New larger pressure pot.

[matt.mackinnon]

I have given up on my old Princess Auto paint pot conversion as I couldn't get it to hold pressure for very long and after several years of use. I concluded it wasn't worth the effort to rip it apart again to try and find that elusive leak, so I bought a much larger and better pot.


The old one was rated to 45psi and I generally ran it around the 35psi with pretty good results. The newer pot is 4x bigger and so I can now do larger bowel turnings along with bigger batches of burl pieces for pens, pendants and stoppers. To go along with it's bigger size, the tank said it was rated to 80psi but has a sticker on the lid saying working pressure to 60psi.



Is there any advantage or reason to run the tank at a higher pressure than I was before? Will running at 55psi give me a better casting over running at 35psi or does it just come down to personal preferance?

 

[thewishman]

I cast PR and don't notice a difference between 35 and 65psi. Other resins may work differently.

 

[matt.mackinnon]

I probably should had said that I have been unsing the Alumilite Water Clear Casting Resin.

 

[robutacion]

I have given up on my old Princess Auto paint pot conversion as I couldn't get it to hold pressure for very long and after several years of use. I concluded it wasn't worth the effort to rip it apart again to try and find that elusive leak, so I bought a much larger and better pot.


The old one was rated to 45psi and I generally ran it around the 35psi with pretty good results. The newer pot is 4x bigger and so I can now do larger bowel turnings along with bigger batches of burl pieces for pens, pendants and stoppers. To go along with it's bigger size, the tank said it was rated to 80psi but has a sticker on the lid saying working pressure to 60psi.

Is there any advantage or reason to run the tank at a higher pressure than I was before? Will running at 55psi give me a better casting over running at 35psi or does it just come down to personal preferance?

Higher pressures are only necessary when you have wood or other material with very tiny cracks/crevasses/holes, in these cases the more pressure the better chances of having the resin penetrate all parts, I use 100PSI on most castings and I can tell you that recently my main compressor failed to reach more than 60PSI due to piston rings failure, this happened as I was trying to fill the pressure pots with air, unfortunately for me, this castings needed the max pressure possible so the results were far from ideal, many cracks did not fill as a result, something I knew would happen so the timing for the compressor to fail really sucked...!

Cheers
George

 

[Curly]

Well don't leave us in suspense. What kind is it? New? Used? How much. Where did you get it? Other Canucks would like to know. n

 

[matt.mackinnon]

Well don't leave us in suspense. What kind is it? New? Used? How much. Where did you get it? Other Canucks would like to know. n

I had been toying with the idea of getting one of the paint pot from Amazon.com (USA) for a few years but as the Canadian dollar has slowly slipped further away, I was thinking this was never going to happen. I was looking on Amazon.ca (Canada) and found that they had some similar ones and the cost wasn't too bad considering.


I ended up with the YaeTek Commercial 10 Gallon (40 liters) Spray Paint Pressure Pot Tank ($440) that has the manual paint agitator that was easily removed. I used a 1/2 x 1 1/2" stainless steel bot with a pair of rubber gaskets and plate washers to seal the hole. it has worked pretty well. I had initially on the advice of my engineering father tried to tap the top cap where the agitator rod went through with a tapered thread to take a plug, but for some reason that just didn't work. I don't know why but I suspect the plug had a crack or flaw in it. But the bold does hold pretty well and only a small leak (about 3psi over 8 hours). I can live with that until I can work out a better way of sealing it.



The pot itself has an inside diameter: 14.5 in. (370 mm); inside depth: 16.5 in. (420 mm). The bottom is slightly rounded but a piece of 1/4" MDF cut to size seems to work just fine.



I did remove the original pressure relief valve on the unit and replace it with a variable 0-100psi one that I ordered as well from Amazon. Also, I ended up taking the fittings off the regulator and replacing the lot with a new better quality 1/4" ball valve and 1/4" straight piece with a quick connect that I already had.




robutacion: it is funny you talked about blowing your compressor. While I was testing filling this new pot, I did blow up my old Porter Cable 6gal pancake air compressor. But I knew it was just a matter of time before that one went. I had since replaced it with a newer one that wasn't quite so loud and supposedly better made.


I will need to figure out how to do photographs. I have not posted to hear much so I don't know the in's and out's of it. Perhaps when I get a little be better (am currently sick with Double Bronchitis and an inner ear infection) I will get around to the project of casting some snakewood that I got for a song where the end had splintered but I saw what could look really cool in a pen.

 

[lorbay]

Well don't leave us in suspense. What kind is it? New? Used? How much. Where did you get it? Other Canucks would like to know. n

I had been toying with the idea of getting one of the paint pot from Amazon.com (USA) for a few years but as the Canadian dollar has slowly slipped further away, I was thinking this was never going to happen. I was looking on Amazon.ca (Canada) and found that they had some similar ones and the cost wasn't too bad considering.


I ended up with the YaeTek Commercial 10 Gallon (40 liters) Spray Paint Pressure Pot Tank ($440) that has the manual paint agitator that was easily removed. I used a 1/2 x 1 1/2" stainless steel bot with a pair of rubber gaskets and plate washers to seal the hole. it has worked pretty well. I had initially on the advice of my engineering father tried to tap the top cap where the agitator rod went through with a tapered thread to take a plug, but for some reason that just didn't work. I don't know why but I suspect the plug had a crack or flaw in it. But the bold does hold pretty well and only a small leak (about 3psi over 8 hours). I can live with that until I can work out a better way of sealing it.



The pot itself has an inside diameter: 14.5 in. (370 mm); inside depth: 16.5 in. (420 mm). The bottom is slightly rounded but a piece of 1/4" MDF cut to size seems to work just fine.



I did remove the original pressure relief valve on the unit and replace it with a variable 0-100psi one that I ordered as well from Amazon. Also, I ended up taking the fittings off the regulator and replacing the lot with a new better quality 1/4" ball valve and 1/4" straight piece with a quick connect that I already had.




robutacion: it is funny you talked about blowing your compressor. While I was testing filling this new pot, I did blow up my old Porter Cable 6gal pancake air compressor. But I knew it was just a matter of time before that one went. I had since replaced it with a newer one that wasn't quite so loud and supposedly better made.


I will need to figure out how to do photographs. I have not posted to hear much so I don't know the in's and out's of it. Perhaps when I get a little be better (am currently sick with Double Bronchitis and an inner ear infection) I will get around to the project of casting some snakewood that I got for a song where the end had splintered but I saw what could look really cool in a pen.

Very nice. I found this one a couple of years ago. Got it on Craig's list for $30.
It's a 5 gal. Not sure on the pressure as the label was gone. So to test it for my use I filled it with water to within an inch of top buried it in the ground and started pumping. I took it to max compressor 120 lbs. no problem. I think I got this tip from Curly.
I don't use that pressure when casting though. Usually 100 lbs.
It was a Canadian built unit by Webster. Can't find any info on the company but it's old.