Shane
Member
After reading everything I could find on casting blanks I decided to take a stab at it. Hopefully I did it right, if I didn't, please let me know.
I built a HF pressure/vacuum pot a while back follow direction posted here on this site ... thanks for the help. I also built a vibrating table yesterday that is large enough to set the pot on in hopes that it would help get rid of the bubbles and also allow the resin to work into the material better.
I want to try and cast some feathers so I got into my fly tying gear and found some peacock herls that I figured would work. I painted a brass pen tube black and turned some plugs for it and hot glued it all to a small piece of aluminum that was mounted to a vice.
I took 3 herls and tied it off to one of the plugs, wrapped it around the tube and tied it off on the other end.
I did this a few times and decided it was going to take all night so I started using about a dozen herls at a time, it went much faster. I kept wrapping until the tube was completely covered.
I pulled it off the plate and cleaned it up with some scissors... It don't look too bad.
I made a mold using some sheetmetal and aluminum tape.
and stuck in the blank. A little hot glue on the plugs held it in place.
I poured some clear resin into a mixing container and stuck it in the vacuum pot. I pulled a vacuum on it for a few minute while it was sitting on the vib table.
I took the resin container out of the pot and set it on the vib table and mixed in the catalyst. The vibrating table seemed to work great. Any bubbles I could see while mixing would float right to the top. After mixing I set the mold on the table and slowly poured in the resin. Then I stuck the mold in the pressure pot and put it under 60 lbs pressure and vibed it until it set up.
After it cured I took it out of the mold and looked for bubbles, couldn't see any
I popped out the plugs and mounted it to the lathe. This is the first time I have turned anything other than wood and I was quite pleased at how easy it turned and sanded. I gave it a couple coats of CA and hit it with the buffer.
The finish looks great but I am not real thrilled with the way the blank looks. The feathers really darkened up, but overall I am happy with the way the casting turned out. I learned a lot and I look forward to trying out some other materials.
Thanks for reading .. Sorry the post was so long.
Happy Turning,
I built a HF pressure/vacuum pot a while back follow direction posted here on this site ... thanks for the help. I also built a vibrating table yesterday that is large enough to set the pot on in hopes that it would help get rid of the bubbles and also allow the resin to work into the material better.
I want to try and cast some feathers so I got into my fly tying gear and found some peacock herls that I figured would work. I painted a brass pen tube black and turned some plugs for it and hot glued it all to a small piece of aluminum that was mounted to a vice.
I took 3 herls and tied it off to one of the plugs, wrapped it around the tube and tied it off on the other end.
I did this a few times and decided it was going to take all night so I started using about a dozen herls at a time, it went much faster. I kept wrapping until the tube was completely covered.
I pulled it off the plate and cleaned it up with some scissors... It don't look too bad.
I made a mold using some sheetmetal and aluminum tape.
and stuck in the blank. A little hot glue on the plugs held it in place.
I poured some clear resin into a mixing container and stuck it in the vacuum pot. I pulled a vacuum on it for a few minute while it was sitting on the vib table.
I took the resin container out of the pot and set it on the vib table and mixed in the catalyst. The vibrating table seemed to work great. Any bubbles I could see while mixing would float right to the top. After mixing I set the mold on the table and slowly poured in the resin. Then I stuck the mold in the pressure pot and put it under 60 lbs pressure and vibed it until it set up.
After it cured I took it out of the mold and looked for bubbles, couldn't see any
I popped out the plugs and mounted it to the lathe. This is the first time I have turned anything other than wood and I was quite pleased at how easy it turned and sanded. I gave it a couple coats of CA and hit it with the buffer.
The finish looks great but I am not real thrilled with the way the blank looks. The feathers really darkened up, but overall I am happy with the way the casting turned out. I learned a lot and I look forward to trying out some other materials.
Thanks for reading .. Sorry the post was so long.
Happy Turning,
