Neat ideas! You should see if anyone needs that strainer and lid *laughs* I have a pot just like that which was sent to me by my mom years ago but minus a strainer and lid. At the very least recycle it with other metals. :D Curious to see where this goes next. :) - Heidi
Mike I just ordered my gast 523 and I was wondering if you could show all the stuff I will need and how to hook it up. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and I sure like your videos.
I bought me a complete setup for stabilizing and the one thing you will need to keep an eye on is depending on the type of chemical that you are planning to use for stabilizing it might put small hair line cracks in the plexiglass. I had to replace my lid with a glass lid because of the chemical.
Curtis is a great resource, but he's wrong on this. Cactus Juice (and the similar resins) react with acrylic. He used to make his vacuum chambers out of acrylic. Some chemists warned him that, over time, the acrylic would fail and he said they were wrong. He no longer makes his vacuum chambers out of acrylic. He believes Cactus Juice doesn't give off fumes, so it cannot react with the lid. He may be correct that the juice doesn't give of fumes. But, somehow, several of his customers have reported that their acrylic lids have developed hairline fractures. Exactly how this happens doesn't matter. It happens. The solution is a glass lid (or a clear PVC pipe for the sides, which is what Curtis uses for his chambers, now). That doesn't mean your chamber won't serve you well for a long time. It seems to take a long time for the cracks to develop. By then, you may have decided you'd like to upgrade (for greater capacity, if for no other reason). Just be careful. If the lid fails, it can be spectacular!
+David Walser I guess seeing a crack or 2 should give some warning. I guess I could put a gasket on the glass lid. I will need to figure out how to drill a hole in the glass.
I suppose you could dill a hole in the glass, but it would be simpler to plumb the walls of your metal chamber. Go to bestvaluevacs.com and look at their "Glass Vac 3 Gallon Aluminum Vacuum Chamber" for an example. It's not cheap at $145, so I'm not recommending for purchase. (I bought one and like it. Since I'm still employed full-time, I get very little shop time. I'd rather spend that time making projects than making tools for making projects.) Your route will save serious dollars and get someone a taste of stabilizing before sinking a lot of money. An acrylic lid will last a fairly long time. So, I'd suggest you go with your original plan. Just be aware, as Wayne warned, the acrylic lid will need to be watched and eventually replaced.
+David Walser doh! Never dawned on me to drill the pot! Doubt if I will do enough stabilizing to crack an acrylic lid but thanks for the idea to keep the glass and drill the pot. That will be my backup plan.
Hope it works for you. I think Grant Thompson tried that with a fail on one of those pots with a vacuum chamber, but it might work well for you. I think he eventually went with a pressure cooker pot.
Good luck, Mike. But I warn you, you're about to fall deeper into the vortex! Stabilizing wood will lead to dye stabilizing wood, which will lead to double dye stabilizing, which will then lead to casting your stabilized wood into hybrid blanks, which will lead.... (DAMHIKT!) You think you can stop at any time. You can't. Just give up and enjoy the slide.
Interesting process.
Thanks
James
Nice one Mike, can't wait to see the follow up👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Really interesting Mike. Looking forward to seeing how this goes!
Hello Mike, I'm interested in doing this someday. I'll be watching for it in use.
Nice video Mike! Thanks for sharing.😎👍JP
Neat ideas! You should see if anyone needs that strainer and lid *laughs* I have a pot just like that which was sent to me by my mom years ago but minus a strainer and lid. At the very least recycle it with other metals. :D Curious to see where this goes next. :) - Heidi
Mike I just ordered my gast 523 and I was wondering if you could show all the stuff I will need and how to hook it up. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks and I sure like your videos.
I will do another video when I get it together for use.
Keen to know if the perspex lid holds up under pressure
Film to follow!
I bought me a complete setup for stabilizing and the one thing you will need to keep an eye on is depending on the type of chemical that you are planning to use for stabilizing it might put small hair line cracks in the plexiglass. I had to replace my lid with a glass lid because of the chemical.
Thanks, I will keep that in mind. Cactus Juice is not supposed to do that and I understand Stickfast has a similar chemical makeup.
Curtis is a great resource, but he's wrong on this. Cactus Juice (and the similar resins) react with acrylic. He used to make his vacuum chambers out of acrylic. Some chemists warned him that, over time, the acrylic would fail and he said they were wrong. He no longer makes his vacuum chambers out of acrylic. He believes Cactus Juice doesn't give off fumes, so it cannot react with the lid. He may be correct that the juice doesn't give of fumes. But, somehow, several of his customers have reported that their acrylic lids have developed hairline fractures. Exactly how this happens doesn't matter. It happens. The solution is a glass lid (or a clear PVC pipe for the sides, which is what Curtis uses for his chambers, now). That doesn't mean your chamber won't serve you well for a long time. It seems to take a long time for the cracks to develop. By then, you may have decided you'd like to upgrade (for greater capacity, if for no other reason). Just be careful. If the lid fails, it can be spectacular!
+David Walser I guess seeing a crack or 2 should give some warning. I guess I could put a gasket on the glass lid. I will need to figure out how to drill a hole in the glass.
I suppose you could dill a hole in the glass, but it would be simpler to plumb the walls of your metal chamber. Go to bestvaluevacs.com and look at their "Glass Vac 3 Gallon Aluminum Vacuum Chamber" for an example. It's not cheap at $145, so I'm not recommending for purchase. (I bought one and like it. Since I'm still employed full-time, I get very little shop time. I'd rather spend that time making projects than making tools for making projects.) Your route will save serious dollars and get someone a taste of stabilizing before sinking a lot of money. An acrylic lid will last a fairly long time. So, I'd suggest you go with your original plan. Just be aware, as Wayne warned, the acrylic lid will need to be watched and eventually replaced.
+David Walser doh! Never dawned on me to drill the pot! Doubt if I will do enough stabilizing to crack an acrylic lid but thanks for the idea to keep the glass and drill the pot. That will be my backup plan.
with the rivets on the handles i am wondering if they will leak?
fiberinspector they are tight and I see some commercial units a pot with handles.
thanks, if they do let us know, maybe we can find a pot without rivets to use.
Mike I got my Gast 523 rebuilt and it now pulls 27hg I hope that is enough. How much does your pull. Thanks
I think that is as good as you could expect. Mine pulls 25 with the rotary adapter for my vacuum chuck installed.
Hope it works for you. I think Grant Thompson tried that with a fail on one of those pots with a vacuum chamber, but it might work well for you. I think he eventually went with a pressure cooker pot.
Following!
Good luck, Mike. But I warn you, you're about to fall deeper into the vortex! Stabilizing wood will lead to dye stabilizing wood, which will lead to double dye stabilizing, which will then lead to casting your stabilized wood into hybrid blanks, which will lead.... (DAMHIKT!)
You think you can stop at any time. You can't. Just give up and enjoy the slide.
Video is just too short. I want to see you finish the build. Great so far though.