Machine Chambers Versus Pressure Pots in Mold Making

I am often asked if a vacuum chamber or a pressure pot is required in the fine artwork of mold making and casting. As with so many answers in life, a "yes" or "no" answer is not possible without first learning more information about the task. Except for water clear resin, where tiny air bubbles will obscure the clarity of a part, and such equipment is a must, my answer most often is, "It will depend. " That is ineffective, I am aware. So the objective of this article is to provide the specific answer you are searching for.

For informal mold making and casting, you can pour your materials in a high, narrow stream into one part of your mold package to reduce the inescapable air bubbles. This allows air to escape as it travels down the narrow stream when you are flowing. Vibrating the mold, or mold box helps, as well, either mechanically, by knocking on it with your knuckles, or by inserting a vibration source against the mold box, such as a hand sander. These types of are all great studio tricks that will definitely reduce air bubbles. Nevertheless they do not eliminate them entirely. So if that is your goal, continue reading00.

So if you are planning to create molds and castings on a regular basis then you should bite the bullet and acquire the variety of of equipment to achieve professional results. Just as one can do cabinetry using manual operating tools such as a hand saw, better and faster results are often obtained through the electric saw or slice saw. The best tools, for the right purpose, help in attaining steady adequate results in any industry or hobby for that matter.

"What is the difference between the two and do I would like both" are the essential questions I most often receive. As the titles imply one chamber provides air pressure even though the other that is removes air pressure. Yet only one actually eliminates air from your mold making and casting materials - the vacuum step, while the other simply hides it--the pressure container.

Stress chamber works by providing up to 50-psi of atmospheric pressure. When you remember your high school science, normal sea level pressure is about 14. 7- psi. Therefore, the higher pressure works to compress any air bubbles in your material and squeezes them down to almost microscopic size - thus making them appear to disappear. The air is still there though, but you just can't see the pockets now. But, once you release the air pressure back to 14. 7-psi, the air bubbles will return - that is except if air is contained as it might be if the substance you were pressurizing solidified to a solid, for instance a hard resin, gypsum plaster or epoxy. If your material was a mildew rubber though, such as silicone or polyurethane, the flexible rubber will not contain the compressed air bubbles and they would expand within the plastic back to normal size, even though your rubber has treated.

Thus, the pressure pot is best suited whenever your mold making or casting material cures to a good and the vacuum holding chamber can be used to remove air from flexible rubbers. The vacuum chamber can also de-air solid resins and epoxies, too. But since it takes a little more time to create a vacuum, and certain resins are fast-cured, the pressure chamber is the tool of choice in those instances as it can be quickly pressurized, faster than a vacuum step can be evacuated.