Problems with pressure pot "blowing gasket"

[MesquiteMan]

I have a brand new HF pressure pot as well as an older pot of unkonwn origin. The older post has a brand new gasket in it. Both pots will occasionally "blow the gasket" and loose all pressure all of a sudden. It does not seem to matter how much pressure. Just this evening I was casting something at 40 psi and the gasket blew and let all the pressure out. Ruined my casting due to the rapid decompression and formation of bubbles. Of course I did not notice it until it was already set.

Any suggestions? I have removed the gasket and re-seated it in both pots. My resin is not getting too hot so that should not be the problem. I am tightening the hold downs as tight I can can by hand. It only happens every 5 or 6 casts for some reason.

What could I be doing wrong? It is obviously an ID 10 T error since it happens with both pots. Any suggestions?

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Don't have an answer for you Curtis but it seems very strange to me as I have used my HF pressure pot to cast my cactus blanks and some snake skin blanks maybe 30-40 times and have not blown a gasket yet and I use PR which you would think would be more corrosive than Aluminite. Are you sure your pressure gage is correct? Have you tryed putting vasoline on the gasket before installing it?

 

[MesquiteMan]

Have not tried Vasoline but have sprayed the gasket with WD40 which seems to help. I will try the vasoline to see how it works. Even if the pressure guage is off, which I am pretty sure is not the case, the working pressure of the pot is u to 70 psi so I really woudl expect it to hold up to 70 psi. My other pot has a working pressure of 60 psi and is much more heavy duty than the HF pot and it still does it. Hopefully the vasoline will do the trick. Thanks for the suggestion.

BTW, how are you cactus blanks coming along? I sure hope you a making a lot of money on cactus pens! I just do not have the time to try to sell any! I wish I did.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Curtis, My understading of WD-40 is that the WD stands for water deterant and has an oil weight of only 5 and is a very short lived product once sprayed. If you are useing WD-40 on the gasket you might spray it every time before useing the pot.


Thanks for asking about the cactus blanks just poured some more yesterday and have some in the pot now, I am trying to get enough ahead so when I retire in Jan. and start doing shows I will always have 2-4 cactus pens to sell. I think I have finally gotten minumal bubbles to none in the cast. I put the resin in the pressure pot with out cat. for an hr at 40 psi, than add the cat. pour into the mold with the cactus slowley and back into the pot at 35 psi for 3-4 hrs. The last 3 pours have been bubble free and have not used a vacuume

 

[MesquiteMan]

Switch to Alumilite and you will not have nearly as much work! I get no bubbles and all I do is pour into my mold and put in the pressure pot. I let it sit for 15 minutes and then remove. In an hour I can be making a pen!! No vacuum, no smell, and no worries of blowing up or breaking a blank!!

 

[Russb]

"Curtis, My understading of WD-40 is that the WD stands for water deterant and has an oil weight of only 5 and is a very short lived product once sprayed. If you are useing WD-40 on the gasket you might spray it every time before useing the pot."

Trivia Answer:

What does WD-40 stand for?
WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. That's the name straight out of the lab book used by the chemist who developed WD-40 back in 1953. The chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosionâ€"a task which is done by displacing water. Norm's persistence paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try.

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

I was close! Hopefully I will perfect casting by my 40th try but I doubt if I ever will fully perfect it

Originally posted by Russb
<br />"Curtis, My understading of WD-40 is that the WD stands for water deterant and has an oil weight of only 5 and is a very short lived product once sprayed. If you are useing WD-40 on the gasket you might spray it every time before useing the pot."

Trivia Answer:

What does WD-40 stand for?
WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. That's the name straight out of the lab book used by the chemist who developed WD-40 back in 1953. The chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosionâ€"a task which is done by displacing water. Norm's persistence paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try.