Vacuum Degassing Chamber HELP!

[Galaxy Of Rust]

I've been making molds & casting parts for years & have been avoiding vacuum degassing the entire time. But now I'm getting into things that require degassing. I'm making my own action figures. I want to start my own toy or garage kit company/business. I want my items to be very professional looking. But here's my problem, the more I learn about vacuum degassing chambers the more confused I get. Everything I read creates another question.

So how can I learn exactly what I need really fast? I'd like to go out & buy what I need & get moving on this but I'm just as confused as I was 20 or 30 years ago. I've learned a ton about mold making & casting And I'm making fast perfect molds & castings now. But haven't learned crap about vacuum degassing even though I've been reading about it like crazy.

I'm making tiny parts for 10"-12" action figures. Some of the parts have tiny pegs the size of a paper clip. When I pour the resin it won't go into tiny holes like that. I have to push the resin into these tiny holes before pouring the whole piece. I also want to start working with clear resin which needs degassing.

I have absolutely no idea what I need. How much vacuum do I need & what size chamber? Most of my molds are tiny. Can you point me in the right direction? Unfortunately I can't avoid this anymore.

[AdamG]

Where abouts in the world are you? Only ask as it makes it easier to point you to a local distributor / supplier

[Galaxy Of Rust]

USA, Tennessee.

[mangozac]

Hi Galaxy of Rust, welcome to RA!

We've got a few advisory threads on Vacuum and pressure casting here:




Have a read of those and let us know any questions

[Galaxy Of Rust]

I already read all those threads before I posted.

I just read somewhere else that you need a vacuum degassing chamber for the silicone mold & then a pressure pot for the resin. Forget it! That's way too damn expensive. My parts are already coming out bubble free. And I can work around any problem areas like tiny pegs or posts. I'll just jam the resin in the hole with a paper clip before casting. I'm not going to blow hundreds & hundreds of dollars for ONE tiny bubble.

I was going to get it so I can work with clear resin but I read that stuff is a pain in the butt to work with anyway. People are having all kinds of problems with clear resin.

[mangozac]

If you're getting good results with your room pressure technique then as you say it's certainly not worth forking out for a vacuum/pressure system for personal casting! Note that you can get away with just vacuum; in fact using just vacuum for the resin is better than just pressure (although vacuum and pressure is ideal).

Transparent resins can indeed be a pain - to get best results you really need to post-cure it using a low temperature oven.

[Galaxy Of Rust]

I'm probably going to have to get a vacuum chamber anyway. The resin won't go into the really tiny parts. I have a part with 4 tiny pegs & it's almost impossible to get the resin to go in. I've tried everything.

[pbell0000]

I don't think your suppose to use vacuum on the mold right? It'll expand the bubbles that are left after the initial degassing or created by the catalyzing.

[RageofAchilles]

[pbell0000]

My sense on outgassing before pouring is that sometimes you just have to do it if the material is viscous. Its a pain. I recently purchased a 3 cfm vacuum pump from harbor frieght, it was totally inadequate, I think you need a 5 cfm pump or so. I tried to go cheap on the vacuum chamber too and had two implode on me, it's like a bomb going off. Ended up going with an aluminum pot with a thick polycarbonate sheet for the top, high strength stuff, for the chamber. I ended up not having to outgass anyway, so that set up is just sitting on the shelf collecting dirt.

[mangozac]

[Nostok]

Have a read of this thread - it was where I bumbled through vacuum degassing both mould and resin...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1022&p=12966#p12966

[Nostok]

this is the bit where I described my set-up... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1022#p12939