Best ten bucks I've spent.

[ausf]

After some great advice from fellow Planeteers for accelerating the cure of ApoxieSculpt, I picked up a small, cheap Rival Crock Pot.

Without the 'crock', this unit gets up to a steady 110 degree Fahrenheit on low, 125 on high. Perfect for curing Aves in about 30-45 minutes. I glued a dowel to a small wooden base that I lift out for placement/removal of parts.

While I was debating of designs for a vacuum chamber, I came across the unused crock and plastic cover and the lightbulb over my head went off. After having my son stand on the lid to see how strong it was (no movement), I drilled a hole, tapped in a 1/4 inch brass nipple and sealed it with Aves Fixit. Then I put a clay dam on the inside on the pot, poured some silicone (blue), stuck the lid on and waited overnight. After a few minutes of cleanup the next day, I hooked up my new 3 cfm Vacuum pump, flipped it on and had a solid 29.5 inches mercury in about 5-7 seconds.

I in no way am recommending this for more than experimentation, it's too small for any type of production, it would certainly be much safer with a flat Lexan cover, but it was easy and fun. I will use it for degassing small batches but I don't expect too much from the lid as is.

(You can see the nice splash of unexpected resin expansion on the inside )

 

[gordy]

Fascinating, two for the price of one Thanks for sharing you setups. I may have missed the post about your vacuum pump, what model and what do they cost ?

 

[ausf]

Hey Gordy,

You didn't miss anything, I forgot to supply that info.

After researching and shopping around (used, cheap, etc.) I decided that a single stage would do (that could pull at least 29 inches) and the going rate was around $100. Ultimately I settled for the Mastercool 062-A. It's 3.0 cfm and pulls to 75 microns. They are a reliable company and it ran $122 delivered from Tooltopia (next day too). Best deal I could find since even a bargain basement pump from eBay would be the same with shipping.

So in the end, with $10 for the crock pot, $15 for the gauge, $15 for the brass fittings and the pump. I'm cooking putty and expanding marshmellows for $162. Oh yeah, it works for silicone and resin too.

 

[gordy]

Impressive cost and performance, great info! here's the link for those interested: http://www.tooltopia.com/mastercool-90062-a.aspx

Thanks Jeff!

 

[ausf]

Whoops, I guess I should've linked it.

Oh yeah, that check valve is worth the price of admission by the way. I've read plenty of warnings of the cheaper ones (which aren't cheaper anyway) spitting oil from the exhaust. I've got enough to deal with when casting, I don't want a vacuum pump vomiting oil on me.

 

[renarts]

"...I'm cooking putty and expanding marshmellows for $162. ..."

And knowing you, I can just imagine how many marshmellows you and the kids threw in there and made expand....

"What else ya got?"

 

[ausf]

Hey Mike!

Am I that transparent?

Between the vacuum chamber and the pressure pot, I let them put those things through 5 atmospheres in about 20 seconds. It was like the Stay-puff man aged 300 years.

It reminded me of the old decomp chamber neosporin gag.