How to remove bubbles from resin castings with the vacuum chamber

Tools and materials I propose:

Vacuum chamber kit

Vacuum pump oil

Most people would recommend a pressure pot for degassing resin. But if you use a slow setting resin, the vacuum chamber can really work on achieving crystal clear castings.  

The vacuum chamber kit set up is just a stainless steel container and a vacuum pump. Basically the pump sucks the air from inside of the pot and creates vacuum conditions in it’s interior.

In order for the pump to reach high vacuum, it has to be filled with oil. This is a special oil created for high vacuum pumps.

In order for this process  to be successful, you have to use a low setting epoxy resin. In the video I used a resin that has 2 hours open time, 6-12 hours initial curing and 4-7 days final curing.

My resin also uses 100:60 mixing ratio. So I added Part A and Part B and mixed them really well for about 2 minutes. I also added a few drops of transparent red dye. 

I put the resin in the vacuum chamber and turn the vacuum on. Then I slowly close the air release valve. The vacuum starts to increase. The trapped air bubbles inside the resin, start to rise on the surface. Some people release the vacuum once the bubbles burst. I don’t think that’s necessary. Once the container is about to overflow I turn the pump off and slowly open the air release valve. 

I repeat that process a couple of times more. Each time the bubbles are less and less. Each vacuum session lasts for about 5 minutes, depending on the volume of resin I want to degas.

Once you compare the degassed casting with the non degassed one, the difference is pretty dramatic. Especially under different light situations the castings have tremendous differences.

So to me this definitely works with slow setting resins and can produce crystal clear castings!

I hope you’ll find this tutorial useful!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

How to solder copper pipes

Tools and materials I propose:

Propane torch

Propane cylinder

Copper pipe cutter

Solder and flux kit

Many people are kind of afraid soldering copper pipes for DIY projects. But this is actually a pretty easy procedure.

Before you begin you are gonna need a few tools.

Obviously you are gonna need copper pipes and fittings. You will need solder and flux. A propane torch and a propane cylinder. A copper pipe cutter. Don’t buy the cheapest cutter, buy a descent one because most cheap ones won’t work. You will also need a piece of 100 grit sandpaper.

To cut the pipe, place the cutter in place and tighten it just a bit. Then make the first turn. Tighten a bit more and make another full circle. Repeat that process until you gently cut all the way through.

Then sand the touching surfaces you want to solder. This way you clean the joints. Next add the flux and then the fitting.

Assemble the torch. Open the valve a little and light the torch. Then increase the propane flow.

Start heating the joint evenly. When the temperature is high enough, the solder will follow the heat and the flux. Then take a wet rag and clean the joint. This also cools the joint faster.

When possible, add the solder from the top. Let gravity do the rest. 

You don’t have to turn the pipe around, the solder will follow the heat. As you gain experience you will add just the tiny bit of solder you need.

Wasn’t that easy? 

Just a few tools and you are good to go. 

I hope you found this tutorial useful!

See you soon with a new project video!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Experimenting on how to buff ( polish ) acrylic

Last week I made a walnut wood and acrylic pendant. I sanded it until 12000grit but still I couldn’t reach that mirror finish. So I ordered a buffing wheel set and started experimenting with it.

The set I got has three wheels which go from hard to softer. Each wheel has it’s own polishing compound. The set also has two mandrels, one for the drill and one for the lathe. I actually used the one for the drill on the lathe. 

First I mounted the wheel on the mandrel and then on my lathe’s chuck. Before clamping the chuck I centered the wheel with my tailstock.

Then I started buffing through the wheels. The first and most aggressive wheel did not have that much different from the 12000 grit sandpaper.

The second started creating the glass finish. The third did a really beautiful job.

Seeing the pendant in macro shots, it still had scratches left, but those cannot be seen with a naked eye!

I think it was worth it. The result is much better than before. If you don’t have a lathe, you can mount the wheels on your drill. Then mount the drill on your vise you’ll have a buffing system.

I also want to point out that my lathe was set at an average speed during the buffing process.

Before you start buffing you should put on a mask. You don’t want those tiny fibers in your lungs. Especially with the new wheels, fibers fly all around. 

So I call this one a win!

