Another vacuum chamber

[Mastercaster]

Here is the start of building another vacuum chamber. This piece of pipe is 22 inches long and 12 in diameter on the inside. I am building this for a buddy in Mesa that is going to be my newest resin casting student. He is a professional model builder and does body work on real cars. I have been to his shop and got to see some real high dollar vintage cars. He has purchased items from Model Haus for years and thinks my stuff is Model Haus quality. Now he is ready to gear up for a new challenge of making his own parts. He has been a body man for years as his father was, so I am a bit nervous to teach an old dog a new trick.



I created the start of the rubber gasket. I drilled 3/8 inch holes every two inches around the diameter to create the resin ring that will be part of the front opening. The silicone ring inside and out are 1 inch high and about 1/4 inch thick.



I am creating a form out of aluminum strips to hold liquid resin. This resin ring will be two inches high by about 1/4 inch thick. The pipe itself is about 1/2 inch thick.



I realized that once this type of silicone cures the next layer will not permanently bond to itself. It will delaminate eventually. I pulled the strips out and made forms to create a solid gasket. Fortunately those heavy strips of cured silicone are being used by the mrs. in her new exercise program.



Here is 900 milliliters of silicone poured in to form the new gasket.

[Mastercaster]

I talked to my buddy on the phone awhile ago. He thinks I severely underrate my talent. He thinks I should make these up to sell. He says there are plenty of us old farts that are starting to retire and wanting such a thing to tinker with. So, this project is going to take a bit of a turn. Now I will need to create a pressure pot to make vacuum chambers. Oh, the irony! I think I should create my own line of MASTERCASTER equipment. You can blame Dan and Dale for my being so vain! They are the two that first started calling me the Mastercaster, I was actually kind of embarrassed by it at first. I agreed that the parts I was making were pretty nice. Bob Peoples sent me to the un named guy I am building this chamber for. He is the one that told me my stuff was Model Haus quality. The rest is history. Now if I just did not have to work a real job, I would get more casting done. The other problem I have is I take naps, I get sleepy a lot!

[Mastercaster]

The first MUST HAVE is a level surface to work on. I am using a laminated shelf to work on. Liquids seek their own level and a level platform is the place to start.

[Mastercaster]

It took 6 liters of resin to fill this form. It is 1 inch thick. It will probably take up to six hours for this slab to get to room temperature. It probably reached 150 degrees I built a form that is 18 inches square by 1/2 in thick and then a 1/2 thick form that will be 20 inches square. There is not much left of a freshly opened two gallon kit!

[ScaleModeler]

pretty cool Master Greg.. please keep sharing with us all.

[Mastercaster]

I created these two master parts to latch a lid down.



Here is another view.

[Mastercaster]

I have not worked on this for quite awhile. I made a ring that fits nicely turns, decently and locks in the grooves as dreamed up. Now I don't like the flat gasket. I will attempt to add ridges around it's surface.

[Mastercaster]

I decided to try another idea. I bought a couple of 4 quart pressure cookers for ten bucks each from Goodwill. I cut the top 1 1/2 inches below the top and tossed the rest of the pot. Now I don't have a pot to piss in! A 4 quart pot is just about the right size to fit inside of a 8 inch PVC glued type coupling. I purchased one for twenty five bucks and cut in three pieces on my table saw. I have three, three inch pieces now. I spaced out eight holes and drilled and tapped them for 1/4 20 thread and inserted screws to hold the top in, that is the engineering plan, anyway! The sealing surface was really rough so I had to carefully sand it down nice and flat.









This is the other one. This is where I am at with it. It is tall enough to fit my one gallon storage containers too. I am hoping this will work as a vacuum chamber. I need to drill holes for the plumbing. I am thinking about hole sawing a large hole in the lid to silicone and screw down a clear piece of plexiglass from the inside to have a womb with a view. If this experiment actually works I would like to buy a one foot piece of eight inch diameter clear PVC pipe for the next one but it will cost over a hundred bucks. I would like to purchase a clear coupling and a cap but they are three hundred plus each. I have replacement lid gaskets on the way for each of these too. This is 13 inches deep

[Mastercaster]

OK.....so the pot above did not work. It leaked around the gasket surface and even blew the gasket out. I pulled the metal part out of the plastic and threw the pot away. I had a hell of a time getting it out. I bought this PRESTO model. This is really the lid design that seals the best. I have a 4 and 6 quart that has never failed me. I just don't know what I have been thinking!. I had to buy a 6 inch hole saw to make this nice hole in the lid. I siliconed in a 7 3/4 inch diameter by 3/8 inch thick piece of round acrylic plastic for a window. When I first got this I Put the plumbing on it to convert it to a pressure pot and it worked perfectly. I also installed a new lid gasket before applying pressure. I first started to cut it wrong. I did not do such a great job. This particular model fits perfectly inside the 8 inch diameter piece of PVC pipe.