Stabilising Equipment

[Moondoggy]

Tempted to have a go at stabilising some wood, mainly blanks around the bottle stopper size.
Where is the best place to buy a set-up from?
I know about the kits at Turners Retreat and have seen some on fleabay from a company darn sarf that sell the equipment, but not the resins.
Just wondering if any of you guys know of anywhere else that sells decent gear at a reasonable price

 

[Penpal]

Many sources used by members giving beaut results our sources no use to you.

Peter.

 

[wm460]

Paul you can make your own stabilizing pot, some thick acrylic and close cell foam for the seal add your fitting and gauges and bob's your uncle.

 

[Grump]

You may be confusing stabilizing with casting, know what you you want before purchasing anything.
It ain't gonna be cheap for a one off stack of blanks, you may be better to send your stuff to someone who already does it.

 

[Penpal]

Being ever so careful with containers is essential either with Vacuum or pressure one implodes the other explodes and as said weigh up the cost carefully and the safety aspects.

Peter. Plenty of advice in the IAP library by the pioneers using pen blanks..

Peter.

 

[wm460]

Got this off a knife makers forum. Interesting didnt know you could thin resin.


With this method, it's fairly easy to get a nice finish and a decent hardness. For this I use a Vacuum pump (the compressor of a regular home refrigerator, connected on the proper end) with a vacuometer connected to it - it marks 22.5 inches.

The idea is to impregnate all the empty spaces of the wood with the polyester resin.

This is not epoxy resin. It's polyester resin diluted to be liquified enough (10% styrene monomer), as it's more liquid than the epoxy one. Epoxy doesn't get liquified enough (at least with the epoxy resins I have access locally)

 

[Jim]

There are suppliers out there Paul, but there is very little between them all to be honest .. Make a list of what you think you need and do saved searches on ebay, you just may drop lucky ..