December 9, 20205 yr Author Well I just made the decision.... I just bought myself an early Christmas gift for myself. It needed to be done not couldnt hold off on it any longer. Seeing finances could change at any given time with what's going on I went ahead and bought my pressure pot. I DID NOT buy a cheap harbor freight pot. I went with the California Air Tools casting pot. The one that was specifically made for casting. I think that will be the much better option than the harbor freight pot and it will be worth it in the long run having something safe. That's the update. I did order it from amazon so it should HOPEFULLY be here Sunday with shipping how it is especially with the Holiday season in full swing. Thanks for all the advice on this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017BXZ8B4?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image
December 9, 20205 yr Author I’d rather be safe than sorry as well. Especially with the luck I’ve had with harbor freight.
December 10, 20205 yr That should kick your productivity up a notch or two Andrew, great tool for what you are wanting to do.
December 12, 20205 yr Author Got my new pressure pot today. For something that's small and hollow it is quite heavy... How ever its pretty well set up minus the air intake I've still got to put that on. But in the end well worth the money I think. Just gotta figure out how I'm going to make a mold for a blank. What I may do is get a bunch of cheap plastic containers and use those for now. Edited December 12, 20205 yr by AndrewB
January 22, 20215 yr Author Once I got the right fittings for the pressure pot I got it set up. I ran a small test run of air through the pot seemed to work out alright I didn't steep it too long just to make sure I got the fittings on correctly and properly done. How ever I only took the air compressor up to about 50 psi just enough to get a test run in on the pressure pot. I got the air line hooked up into the pot once I figured out which way to dial in the knobs and the ball valves everything was good to go. Just gotta remember to let the air out gently when using for resin for the first time along with letting air in slowly. Either way seems easy enough to manage with out any help.
January 24, 20215 yr Author So far things are looking up. My air compressor can get the pressure that I need for the resin I didn't put the pot past its pressure pop off valve at all. I've got it around I think 35 PSI at the moment on the first test run. NO resin in the pot as of yet testing out how well it holds with pressure. So once I finish up binge watching a couple episodes of my show on netflix I'll see if it still holds the same pressure. Then I think I'll make a mold not sure if I want to do a small mold to test and do like say Christmas ornament sized mold which is probably what will happen for the first run. either way things are looking promising. When I filled it the first time I noticed a leak coming from the gasket sealing ring on the bottom of the lid made an adjustment and now it seems to be holding air quite well. How ever we shall check and see if that's the case in about an hour or so. Not sure if I'll need much more pressure than that honestly.
January 24, 20215 yr 1 hour ago, AndrewB said: its not alumilite The manufacturer probably has guidelines that will give you the best results.
January 25, 20215 yr Author yea not sure if I am going to go with alumilite unless there is a 1 to 1 mix ratio on that. Seems that that is a lot easier for me to mess around with than the mix by 1 to 2 or 1 to 3. The pressure wound up running out on the pot so I've got to work that out as well but I kicked it up to about 40 PSI with the stuff I was using and it seemed to get all the bubbles out of the mix so far but we shall see once I turn it. Edited January 25, 20215 yr by AndrewB
January 25, 20215 yr Author Sweet thats what I'm going to get then. I'll just have to adjust the pressure pot correctly for the proper PSI.
January 25, 20215 yr Hobby Lobby has it in smaller quantities. Great for first try. What I purchased was the standard setup time kit.
January 25, 20215 yr Author I was reading that the lowest recommended pressure is 40 for it some place last night doing some research on it. I find that small kits don't usually wind up giving enough resin I barely had enough resin to fill a cup up with it with the small kits I think it was crystal clear resin the one I had ordered previously. But in the long run I think a gallon kit will be plenty which is what I'll aim to get Id like to get at least two good projects out of it. Now that I'm comfortable running with the pressure pot.
January 25, 20215 yr 24 minutes ago, AndrewB said: I find that small kits don't usually wind up giving enough resin I've been buying this one from Hobby Lobby. I don't do much casting and use it mostly as a void filler- https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Clay-Molding-Sculpting/Casting/Amazing-Resin-Cast/p/80845719
January 25, 20215 yr Author what I'm trying to figure out I've got a resin blank finishing up curing at the moment but I'm trying to work out how I'm going to get two blanks that would be around 6 inches together unless I just do the two 6 inch blanks separately and then do a filler with resin but a 12 inch blank I've found wont fit inside the pressure pot unfortunately. So as you can see still working some things out.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.