastic stuff.

[Tim Creeper]

Fantabulous mate!

[Wood Nut]

Thanks for the tutorial Neil. Cheers, Paul