Plastic Tubes

[brownsfn2]

Looking for a good place to buy the plastic tubes for tube in vertical casting. I looked at Uline and Visipak. Uline seemed a little pricey and from what it looks like the min purchase at Visipak was a lot.

Any other ideas? I would like to get really thin walled ones.

Thanks for any help!

 

[JohnU]

I'm not sure but I think some were using clear plastic lightbulb sleeves from Menards or Home Depot. The only problem I can see is you might be using more resin than you need in each pour because of their diameter. I know Visipak has a minimum of one case (213 tubes @4')and shipping will put that around $1 per each four foot tube or $.13 cents per blank tube. They also have plastic push in caps which work great for bottoms and pop off after use and are totally reusable. At 3/4" or 7/8" diameter, it will save you lots of resin ( which is where most of your investment will go in casting) and money in the long run if you plan on casting your own blanks. I would suggest asking if there are any others in your area that would split the costs if you don't think you will ever use that many. I thought that way when I started and now I go through a couple boxes of tubes a year. Lol.

 

[navycop]

Do you want plastic so you can see it? I use PVC pipe..

 

[PTsideshow]

How about the un expanded 2 liter pop bottles, baby pop bottles I think they were called on here last fall and winter every body was hot about? That were then just turned off the resin slug?
:clown:

 

[brownsfn2]

Sounds like I might just need to buy a box of the visipak ones.

I purchased some gumball sleeves off of amazon to try it out and vertical casting with a clear tube for Carbon Fiber works great. I think it is easier to keep the resin out of the tube.

I guess I will look a little further but maybe the visipak deal is the best I can do.

Thanks!

 

[Russianwolf]

I'll be buying a pack from visipak in the next couple weeks. I'd be willing to pack some up in a FRB and send them for cost. I'll have enough for at least a year I'm betting.

 

[Jim Burr]

Do you want plastic so you can see it? I use PVC pipe..

+1^
Works just fine.

 

[healeydays]

PVC Works just fine for me too, but always keep an eye out for other solutions. What model number at Visipak were you planning on using? I might be interested in some to try out...

 

[Russianwolf]

Here's the info on the ones I ordered

Size: 7/8" diameter x 4' length
ID: .952"
OD: .976"
Wall : .012"
Length: 48"
Package Quantity: tubes 213 per box

Cost was $190 shipped, so comes out to .90 per tube or about .02 per inch.

Not going to get much cheaper than that.

 

[montmill]

Just curious - those were the light wt. tubes? You then cut them into pieces you want to casting?

Montmill

 

[Russianwolf]

Just curious - those were the light wt. tubes? You then cut them into pieces you want to casting?

Montmill

Yeah, you cut the tube to length and plug one end. You can use it as is for solid casts.

If you want to do tube in casting, you make a plug for that plugs one end of pen tube and one end of the plastic tube, then put a lug in the other end of the pen tube and you are set. A wire to keep the upper end from moving around and that's that.

You can see some of that in here. http://www.penturners.org/forum/f43/demolding-blanks-vertical-clear-tube-casting-113484/

 

[montmill]

Thank you Mike.

Montmill

 

[Russianwolf]

hehehehe

You want tube. I got your tubes. :tongue: