50AE Posted May 21, 2009 Posted May 21, 2009 Damn, for the 5th time, my gypsum hemisphere mold breaks because I press hard on it. Can someone tell me a simple alternative to gypsum, that is harder and easy to handle ?
Ventsi Posted May 21, 2009 Posted May 21, 2009 Try to find find some FIMO PVC based clay,incredibly easy to use , and great results,there is no way you culd break it[unless you really tried to].They are from Germany and if you are still in France just look around for it.I think you'll have some trouble finding it in Bulgaria though. I just made myself a 1.5" comet/bp pump with it and will post some pics .
crazyboy25 Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 $4 Grand? Ouch. What was wrong with the dog? My other dog (Brittany) was spayed recently, and she came home with one of those horrible elizabethan collars. She was miserable, had a real hang-dog expression, pardon the pun. The vet said "Two weeks with the collar" and I'm nodding my head, thinking "This guy's on crack. There's no way I'm leaving this collar on that long." Two days was all everyone (dog included) could take, and she didn't mess with her stitches. Torn ACL but she's getting better already. Here she is she's a big dog but she's only about 2 years old. Her name is Mocha. http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w318/crazyboy25/IMG_0221-1.jpg
50AE Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 Is this a rottweiler ? Ventsi, I need a big quantity of this clay and I can't find. I've found only 56g. batches on eBay, but I'll need at least 500g.
Swede Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 Crazyboy, good to hear your dog is getting better. Dogs are family, when they hurt, you hurt. 50AE, how about painting on a thin epoxy coating onto your gypsum hemispheres? Or even better, glass them using fibreglass clth, polyester resin, and sand. I'd bet they'd stengthen well. The Sculpey would kick ass too, that is some strong stuff.
Ventsi Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 What about the stuff they make casts[for broken bones] out of?It should be incredibly easy to work with and not too hard to obtain I would just ask a local hospoital for it,maybe?Let me look it up. OkayWell the stuff is fiberglass, with a solvent on a fiborous mesh screen ,no shit.I remember that casts in BG were made out of Gypsum a few years back but tht would work too. An idea! Try mixing up a whole bunch of fiberous crap with your gypsum [twine, fine wires etc.] that should hold together very well,it will probably still crack though...,bleh. Yeah jsut look for the fiber glass stuff, might be great to roll mortars with anyway.
tentacles Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 Damn, for the 5th time, my gypsum hemisphere mold breaks because I press hard on it. Can someone tell me a simple alternative to gypsum, that is harder and easy to handle ? For sheer cost effectiveness, try upgrading your plaster to concrete. Find some cement in a small bag (maybe 5kg?) and try that. You could put something in it to reinforce it as well, maybe wrap some steel wire in a sort of bird's nest shape and cast the concrete over it. If your item to be molded is shiny-smooth, the inside of the mold will be as well.
50AE Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 Crazyboy, good to hear your dog is getting better. Dogs are family, when they hurt, you hurt. 50AE, how about painting on a thin epoxy coating onto your gypsum hemispheres? Or even better, glass them using fibreglass clth, polyester resin, and sand. I'd bet they'd stengthen well. The Sculpey would kick ass too, that is some strong stuff. No, the epoxy coating didn't work. I admit that I don't have too much epoxy. I got some of these "polyester resin" fillers, but they're not enough to make a mould. Tentacles, I was thinking about the cement. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to do this "nest mesh". Will it work if I mix the cement with fine sand ?
swervedriver Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 Damn, for the 5th time, my gypsum hemisphere mold breaks because I press hard on it. Can someone tell me a simple alternative to gypsum, that is harder and easy to handle ? Dental mold plaster, strong and dense as holy hell. Ask your dentist to order you a box of it, the stuff is amazing. Hydraulic cement is super hard and strong too, can be bought at hardware stores. Adding sand to concrete/mortar/cement is a bulking agent only, it weakens the concrete. It's sole purpose is to make concrete more economical. Adding fiber (glass/kevlar) would make it more resilient, but more of a challenge to make a good mold with the fiber in there, can be done though. The best molds I've ever made were made from plumber's epoxy putty with steel powder in it, but expensive to do. You can hammer on them, they don't break...
50AE Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 Thank you guys. I'll choose cement, it's cheap and hard.
andyboy Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 A little late in the disscusion but when I made my BP-press the plungers where made from cement since it can take tons of pressure, but I added cut up strands of rope to improve tensile strenght which it has none.
