Thread: A material for the masses

how does It hold up to the pinning prosess with the ball ping?

I may give this a try... very interesting. I also have a stash of abalone shells I may try to inlay into it. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Pete_S

So what is is the material similar to? I mean, does it kind of seem like celluloid or plastic? Also, why can't you just wash off the pasta machine after using it? It looks like it might be fun to mess around with, Ive been thinking about making some scales, too, but I don't like wood, so the only option I could come up with was bone.

I would say similar to plastic, but it has a better feel. The stuff is non toxic but since it is a polymer the manufacturer recommends that you not use it with anything that you are going to use in food prep.

Originally Posted by wheelz74401

how does It hold up to the pinning prosess with the ball ping?

I am setting up two or three sets today. I'll post pics. From the out set I'd say well. But I need to finish the scales first.

I was thinking that it may not even be necessary to go through the whole roll-it out process. You can prolly just make a mold and press the clay into that.

Sounds like good stuff. You could even use an old, retired straight (everyone's got some junk blades) to cut the stuff and the back side of a lapping plate (put those DMT's to good use) to flatten it out. Brilliant!

Hmmm this gives me an idea. What if you mixed some CromOx or some other fine abrasive. Pack it into a mold and cook it up. Then lap it?
Could this be like what Charlie and Randy are trying to do with making hones??????

Sorry no pics today about the pinning. I am having problems with my oven. It is new but it doesn't seem to be calibrated. The sculpy three baked ok but came out a little softer than it should. This tells me that I need to increase the time or temp. Still working on it.

I tried some marbling over the weekend. On piece came out ok the other not so much. Too much fiddling causes the colors to mud.

You can do mix ins with the sculpy. Not sure how CR02 would work.

Yes you can do push molds with scuply. Just make the mold and go.

I was @ my local Michael's and looked up a book about polymers in which sculpey III is listed as the least sturdy after baked. Premo Sculpey is liseted @ 3 (1-5 being most to least brittle).
I got some of the Premo stuff and will try it soon to see what happens compared to Sculpey III. I also found super Sculpey, it was a brick for making pottery like stuff, I am guessing it can be colored even though its not white.
I also saw their pasta machines for rolling polymers, they have adjustable thicknesses, but they can't be used for 1/8 thick sheets, the biggest thickness is 0.086".
A trick for rolling 1/8 sheets, use a rolling pin and 2 x 1/8 thick rails that will not allow to roll unevenly or to less than 1/8".

So I pinned some of this over the weekend. I think I got the pivot pin too close to the edge cause it started to crack. No big deal. I did not use washers so I think that is the fix.

Also my buddy told me that this stuff should be fairly stiff. Stiffer than a plastic pen cap's pocket clip at least. His suggestion is two fold. Check the oven that you are using to make sure it is at temp and refrigerate the scuply prior to baking. He said that sometimes when it gets over worked it needs to rest to properly harden. (Does that sound a little off color to anyone else besides me?)

What about using a backing like a thin aluminum/steel and this on top to make it stronger? Just a thought. I think Seraphim uses this type of backing with some of his plastic scales, but I could be mistaken....