Greece mourns, people lost lives and homes, help if you can

A few days ago, a devastating wildfire created a chaos in Attika Greece. Many lives lost. Homes, cars and natural environment destroyed. I found those official contact information, if somebody wants to help: 1. Offer food and basic stuff ( clothing, medicine e.t.c.) please contact those phone numbers 22940-91455, 22940-99645, 22940-92244 pantopoleio@socialmarathon.gr farmakeio@socialmarathon.gr kentrokoinotitas@socialmarathon.gr 2. Offer hospitality to those who lost their homes contact : 22943-20514 and 22943-20517 3. Offer volunteer work call 2943-20552 There is also a national bank account for the victims of Marathon Piraeus bank: Customer: Municipality of Marathon Bank account: 5120092305477 Currency: EUR IBAN: GR49 0172 1200 0051 2009 2305 477 I found all those info from: https://marathon.gr/

Donating my old X-Carve to Automation Engineering Department

Recently Inventables sent to me a new X-Carve cnc machine. So I decided to donate my old X-Carve

 to Piraeus University of Applied Sciences (Technological Education Institution of Piraeus) Automation Engineering Department. And to be more specific to the Mechatronics-Robotics-CNC laboratory.

The guys there do really interesting work and I think their lab is the perfect home for an X-Carve. 

I want to thank Inventables once again for sending me the machine in the first place.

I also want to thank the people from the Automation Engineering Department.

Many thanks to:

Georgios Chamilothoris

Professor, Department of Automation, TEI Piraeus.

Makis Chatzopoulos

Makis is involved in the laboratory teaching of the 'Mechatronics'

and 'Motion control' courses.

Evgenia

Kostas Ntontos

Eleni Simeonaki

How to make a DIY tripod mount for your smartphone

I made this simple mount using scrap pieces of plywood, a spring, a threaded rod, bolts and nuts.

I removed the plastic piece that connects my camera with the tripod. 

Using a caliper I took some measurements and transferred them on a piece of plywood. I cut the piece to it’s basic size, using my table saw and the cross cut sled.

I cut the grooves underneath the piece using my table saw. This time I completed the cuts with several passes, while moving the fence back between each pass.

I then mounted my rotary tool on it’s routing base. Using a straight bit I routed out the necessary slots. Because the rotary tool does not have enough power for routing, I had to complete the process with several light passes.

I then used a sharp chisel to clean up the piece.

I hollowed the bottom of the piece using a chisel and a mallet.

I then drilled a hole for the threaded rod on my drill press.

I gave the top of the piece a nice chamfer on my disc sander.

I painted the piece black. Black is suitable for photographic equipment because it makes it easier to keep it unseen in the shots.

I then used the bandsaw, to cut the jaws of my mount. I cleaned them up on the disc sander. I used a pen as a sanding block, to sand the inner curved parts of the jaws.

I drilled the holes on the drill press and painted them black as well.

I then assembled all the parts together. I saw that spring mechanism from homesteadonomics channel. So thanks Joe for that! :)

I also added a crew on the back of one jaw. This locks the jaws from moving around.

The mount was now complete and works great. The spring forces the jaws to grab on the phone while with a light pressure they can also release it!

How to make a desktop lamp out of copper pipes and plywood

I wanted to make a copper pipe lamp for a while. I came up with this idea. It’s a copper pipe guitarist. I also used a vintage Edison light bulb.

Before moving on with the build, I want to give my special thanks to Skil, who sent to me an awesome heat gun, which I used to solder all the copper parts of the lamp.

Don’t forget to check #skilhelps hashtag in social media.

Now let’s see the details of the build.

First of all I used a copper pipe cutter to cut my Φ18 pipes to size.

I then lightly sanded the edges of the pipes. The sanding gives a cleaner surface and as a result the soldered joints are really strong.

Then I applied a coat of flux. I assembled the joint and used the heat gun to heat the part. When the flux turns black I add the solder. The solder then melts and with the help of the gravity, flux and heat and it goes all around the joint.

The only copper part I could not find was a cross. I also think it does not exist. So I used a “T” shaped. I drilled a hole. I then used my No2 round file to open up the hole. I then used my rotary tool with a drum sanding bit to open up up the hole even more. I shaped another small part to shape with a file and soldered it on top of the “T”. 