TrueBluePyro Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 (edited) in cerment you are meant to add wire mesh, is that what you are talking about? Oh and Is this true? just read this thread please, http://www.truebluepyro.com/Forum/index.php?topic=53.0, cause that would make me extremly depressed cause I want to order a crap load of Time Fuse. Edited May 27, 2009 by TrueBluePyro
Swede Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 I have a problem that is not Pyro related, but I trust the judgement of many people here. No really! I was an Air Force pilot, and pulled too many "G"'s for too many years... it turned my back and neck muscles to hamburger, and eventually was part of my decision to leave the service. I think I'm about 25% scar tissue by weight along my upper spine and neck muscles! j/k Anyway, years ago, I used a device called a TENS unit to help with the pain. Back then, they weren't something you could buy, but they are now, in a great variety... Typical consumer TENS devices These things send electrical impulses through your muscles, causing them to contract, then relax, over, and over. I remembering it helping me. Now, with back pain flaring a bit, I'm tempted to buy one. Does anyone have specific knowledge of these devices? Would I be wasting my money? It's either TENS or morphine, and the morphine would not be cool. Any help appreciated.
TheSidewinder Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 TENS is till used today, Swede. If you can buy a good unit, I'd say it would be worth it. Also, and despite what you may have heard to the contrary, a good Chiropractor CAN work wonders. I've used one on and off for years, and swear by them.
Swede Posted May 28, 2009 Posted May 28, 2009 Thanks, TS. I've used a chiropractor a couple of times, and I know they help people. My wife swears by them. But there's something I just cannot take, and that is, having my head grabbed by the chiro guy, and POPPED to one side or the other. It gives me the willies. I get the feeling he is at 95% of the force needed to break my neck! I know that is silly. I've ordered a TENS device. Now all I need is an EMS, one of those units that can... CREATE ROCK-HARD, RIPPLING ABS IN MINUTES WITH NO WORK-OUT!! THE CHICKS WILL BE FALLING ALL OVER YOU!!Yeah!
mike_au Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 Also, and despite what you may have heard to the contrary, a good Chiropractor CAN work wonders. I've seen two types of chiropractors around the place, the first type will tell you that they can help fix certain back and neck problems by adjusting your spine and doing soft tissue work to change the tension on various muscles. These guys are great and can really help. Then there are the ones who say they can make you quit smoking and cure the common cold by adjusting your spine. These guys are quacks and should be avoided. Certain areas seem to have a much higher proportion of the second type and so people from these areas tend to have a negative view of chiropractors in general. Swede: Look around for an occupational therapist who specializes in soft tissue work. They are essentially the same as a chiropractor but with a lot more focus on muscles and a lot less on bones. The results aren't quite as immediate as a chiropractor (in my experience) but over several visits they definitely make a difference.
TYRONEEZEKIEL Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 Tonight I built my best star mine to date.. I used Yankies KP purple stars which are super by the way, and i had a 3/4" ID mine with 1.8g of meal. and about 25g of stars in it. This mortar however, was brand new, made out of pvc pipe, and the fuse hole was exactly the same size as my visco. My old mine that I had been using had at least a 1/8" burned out fuse hole which really destroyed its potential. It was the same pipe stock as the new mortar. So it took about 3g of meal to launch 10g of stars about 15 feet. anyway. I knew that my new mortar would be more efficient than my old one but I wasnt sure how much. I figured this should get me somewhere in decent range. i cut the fuse and went out into my Texas suburb neighborhood alley which is backed up to a concrete fence to light my spankin' new mine. The fuse burned and I ran the heck away from the mine. BOOOOOMMM!! My stars shot at least 80 ft high. at the price of putting a civil war cannon to shame with how loud it was. I dont believe that at 11:00 on a weeknight. this is too pleasant to my neighbors.. I am ashamed.
andyboy Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 in cerment you are meant to add wire mesh, is that what you are talking about? I'm talking about reinforcing the cement with strands of nylon cut from a rope, made wonders for me and I didn't have to go out and buy any wire-mesh.
Bonny Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 Thanks, TS. I've used a chiropractor a couple of times, and I know they help people. My wife swears by them. But there's something I just cannot take, and that is, having my head grabbed by the chiro guy, and POPPED to one side or the other. It gives me the willies. I get the feeling he is at 95% of the force needed to break my neck! I know that is silly. I've ordered a TENS device. Now all I need is an EMS, one of those units that can... CREATE ROCK-HARD, RIPPLING ABS IN MINUTES WITH NO WORK-OUT!! THE CHICKS WILL BE FALLING ALL OVER YOU!!Yeah! I've had a TENS on me several times when going to physiotherapy for vrious injuries...crashed snowmobiles, drunken trampoline neck injury etc... I found it worked quite well. Personally, I would only go to a chiropractor as a last resort. I find physio much nicer...using your own mucles to straighten bones etc. When I crashed the snowmobile I had 5 vertebra rotated sideways and the physio tuned me right up in a few sessions with no bone cracking. The tens was usually the last part of each session I guess to flex and relax the muscles after they had been adjusted.beware though, they are sensitive... the therapist told me if I need the pulse stronger, turn the dial a bit, so I gave it a good crank between cycles and ended up doing the funky chicken on the bed until the pulse ended and I could re-adjust.
