Well done Steve , your a tenacious son of a gun mate . 

steve5

Well done Steve , your a tenacious son of a gun mate . 

 

Thanks Steve!  Hee haw..

goldhammer88

Very nicely done.  Way to go, you little problem solver, you.

 

Thanks GH.   Lol.

Gamera

Sorry, got their email the other day and was looking though their website. Figured you'd already seen it but thought it was worth a shot. Hope the pressure pot works out. 

 

No need to be sorry. Appreciate the suggestion. 

Great job on the pressure pot and resulting gear.

Your resilience never ceases to amaze.

Greg

Great job on the pressure pot and resulting gear.

Your resilience never ceases to amaze.

Ditto and a half.

I've only done very simple pour-casting myself...but this whole enterprise has been ridiculously instructive. You suffer...we learn. What could be more useful?

Seriously, great work!

gregbale

You suffer...we learn. What could be more useful?

Ha. That's both funny and true.

Thanks for the laugh.

That's sooooo good to hear!

Congrads on being able to use the rubber silicone compound to make a new gasket first off!

The new wheels look perfect in the photos too! Glad to see and hear you're back on track!!!

OUTSTANDING! Great job on the tank conversion and the resulting parts! Perseverance and determination win again. At this rate you'll be cranking out your own "garage kits" before you know it

I can see it now baxters bits the hobby specialist . 

gregbale

You suffer...we learn. What could be more useful?

Right on brother! It works for me!  

Glad you found all this useful. It's a win win!

Greg

Great job on the pressure pot and resulting gear.

Your resilience never ceases to amaze.

 

Thanks Greg!

Back to the bench

At this rate you'll be cranking out your own "garage kits" before you know it

Laughing. I doubt it, but thanks for the thought!  And thanks for the kudos, Gil. 

Gamera

Glad to see and hear you're back on track!!

Amen brother. Out from the cave and into the light. All just in time for the clocks to roll back this weekend putting me in the dark again. Son of a ....

Thanks Gam!

"Baxter's Bit's"  will be a featured display at...

Little Timmy's House Of Miniature's.

( it's an imaginary hobby shop/ model museum that I hope to actually open someday .... if I can get my wife to leave me alone...)

nice job on the PP. I may have to build  one of those myself.

BTW,  we don't have to turn back our clocks in Arizona .......

Simply awesome mate. I take great strength from your determination, (I'll explain more about this later, but your determination has helped me put new life into an old project). I will also be googleing "Bakster's Bits" and "Little Timmy's Warehouse of Minatures".

littletimmy

Baxter's Bit's"  will be a featured display at...

Hey Tim. Maybe I should collect the meriod of bad casts and send them to you. You can make a display and maybe label it, Baksters Long Long Road.

littletimmy

nice job on the PP. I may have to build  one of those myself.

Thanks and sounds good. It is very easy to convert. The items needed are relatively easy to find and all you need beyond that is an adjustable wrench, teflon tape, and probably a channel lock wrench. That is as long as you don't need to make a new gasket. Some folks don't have the issue I did. This is a budget tank, so quality control is not all that good. I would recommend making a new one either way because even if there isn't an issue, you really need to torque those hold downs when using the supplied gasket. With the new gasket I made, I need far less torque. 

littletimmy

BTW,  we don't have to turn back our clocks in Arizona .......

I like that. Keep an eye out for a home that I can buy. I like Adobe style. 

Dodgy

Simply awesome mate. I take great strength from your determination

Thanks Mate!

Dodgy

(I'll explain more about this later, but your determination has helped me put new life into an old project).

I can't wait to hear more about this project. Don't forget to Do Tell.

Gamera

I was going with BAA-KOO since it sounds like Baka which is Japanese for silly or foolish person!

In Nihongo romanji "baka" ( バカ ) is "bah KAH" although sometimes used as a BAh KAh, with equal emphasis on the leading part of both syllables.

There is a reflex with native English speakers to render it as BAHK ah, and that is not quite right, a bit like rendering "thorough" as "thor ohw" instead of "thur oh."

Wheel on the right is the opposite orientation. Next up is to make a mold for it. Not today though.

Powering along Steve. 

I like it... directional wheels.  Here's hoping the tread teeth are directional too.

goldhammer88

I like it... directional wheels.  Here's hoping the tread teeth are directional too.