I then applied a couple of coats of metal primer to the whole piece. I then finished it with a few coats of black satin spray paint.

I used a hole saw on my drill press to open up a hole on the bottom of the lamp’s socket. I then glued it in place with hot glue.

Now it was time to pass the cable through the pipes.

I created a vector template of a guitar and using spray adhesive I glued it on a piece of 10mm plywood.

I cut the shape out on the bandsaw. 

I used the heat gun again to lightly heat the template in order to remove it from the wood.

I then used files and sandpaper to clean the saw marks. For the inner curves of the guitar, I used my finger as a sanding block.

The guitar is mounted on the lamp with a small dowel and the cables. I drilled a hole and glued the dowel in place.

I then finished the guitar with 5 coats of clear glossy varnish while sanding between coats.

I assembled all the parts together with a screwdriver and a wire striper. I added a couple of zip ties to secure the guitar and the cable in place.

My lamp was now ready and I am very happy with the way it came out!

How to make a floor standing DIY video light with LED strips

I made this floor standing light using mostly MDF, pallet wood and led strips. It's light is kind of neutral cold. You can choose the LEDs you want in order for the light to have the color that suits your needs. It is also dimmable, which means you can adjust the brightness of the light.

I begun by cutting a few pieces of 10mm MDF to size on my table saw. For the cross cuts, I used my cross cut sled.

I then glued the sides of my frame using wood glue. I used corner clamps to keep things in place,  predrilled holes and added two screws in every corner of the frame.

I used the bandsaw to cut four wood pieces which I glued in the corners of my frame.

I then cut the backside of my light to size on the table  saw. Because the acrylic front was more sensitive I cut it on my bandsaw. My bandsaw has a finer tooth blade and cut the milky acrylic pretty nicely.

The acrylic front and the MDF back are screwed in place. The screws go into these small wood corners blocks I cut earlier. Ofcourse I predrilled before adding the screws to avoid wood splitting. 

The acrylic sheet in the front helps diffuse the light creating better outcome in the image of the video.

I then used the thickest plywood I had to create two pieces that would be screwed on the frame. I taped them together, sanded them flush on the disc sander and drilled a hole through them in the drill press. I then glued and screwed them in place. To keep them aligned I passed through both of them a metal screw.

I then added a cleat on the back of my frame. This acts as a reinforcement to the structure but it also provides a place for to mount the electric parts of the light.

I then made the post of the light. I shaped it on the disc sander.

The post slides in a pocket which I made out of 12mm plywood. I glued and nailed it together.

I then made four identical legs out of scrap pallet wood. I Cut them on the bandsaw and shaped them on the disc sander. I then predrilled and screwed them in place.

I cut a small metal piece to size, using my angle grinder. I drilled a few holes on the drill press. I used a tap to create threads in the middle hole. This way 6mm threaded rod can tight the post of the light in place.

I then designed a knob on a scrap plywood piece and cut it out on the bandsaw. I used my rotary tool to sand it’s curves.

I then flattened one edge of 6mm threaded rod with my angle grinder. I drilled a hole on the knob. I mixed some two part 5 minute epoxy glue and hammered and glued the rod inside the knob.

Video and photography gear is usually black because you don’t want it’s reflections in your video shots. So I painted all the parts of my light with black matte spray paint.

Now it was time to connect the electrics. I layed out the LED strips on my panel. You must cut them in the places where there is a scissors symbol. I then soldered the positive poles with each other and then the negatives with each other. I then connected the power source to the dimmer and then the dimmer to the LEDS. I made a test and everything worked out OK. 

I then added some hot glue to secure the strips better in place. Their adhesive does not always hold well. 

I mounted the power source and the dimmer on the back of my light. At this point I had to disconnect the LEDs. So I passed the cable inside the light through a hole and reconnected everything. I used electrical tape to make sure the soldered parts don’t touch and I also added some hot glue to make sure the cables were nice and secure. 

My video light was now ready and it works really well. Perhaps in future I will add more LEDS to make it brighter. I can also make a couple of other panels with different colors on the lights in order to achieve different color balances in my videos!