steve cooley fine art - Latest Comments

Re: Tinker toy DIY

Onesurreal — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:33:22 -0000

Tinker Toys by far one of the coolest toys ever!

Re: orchid brushes.app painting

Dorothy Presley — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:22:55 -0000

I simply added this website to my personal favorites. I adore reading your site content. Thanks a lot!

Re: epic newbie CNC comparison chart

stevecooley — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:49:55 -0000

I bought a buildyourcnc blacktoe 2x4 and really enjoy using it. I have some other posts here and on my other project site http://beatseqr.com bottom line, I would recommend getting one. It's not the most rigid design possible, but for the price, it's awesome.

Re: epic newbie CNC comparison chart

Wayne Hancock — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:09:13 -0000

I really found your work here to be helpful, it's such a hard topic to get started on... I too have been drooling over the buildyourcnc.com's stuff!!
What did you end up doing in this arena? I'm also a Lathe woodturner and have been considering some kind of an add on to my lathe that is CNC, and figured a router would give me the CNC experience as well as a way to make some of the parts I may need if I decide to make my own Lathe CNC.

Re: blacktoe cnc usage: silicone casting mold

Mold — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:21:49 -0000

I impressed by your posting.

Re: weird RGB LEDs

stevecooley — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:12:21 -0000

yes, they would! they're probably designed for that kind of single-use application, or a lapel pin or button kind of thing. Something simple that probably has some kind of printed graphic in front of it, so that it acts like a back light.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

stevecooley — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:11:07 -0000

Right, this makes sense to me. What I've read is that pressure works well for rigid casting mediums, but for silicone, degassing is sufficient.

Re: iFontMaker and what I’ve made so far with it

stevecooley — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:06:13 -0000

thank you! I will :)

Re: iFontMaker and what I’ve made so far with it

Lynda V.E. — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 14:45:05 -0000

Hi there,

I found some of your creations via iFontmaker, tho I don't have an iPad but am a fontaholic. You have some cool stuff -keep at it! Have a great day.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

Ryan Ricks — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:47:50 -0000

Have you tried two batches? A small batch that you can brush on as a very thin skin watching for bubbles and eliminating them, let it get tacky, then fill in the rest with your larger, second batch (degassed if you like).

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

Richard — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:50:09 -0000

Edit function isn't working for me. What I meant to say is that I get a perfect silicon mold by just degassing the mold and I skip the pressure which seems to reintroduce air into the silicone.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

Richard — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:45:28 -0000

I've tried degassing and the compressing silicone and found that the pressure actually caused more bubbles than if I just degassed. So now, I just degass the silicone. I use pressure for casting the resin. I degass parts a and b separately then mix and pressurize. I've tried degassing the resin mixed and foams up on me.

Re: weird RGB LEDs

Andrew+Deb O'Malley — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:55:07 -0000

They'd make for good Throwies ;)

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

Rsmith2995 — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:22:40 -0000

If you need clear buttons- hard, use Cast-O-Lite casting resin- you can add in resin many colors or blends for unique colors. You need no degassing for this resin.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

stevecooley — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:45:07 -0000

Great question! When you degas silicone, as you're probably aware, all the tiny bubbles grow and grow and grow until the pop (or you run out of capacity to create a vacuum) so as a result, the silicone foams up and increases in physical volume. My tests in degassing in the mold went ok, but I found that because of my tiny mold cavities, sometime big bubbles still couldn't escape, even with a vacuum. So what I experienced was a big foamy mess in my mold, and then a decreased volume in the mold once the vacuum was released due to some foaming out of the mold.

It's all a big balancing act between getting the silicone into all the corners and getting as few bubbles as possible, while keeping in mind that you have about 20 minutes from the second you start mixing the material. Maybe my DIY vacuum chamber isn't powerful enough to do the job in the 3 minutes it "should" take for all of the necessary operations to happen in the amount of time the silicone has before it's starts to set up.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

KC8RWR — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:07:45 -0000

What about degassing in the mold though? Sounds like you degassed and then poured it into the mold right? What happens if you pour it in the mold and then degass it mold and all?

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

KC8RWR — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:05:50 -0000

It's a pretty common ingredient of spray paints. I would avoid inhaling/touching it as much as possible while wet but wouldn't worry about it when it is cured.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

isobot — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 04:28:11 -0000

Degassing works well for removing most of the trapped air but in the casting industry it is usually followed by placing the mold/silicone in a pressure chamber at around 50 psi to compress the remaining bubbles. It might not seem logical but the remaining bubbles are compressed to the point that they cannot be seen. I would never cast with out a pressure pot, it practically guarantees perfect parts. you can pick up inexpensive pressure pots at places like harbor freight or convert an old paint pressure pot by removing the siphon and adding gauge and relief valve.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

SKR — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:36:36 -0000

Xylene isn't the nicest stuff in the world, but I'm pretty sure it all offgasses before the final cure. I have used xylene thinned silicone in aquariums for years without any ill effect on the fish.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

SKR — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:33:49 -0000

Thats probably because cake bags are silicone impregnated fabric.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

Jedwards123321 — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:22:04 -0000

Excellent, EXCELLENT write up! Please DO give us a similar high-quality write up about your home made degasser. Even some pictures and a quick note would do to start. Thanks!

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

steve j — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 06:24:07 -0000

I'm about to try the same with some Smooth-on Mold Max 27T today, but I need to re-mill my mold as I did cut it in wax first but I found cut surface to be a bit flaky and rougher than I thought. I melted the surface of the wax to smooth it out with a hot air soldering gun but while the sides are nice and smooth I've kinda messed up the end flats, so the tops of the buttons will look a bit wobbly. I shall try an aluminium mold next, but really get on the case with de-gassing also.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

Evan Zalys-Geller — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 05:02:04 -0000

Try shin-etsu ke-1310st. It NEEDS powerful degassing, it's quite hard but super high quality. What's neat is that if you give it a proper degassing, the remaining bubbles will just fold back into solution and you'll get a crystal clear casting.

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

stevecooley — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:19:51 -0000

I'll have to think about that. Since this part is for a human interface, I'd want to make sure the xylene was safe, but maybe that's what the official thinner I bought is. Thanks for the tip!

Re: Silicone Rubber test results and comparison

stevecooley — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:17:53 -0000

Great idea! What I found is that when I tried using cake recording tips and a baggie, I thought cleanup was going to be a nightmare, but just let it cure and then you can peel it off pretty easily. I'm sure a ketchup bottle would work the same way.