 

Oh no. Pretty sure the teeth are all weather, no direction... 

I

steve5

Powering along Steve. 

 

I am on a mission to get past this wheel business. Nemo is threatening to particle beam me if I dont get moving on this. 

That doesn't sound pleasant , better get a move on 

CapnMac82

 

 

Gamera

I was going with BAA-KOO since it sounds like Baka which is Japanese for silly or foolish person!

 

 

In Nihongo romanji "baka" ( バカ ) is "bah KAH" although sometimes used as a BAh KAh, with equal emphasis on the leading part of both syllables.

There is a reflex with native English speakers to render it as BAHK ah, and that is not quite right, a bit like rendering "thorough" as "thor ohw" instead of "thur oh."

 

Thanks Captain! I took a few courses in Japanese but I kinda sucked at it... 

Bakster: Please get a move on - I don't want to see you vaporized!!! I like the wheels, looks like she's coming along well for me. 

Gamera

Bakster: Please get a move on - I don't want to see you vaporized!!! I like the wheels, looks like she's coming along well for me. 

I'm shakin the tree boss. I'm shakin it. 

Progress goes fast when you know what to do. The mold is in process. The first half of the mold was poured last night. Sadly, it looks like I need to order more silicone. I used up too much with all the redos! 

Update. Oh and making the pressure pot gasket didn't help. That sucked up a bunch.

Keep shakin mate cos we're a watchin........... No pressure mind you

Speaking of wheels, I think it was Capn that mentioned 3d printing. There are a few videos out there on making 3D wheels, but I happened to watch this one. It shows the potential of this technology. It could have made quick work of wheels, if I had the equipment, and the knowledge to make it happen. Maybe someday and it when it gets easier.

I should have an update this week on the other casts.

Part 2, The Extended Version, Casting My Wheels

Well, hopefully, after this post you won't have to see more from me regarding casting.

Below: The master is set onto Sculpey Clay, the pour spout and vent mounted, undercuts filled prior. The worst part of the whole process is:

1. Kneading the clay to a soft and pliable state. The stuff stiffens as it sits. It's a major workout making my hands strong. Now, I can crush rocks with a simple squeeze. 

2. Making these undercuts are a PITA. It is time consuming business.

I should mention that I used hot glue to mount the vent and the pour spout. Previously, I used CA, and I found that the silicone remained tacky in the areas where I used CA. I suspect the CA hindered the cure. The hot glue worked perfectly. 

Below: The walls are made from foam board. A trick I learned from YouTube is to not score the foam all the way through. It works great to score the paper on the outer side, then bend the foam to make the corner. The advantage of this is that the inner paper layer remains intact, and this keeps silicone from leaking out. In short, you don't have to hot glue those corners. In the end, you need to seal only one corner.

 Below: Side 1 of the mold is poured.

Below: The mold is flipped, the clay base is removed, and including removal of the undercuts. This step is a pita too because the clay is crumbly, and it takes time to clean it all out. Then a thin layer of vaseline is applied to all areas silicone.

Below: Sammie CAT at the Vet for checkup. Turns out he has thyroid issues. Nothing too serious, YET.

 I learned some things with regarding the PBJ method, and using the low viscosity resin:

1. It is best to make the syringe spout on the deeper side of the mold. You can fill that side of the mold with the mold facing up, as shown. Notice the syringe is attached from below. I press the plunger filling the mold from below. This forces any air to the surface that may have been in the spout, and it gets vented before closing the mold. I then pour a small amount from the mixing cup into the other mold. I then flip that mold onto the deeper side. You lose less material doing it this way. I also find that there are less issues with air pockets this way because the deeper side is full, and nothing is lost in the flipping process. I learned this the hard way.

Then you band the mold, and I inject more resin into the mold until the resin comes out of the vent. Then it's ready for the PP. I have three minutes to do all this, from mixing all the way to clamping and pressurizing the pot. It's quite the race, and there is no room for error.

2. Whatever you do, do not remove and reinsert the syringe and inject more resin into the mold after it is closed. You will be forcing air into the mold. There will always be an air pocket ahead of that syringe and you'll force that air into the cast. I also learned this the hard way.

Below: The mold is split open.

Below: And done.

Finally--I can move on!  Jeez.