making mossaic pins

[Lloyd Hale]

the great thing is ,back in 1975 when I first started expermenting with Mosiac pens ... I thought I was doing some pretty neat pens and then I got away from using them for 20 years or so and saw some listed in Sheffield's catalog and they were far superior to the ones I made back then....

[luc]

Hey guys!
My setup is nothing special.
the main equipment I use is a mityvac (Autozone),a teflon coated muffin pan (not your ladys!) and some silicone tubing (hobby store).
I start out by prepping all my pieces,I pull each piece through 180 grit sandpaper a couple of times,and then clean each piece with denatured alchohol,put one piece of tubing (about 3 inches)on what will be the bottom end of the tube,set these pieces aside.

Prep the epoxy
I use devcon two ton epoxy.
Mix the epoxy and mix in the color (available through woodcraft and K&G)
I thin my epoxy with denatured alchohol Depending on the complexity of the pin (a little goes a long way)

The draw
I put about two feet of tubing on my pump (you burn a couple of inches with each draw)and insert the pin (the pin should be in the tubing at least a half inch on both sides)
insert the bottom end of the pin (with the tubing extension)
into the epoxy,draw very slowly so as not to get voids.and dont stop drawing until the epoxy is about 3 inches past the end of the pin,clamp the bottom tube (pony clamp)and release the vacum, clamp the top tube and cut it fom the main line,like Jason said keep upright at this point (I hang mine from my bench)
Let cure (a little longer than usual because the epoxy is thinned)
and finally post cure at 165 degrees F.

With this method I can do about 6 pins in half an hour
(1 foot lengths)
I am currently working on a way to do multiple pins at the same time.
Hope this helps!
sorry it was so long winded.
Lucas

[Mail4Tim]

Lucas,

Check an aquarium store. You can pick up an airline distribution valve. They come in various sizes (number of outputs) and are intended to have one line in and several out. If you use this as your vacuum line you should be able to do more than one pin at a time. The better valves have a built in on / off valve for each line, so you can shut off the vacuum to each line as needed. Just a thought.

Tim

[luc]

Thanks Tim!
Thats just what I was looking for!
Lucas

[markd]

At least one quality maker on here uses a Food Saver to suck up the epoxy.