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Can you guys give me a quick lesson and idea of cost to set up for stabilising wood.
I think someone said to get the paint pressure pots from supercheap when on sale.
I have a compressor here already which will probably be suitable.
So educate me fellas.
Go to the wood turning department,Quote:
Originally Posted by DSEL74
Turn left at the pen turners,
And then look for the casting stabilising section.
I think it's on the top shelf.
Enjoy
Hmm casting uses pressure, stabilising uses vacuum, and you must be able to see what's happening. See here for a lot of useful info https://www.turntex.com/product/cact...resin-and-dyes
So set-up wise :
vacuum tank ~$200
Vacuum pump ~$150
stabilising resin ~$180 per gallon
oven (to dry wood, it needs to be 0%MC, then oven set the resin after vacuuming) ~$100
and that is just to get you started. Then you get into dyes, different timber sizes hence multiple vacuum tanks, more resin etc etc etc
If you want to get into casting, that's where you need a pressure pot. So :
Paint pressure pot ~$100
Convert paint pot to pressure pot, piping/fittings etc to tank ~$100
Compressore- you have one, but otherwise ~$150
Molds (making your own out of cutting board) ~$50
Resin, starting with PR $50 say
Dyes & colours, to start off $50
Again, just to get you started. Then more resins, different resins, more molds, more colours etc etc
So really for both, minimum ~$1000 to start with but rapidly increases, just like woodturning, starting with a lathe and then goes way beyond.
what neil
said and then some
depends on how badly you get bitten by the bug
Thanks guys.
Do you Guys by your Cactus Juice from the USA direct and do you buy your chambers also fro there?
Is there a local seller?
Has anyone built their own vacuum chamber?
watching
Timberbits sells Cactus Juice. I order from both Timberbits and Curtis directly, it just depends on how much a hurry I'm in, and the US$ to AU$ exchange rate. If ordering from the US, order 2 gals at a time, they will fit in a std large box with some dyes and extra catalyst stuff (I always order extra from Curtis), that saves you a bundle in postage.Quote:
Originally Posted by DSEL74
Yes, I built one out of Acrylic (you can't use polycarbonate) and it works well (there's a thread on it here some where), but I don't like leaving the CJ in it for long (it does eventually damage it) but it's still working fine. I have 3 chambers, 2 of Curtis's and the one I made.Quote:
Originally Posted by DSEL74
Attachment 404778
The one I use the most is one of Curtis's clear tube ones, 600mm long, but no-one in Aus sells them anymore (043Turning used to). I did try getting clear PVC here in Aus to make my own but the ones I could get then had too thin wall thicknesses. Do a search you may have more luck. Once you get the tube the ends are easy.
There are a few stainless steel pots with polycarbonate lids around on Ebay, but I do not recommend them.
I also have both pressure and vacumm chambers and i will say that unless you intend to do alot of this sort of stuff like I of course did LOL now find I don't use it much at all it is a hell of a lot to out lay. However I am still glad I have it.
As for 043 Turning I think they have gone to the big woodturning group in the sky :) I have not seen or heard anything from them in 12 months or more but I hope they are still around somewhere as we need small business
Cheers Ian
What wall thickness pvc is required for the chambers and does it vary with the chamber size?
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Yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by DSEL74
Hi,
Ive been following this for a while now and and looking at building one myself (or buying one from turntex if it ends up being easier). There is a guy on youtube called dema who has a video on building a chamber out of clear schedule 40 PVC pipe (our class 12). The problem I have is that I cannot seem to find it anywhere here in AUS. If anyone has any ideas where I can get it I would be really appreciative. You mentioned that you have chambers out of acrylic. Do they eventually react with the cactus juice?? I can get acrylic pipe with wall thickness between 6mm and 8mm but if its going to react I may as well stick to the PVC plan.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris
Where are you Chris
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I built mine out of acrylic, but the CJ does slowly dissolve it, and why it needs to be washed out ASAP. Mine is ~25mm thick though, although rectangular, so needs it. Pipe is the most efficient shape but 6-8mm acrylic is probably not thick enough given the dissolving issues, PVC is certainly a better way to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by sells07
I found a supplier that sells PVC pipe (https://www.abstractplastics.com.au/...532mm-3m-sch40) but only in 3m lengths and not cheap. I bought one of Curtis's PVC tube chambers 600mm long ages ago and I use it all the time reverting only to my old acrylic one for larger blocks. He has developed a new one 8" one though now, so tempting for me, but $'s are short and I already have 3 chambers and have trouble affording the CJ to fill them :-Quote:
Originally Posted by sells07
Very helpful thread. I am looking at building a vacuum chamber soon to stabilize blackwood blocks and I wondered if anyone can give me a ballpark number for the volume of resin (cactus juice ) used per volume of wood (medium to higher density blackwood)? Thanks.
Regards. Jason.
Higher density acacias take very little. You will waste more CJ cleaning up than the blanks will take up (depending on how many you do of course, but the more blanks the higher the wastage anyway).Quote:
Originally Posted by TasSculptor
You do need to dry very carefully, it can take a long time to get the centre 0%MC dry, so they should be cut as small as possible. Any moisture what so ever will cause the small amounts of CJ adsorbed to bleed out again in the cooking process. The small size will also help with the vacuuming, as even for knife scales and pen blanks, it can take days. The soak time after vacuuming should be 4x vacuum time as a minimum, rather then the usual 2x (I often vacuum all weekend and then soak for the rest of the week for high density stuff like our desert hardwoods).