Help before I ruin another cast blank

[Carl Fisher]

I have a few snakeskin cast blanks that have resin that built up inside the tubes. I tried to clear one out by running a smaller sized drill bit through to clean out the bulk, but it grabbed and cracked the cast. Filing it down seems to risk filing the tube out of spec which would cause the pieces not to fit snug.

Not sure what else to try. I guess maybe progressively larger dowels with sand paper, but again I'm afraid of sanding too much of the inner wall of the tube on the far side if it's angled in any way.

 

[dexter0606]

Carl
can't really suggest anything other than what you've tried. It's happened to me on occasion. Now I fill the inside of the tube with Playdough. If any resin does sneak in past the mold stoppers it can't get any farther than the Playdough. Then it's easy enough to trim out with an Xacto knife

 

[Carl Fisher]

Yeah, unfortunately this was a bit too far in for an xacto to be of much help.

I ended up cutting each side to about a 1" section that I'll segment into something else.

The other set of blanks I had was close enough to the edge that I was able to file down enough and then scrape the remaining.

 

[socdad]

I use a 'tiny toothpick'
http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/prodlist.jsp?Mode=Cat&Brand=&CatalogName=&PriceStart=&PriceEnd=&Feature=&Cat=80&SearchText=tiny+toothpick&filter=false&range=1&list=12&order=SoldQuantity&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

 

[CaptG]

I use a dremal with a small sanding drum and sand the inside of each end actually taking some of the brass from the id of the tube off. Then I glue the mating parts in with loc-tite. No worry about cracked resin this way and this also eliminates the "fog" look on the ends when the brass tube expands when pressing in tight parts and stretches the skin making it look lighter colored on the ends.

 

[commercialbuilder]

I have had luck with a repairmen's reamer, they are long with a gradual taper.

 

[mhbeauford]

A round rattail file works very, I use them often to clean up the tubes after glueing.

 

[ironman123]

I second the rat tail file (coarse) for getting stuff out of tubes. Be gentle.

Ray

 

[Brooks803]

Transfer punch. Usually the pr pops right out.

 

[sbell111]

I use a properly sized tranmsfer punch or a properly sized milling tool. That being said, I have filled my tubes with PR on a few occasions while casting snake blanks. I drilled those out using a drill bit smaller than the tubes. I can't imagine that this would cause a problem with the snake castings unless you either hit the tube with the drill bit or you didn't trim the snake prior to casting so it was overhanging the tube considerably.

 

[plantman]

:knife: Carl; I use a tapered reamer to clear out any resin or glue that gets into the tube. It also makes a small taper on the end of the tube that relieves pressure and makes it easy to start your fittings. This method will also round the end of the tube and take out any burrs that may have occured when squaring the blank. Peace !! Jim S

 

[Donovan]

All the suppliers of casting materiel sells release agent. Paint the inside of the tube with release agent before you plug the tube and if any resin leaks in to the tube you can basically just wipe it out. I use it all the time when I bed rifle stocks
Donovan

 

[NotURMailman]

I borrowed the idea of another member here and got some chain saw blade sharpening files from Harbor Freight, the three piece set was $6.99 or $9.99 (bad memory). I haven't tried casting, but I have gotten sloppy with the epoxy once or twice. You can see the shiny brass filings on the file when you hit the tube. Just go slow and you won't go far enough to hurt anything.