Swede Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 The TENS device should arrive today. I keep thinking that this thing could be used in ways "not consistent with labeling". Child discipline problems, that sort of thing. Just kidding, of course. The only other thing that helps is a muscle relaxant called carisoprodol. If anyone has bad muscle spasms, ends up at the doc, and he tries to prescribe skelaxin or flexeril, tell him to eat it, and get the carisoprodol. I've tried them all, and the former are baby aspirin. But it (carisoprodol) does drop me into a drowsy funk that is like 4 or 5 beers, so it is emergency only. Thanks for all the suggestions. This s--t just flares up every so often. I'm just glad it's muscular and not spine or disks. Tyron, be cool! When I first got back into pyro, I was too enthusiastic, and rocked the hood a bit more than I should have. You don't want or need that sort of attention. The trick is to find a local club that has space for our particular activities. I'm still looking (DFW area), but I currently avoid all devices that make noise in my own neighborhood. A star gun is about as loud as I get.
tentacles Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 It always kills me that a couple mild bangs are unacceptable, yet tards on harleys are fine. Those stupid things are absurdly obnoxious, and it isn't just one or two pops. Those guys positively delight in revving them for 5 minutes to warm them up. Of course, they have to, or those crappy engines will die as soon as they try to take off. I hate harleys. Radial engines belong on airplanes. "choppers" are about as lame as it gets.
Swede Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 Yeah it is pathetic. People don't care about a backhoe roaring away at 10,000 dB or someone's lawnmower with no muffler at 6:00 A.M., but if they hear a firecracker, look out. Amateur pyrotechnics, with rare exception, are hazards only to themselves. But the sheeple think the entire neighborhood is going to go up in a colorful mushroom cloud. It's simple. They don't understand, therefore, they are afraid. The answer: Mandatory elementary school classes in pyrotechnics, with advanced courses starting by 8th grade. "Hey Bill, what's your schedule look like?" "Oh man, I've got calculus, Gerbs II, History, and Star-rolling III this fall. Basic Girandolas in the spring. Can't wait!" In my dreams!
RUUUUUN Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 (edited) Or when you detonate 6 pounds of shaped ETN into a metal block! Why do they call the cops when I do that... well actually they don't they just come yell at me 'cause they think I leveled my house.... I like my neighbo(o(LOL))rs It is really just the stupid liberally minded Obama-ites or what ever they are calling that incredibly unintelligent and socialist sect of homo homo stupidus..... (clever, clever, clever... I don't know the latin for stupid... even though it never came from latin.....) Oh, BTW I am in the military and "allowed" to deal with/(am trained in correct standoff distance for) those masses of HE, don't try that in an industrial/suburban neighborhood you will take out windows blocks and blocks away!!! Edited May 31, 2009 by RUUUUUN
crazyboy25 Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 It is really just the stupid liberally minded Obama-ites or what ever they are calling that incredibly unintelligent and socialist sect of homo homo stupidus..... (clever, clever, clever... I don't know the latin for stupid... even though it never came from latin.....) I can't fucking believe people like this. Without starting a political flamewar how can some smart people be this dumb?!?! I'm sure I will be attacked for this 'cause the ratio of democrats to republicans on this forum is 1:10 but seriously! What are you talking about? Obama isn't a socialist, I wish he was, but he's not why are people afraid of socialism and left wingers? Republicans preach small government low taxes and the government keeping the hell out of their way while they ask the government to illegalize abortions, force people to fight in wars and tell them they can't ingest any number of substances or marry a person of the same sex. All the while milking the government for education, libraries, roads and protection.
Pretty green flame Posted May 31, 2009 Author Posted May 31, 2009 It is really just the stupid liberally minded Obama-ites or what ever they are calling that incredibly unintelligent and socialist sect of homo homo stupidus..... (clever, clever, clever... I don't know the latin for stupid... even though it never came from latin.....) Why do you have so much against Socialism? You probably haven't seen a true socialist in your life and already you're bashing them. And whichever way you look at it, left or right winged, they're both capitalists. We have a saying that goes something like this: Same shit, different package...think about it.
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