Thread: Taking The Next Step (Casting)

Neil after your comment regarding having a stronger glued joint under vacuum I thought it wise to change it. I could have gone with a number of different joints but chose the dovetail for strength although I probably should have went for a larger dovetail
John I probably should have done all the cutting and machining on the CnC however I done them all on my Gifkin router setup Might need to come up with a drawing to do them on the CnC though

Now to work out what and where to buy all the little brass vacuum fittings so I can try this baby out under vacuum

Cheers
Tony.

Very impressive. That's one very cool looking fish ta vacuum chamber Tony.

One serious looking chamber there Tony, hope it works first up after all that effort.

Today I put the chamber under vacuum. It failed at maximum vacuum!! but it was my fault due to the way I installed the bottom of the chamber.
I changed the way I was putting the chamber together and left my self short in size to recess the bottom into the sides which would have given the base of the chamber a lot more strength.
No damage done though, so I will now try to pick up a larger piece and recess the side panels to take the new bottom piece
The rest of the chamber, sides and top was rock solid and will hopefully stay that way when it is again put under vacuum.

Cheers
Tony.

Bummer Lucky no major damage

If the sides are all finish flat at the bottom, you should be able to use a base sheet from outside wall to outside wall, no need to recess and more strength

Cast a few blanks today, first in a while !! started with a four colour mix for the Green/Blue ones using a combination of solid, Pearl-Ex and Fluro/Pearl-Ex pigments and very happy with the end result.
So then I thought I would like to try and create some blanks that had the look of fire so five colour mix and some different techniques and this was the outcome.
Cannot wait to see the turned and finished pens I reckon they should look pretty awesome

Cheers
Tony.

Lookin good there Tony I am just not organised enough for multi colors hehe . cheers ~ John

This thread has been a very excellent read
Thanks everyone for their contributions

Glad you enjoyed the read Sawdust !!

I done some more casting today making a few square blanks using various pigments again. Solid colour purple, Reflex Violet Pearl-Ex and Silver Pearl-Ex.
The others where done using painted tubes and coloured fiberglass braiding thanks to Gawdelplus however I need to perfect this process a bit better before I would be happy enough with them as they had a few very small bubbles in them. I also turned one set of the braided ones and when I pressed the pen components into the tubes it seemed to stress the the ends of the casting and caused some imperfection to the ends of the blanks. But I am now on the right track and will do a few things a little different the next time when doing these castings.

Cheers
Tony.

Hmm yes, very interesting

Hi All,

Some more blanks that are very Interesting hopefully
Turned one of the more fiery looking blanks today to see what they look like and posted some photos of the finished Pen in the pen turning forum.
Also done a few castings under pressure today, casting some pods. They appear to have turned out ok but the proof will be in the pudding once they are turned I guess. Should have a couple of photos of the pod blanks tomorrow once they are out of the pot

Cheers
Tony.

More and more creative Tony hehe! lookin good to me , soon be able to do all your own creative work cheers ~ John

Well here are some photos of my recent pod castings. I could not wait so had to cut one in half and will make a pen as soon as I can.
Also ordered my dehydrator and heated ultrasonic thingies to assist in getting my castings as good as I can get them

Cheers
Tony.
DSC02532.jpgDSC02533.jpgDSC02534.jpgDSC02536.JPG

Hi, Does anyone have some clues on how to affix paper/stamps/logos etc to brass tubes prior to encasing in clear epoxy? Would paper need to be sealed prior to immersing?