Pretty green flame Posted February 17, 2007 Posted February 17, 2007 Greets So today i made a nice star cutting board from a sheet of plexi and some wood.Now my problem is, when i try to flatten the cake by rolling an aluminium rod over it the aluminium picks up quite a bit of material making the surface very uneven. How can this problem be overcome? Also, any other tips on manufacturing high qunatities of cut stars are welcome Cheers
Mumbles Posted February 17, 2007 Posted February 17, 2007 I always use waxed paper. A layer under the comp, and a layer over the comp. When I use height guides they go under both layers. Perhaps you could wrap a few layers of waxed paper over the Al rod, or at least wax it up a bit. For high quantities of cut stars you'll probably have to make a loaf box. Basically you make a big loaf of stars, cut off layers like you're cutting bread, and then cut the slices into cubes. Another thing I've found is using a metal paint guide allows me to cut large patties of star comp at once. This may also be something to look into.
Pretty green flame Posted February 17, 2007 Author Posted February 17, 2007 Waxed paper, sounds like a plan. Could you explain what a metal paint guide is, i'm not familiar with it. Cheers.
Mumbles Posted February 17, 2007 Posted February 17, 2007 I tried to find a better picture, but I couldn't. Kind of like this: http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000..._V65929721_.jpg It has a metal blade on the bottom though. I am sure plastic would work just fine though. I like metal for it's solvent resistance, and ease of cleaning.
Pretty green flame Posted February 17, 2007 Author Posted February 17, 2007 http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a374/AVP2/Image011.jpg You mean this? I have one, i just didn't know what you meant I'll try one batch with some waxed paper covering and see how it goes. Thanks for the advice. Cheers
asilentbob Posted February 17, 2007 Posted February 17, 2007 When im flattening the top of me patties i use a ruler and let it kinda "skim".. like a skimboard over the top while lightly pressing down. Edit: Tried to draw a pic in code tags but it didn't go so well. Then i use the ruler to cut the pattie into cubes and slide the cubes to the area of my cutting surface that they will dry on while leaving a few mm between the stars so that they dry faster.
moonshot Posted February 18, 2007 Posted February 18, 2007 Yeah I agree with mumbles. Wax paper works very well for flattening damp sticky comps. When I first started making cut TT stars I used it. I would put the comp between a folded piece of wax paper, roll it to the thickness I wanted then unwrap it and sprinkle BP prime on either side and cut it into squares. It's great how some aspects of pyro are like home cooking!
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