Dyed and Cast Mini Cones

[Bob Wemm]

This one turned out much better, although there is still room for some (lots of) improvement.

I dyed the cones first, under pressure, then set them up in a PVC tube and poured in the resin, then into the pressure pot for approx. 24hrs.
Upon removal from the pot there was some bleeding up through the cones. So back into the pot for another 24 hrs. Then sat outside in the sun for 3 days.

I then removed the block from the PVC and sat that in the sun for another 2 days. By this time I just couldn't wait any longer so I cut the blank in half and drilled a 10mm hole down the centre.

THERE are times in a mans life when he should stop, but I continued drilling even though the cones were still soft and there was some tear out occurring.

This morning I filled the blank with thin CA, let it soak for about 10 minutes then poured out what was left of the CA.

I found a couple of bushes to fit into the holes and turned it down to about 5/8in diameter and had to CA the outside to fill a few holes where the cones had torn out.

Sanded to 1800 then buffed.
Somehow the next lot of cones have to be hardened or stabilised before casting.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?????????

Bob.

 

[wayneryan65]

I think you will like working with Alumilite a lot better. From mold, mix, pour pot to turning in less than 2 hours

 

[robutacion]

Shame about the tear out, I'm also very guilt of being impatient when I'm casting stuff, I get away with it, because if I turn a blank while the whole thing is still not hard enough, is only going to be a sample and if I take the pic immediately after I finish it (not a few days later as I found out...!), the pic looks spot on, and looks exactly the same as after the material harden properly so, I can satisfy my curiosity by seeing what I done however, that sample will need to be re-done a month or so later, when all is hardened.

Sometimes, the material cast on the resin, shrinks considerably, something that will be unnoticeable if the blank is left alone but, if used on a pen too early, it would be disastrous and probably beyond salvage/repair and this is the main reason why I like to put the Resifill I make a side and forget about them until about 1 month as passed, not all castings require that long but at least 2 weeks, is most recommended...!

As for stabilising the cones, it may help considerably if they are properly dry however, I have experimented with some pods, cones, nuts and other materials that doesn't seem to allow the juice to penetrate, I have experienced some that will soak completely, some only a little bit and other that didn't soak at all, as they never changed their weight...!

There is only one way to find out Bob, you may be lucky with those cones and they may allow stabilisation, if not, you have to keep working around that, as you have been so far...!:wink::biggrin:

As for the blank itself, I'm not so sure either Bob, the second pic is a little more clear and I wonder if that is pretty much the barrel pen size already, those cones seem that, they could do better with a lighter coloured resin, and again, it can look a lot better in person, pics not always show the way we want...!

Good luck,

Cheers
George

 

[Marko50]

I think you will like working with Alumilite a lot better. From mold, mix, pour pot to turning in less than 2 hours

Amen to what wayneran65 says. Two hours tops and you will be turning. When it comes to filling the voids in pine cone blanks, I crank my pressure pot up to about 80 lbs. (Don't do that if you have HF pressure pot though). I always take my pine cones, put them on a cookie sheet and dry them in the oven at about 140 for a few hours. It seems to work for me. I have never stabilized the cones and have very few voids to gap fill. Just my .02 worth.