So I’ve finally managed to get some bits together and assemble the new smaller degasser.
I used the fire extinguisher from the MkI degasser, which I cut shorter. Sadly it’d been out in the rain, as well as having been used for degassing previously.
Even sanding it heavily obviously didn’t remove all the traces. I used a nice zinc primer on the inside which seemed to take, but once I went over it with white enamel it refused to bond where the resins had previously splashed.
Next time I’ll fork out for some Hammerite. I’m not even sure this enamel will survive cleaning any spatter off the inside later.
Found that Poundland is doing rather large tubes of two-part epoxy! Handy stuff to have around. Especially for £6 cheaper than Araldite. It does reek of fish before it sets though.
The 99p Shop nearby provided a cheap frying pan which got cut up into the lid surround. Fitted so tightly there was no need for a retaining pipe-clip strap.
I brazed a load spreader to the UTA manifold, and glued it on. The nossle holder of the extinguishers base perfectly holds the up-to-air filter so it’s a ready-made support. Without it I’d be worried about the lever-handled ball-valve dislodged the manifold after only a few uses.
Made a proper handle from some curved extruded aluminium and some bolts. Again, glued onto 10mm polycarbonate cut to size. I’m unsure if it’ll need internal lighting yet. The white inside reflects a lot of ambient light and it’s not as deep. Will see.
So I now have a nice small degasser for using on the workbench! Both controls are nice easy to use lever-handled ball valves. I should be able to leave the pump running to the catchpot and simply switch the two valves for fast control.
It should make the degassing of the resins prior to pouring them far simpler. And if one is sealed under a static vacuum, the other chamber can be used under pumped vacuum.
One thing to note is that it looks messy because the Poundland 131 epoxy is thinner and slower-setting than Araldite. But if it works, it works, and it seems just as strong when set.
As another improvement to the system I also mounted up the MkII chamber, pump and catchpot to a plank of wood. It reduces the footprint a bit but mostly stops them from moving around in use and flexing the pipes which can result in leaks or manifolds breaking.
Will try to get a short demo video up on youtube.
[20/06/2010: Amalgamating old posts from “Dreamwidth Creative Blog” into sci-fi-fox.com to re-purpose DW blog account.]