As much as I want there to be one way to do things, I can't seem to make it a truth. As much as I want one set of materials to work with, I can't say that is so. I am very happy with some of the techniques I have been using, especially using epoxy in the screen printing process of making a photo fresco, but for making a final piece that will stand on it's own I can't stop with just the photo fresco itself. In order to bring a piece out of the frame I have to use a mold making techniques and then pour additional copies. I have done this with punk rock lettering for cars and managed to keep a two color process, but one of the colors is made with acrylic and therefore the unifying nature of using only epoxy and pigments is lost. The problem with casting in a mold is that it isn't reasonable to use two colors at the outset and I have to create a second color effect with some sort of abrasion, chemical reaction, paint or all of the above.
My problem has been curling edges and this is mostly a result of my photo fresco materials that I use that make this process unique. I backed the first truly successful photo fresco with two layers of carbon fiber and epoxy, but that was not enough to overcome the tendency of the epoxy to curl. The next piece I worked on was a line art design of the mayan calendar and I poured a silicon mold of it, then poured some epoxy mixed with bronze. My goal will be to build up the back and then possibly apply a layer of carbon fiber before pulling it from the mold and hoping that holds keeps it stiff. If the piece is thick enough it may not need the carbon fiber to keep it from warping in the sun, but now I am getting used to using uni-directional carbon fiber in small amounts and it seems like a nice finish on the back side, specifically when I am using clear. The look of the carbon fiber is undeniably hi-tech whether it is necessary or not.
As I get back to thinking about casting objects with silicon molds and using my photo fresco techniques just to make the original, I can't help but think that smaller objects are better. The cost of the materials increases with the thickness and the detail is best recognized with things that you can hold in your hand, versus standing back five feet and looking at. One thing is certain and that the higher the relief the less you have to rely on paint to get the effect of a design. Using the shadow and textures of depth are the best work around to actually painting and finishing a piece by hand. Polyester resins may have the best finish when it comes to polishing off a cold cast piece, but epoxy still resist breaking and cracking. The lightweight nature of plastic is a pro and a con in that if it is too light, then if feels cheap. To make a piece heavier requires more pigment, which can effect the detail and simply cost more.
The only other way to stay with photo fresco printing is to print with epoxy on silicon sheets or milar type materials and then remove the panel or gel. I have not been able to print with high density screens enough to get a design to hold together on its own. Also the design would have to touch at some point with itself everywhere in the print or it would not stay together as one piece. The thickness of a print reduces the effect of a relief, which I like and if a second color is added to the design, it can work, but there is a flatness that doesn't look much different than if I just printed on plastic or just printed on a sticker to begin with.
Which brings me back to printing on magnets as a good base material. I tried basic epoxy on coated magnets and it appears that there is no strong bond between the two. The coating on the magnets may be pvc and I have not researched it yet, but I think since there is no porosity or chemical affinity between the epoxy and the pvc, then there isn't going to be a real bond. I like the idea of magnets as a base since they can be used in a variety of ways to display designs, but I need to do more research on finding a way to bond to the magnet base so that the bond isn't simply a sticker on top of the pvc magnet surface. Some of my direct printing techniques on coated magnets failed because of the coating on the magnet sheets, but now I am thinking about printing my own coating or just printing directly on uncoated magnets and even printing with metal pigments so that they are pulled down to the magnet itself. I like the idea of printing with a clear epoxy and then shaking powder over the magnet to make the coloring in the design and let the magnet pull the pigments into the epoxy from the top down, sort of like how plaster pulls the pigments into the gypsum while drying.
My main limitations these days are money for materials and taking time from my real work to do these types of experiments. If there was a job doing these types of test and finding new uses for epoxies, I think I would be interested. You got my number.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Carbon fiber and high energy magnets, Shazam!
Where is the magic these days? Not sure, but I do know that when a product is a magnet it is more versatile in it's potential placements, including cars and refrigerators. Also, carbon fiber, is a good stiffener and for making things thin that don't warp it may be the right solution for me. Together these things sound really cool, like the word Hemi or Matrix or Shazam! They may be all I need, but the fact is that I really need this stuff to complete my projects.
I put a magnetic photo fresco piece on a car and when I came out of the sun the tendency of the epoxy to curl in the sun was too much for the magnet and it was laying prostrate on the ground, humiliating me in public. I quickly picked the y-que?.com logo up off the ground and hid it in my car before anyone could see it. I've now gone back to the plastics place and purchased some additional carbon fiber and am trying to decide if two layers of one direction carbon fiber, laid perpendicular to each other, is enough to stiffen the 12" by 18" photo fresco I am working on. It feels stiff in the mold, but once I pop it out it is hard to put another layer on. I could consider this a test and let it fail like the magnet, but I also want this piece to survive and I am not sure if I can add more backing later once it curls, assuming it does.
The magnetic backing that I have been playing with is interesting in that if I can print on the coating or directly on the magnet itself, assuming it bonds successfully, then the magnet serves like a frame and allows a piece to be placed on a car or on a fridge without having to do any fancy framework. I've been working on getting the price of the magnet sheets down and it appears like I can compete with the price of regular stickers in larger volume. Shazam!
I put a magnetic photo fresco piece on a car and when I came out of the sun the tendency of the epoxy to curl in the sun was too much for the magnet and it was laying prostrate on the ground, humiliating me in public. I quickly picked the y-que?.com logo up off the ground and hid it in my car before anyone could see it. I've now gone back to the plastics place and purchased some additional carbon fiber and am trying to decide if two layers of one direction carbon fiber, laid perpendicular to each other, is enough to stiffen the 12" by 18" photo fresco I am working on. It feels stiff in the mold, but once I pop it out it is hard to put another layer on. I could consider this a test and let it fail like the magnet, but I also want this piece to survive and I am not sure if I can add more backing later once it curls, assuming it does.
The magnetic backing that I have been playing with is interesting in that if I can print on the coating or directly on the magnet itself, assuming it bonds successfully, then the magnet serves like a frame and allows a piece to be placed on a car or on a fridge without having to do any fancy framework. I've been working on getting the price of the magnet sheets down and it appears like I can compete with the price of regular stickers in larger volume. Shazam!
My post, my comments - Can't trust responses
I post and I post on this board, exploring the ideas in my head about printing and permanence. It is a subject and quite possibly I don't want to know the real answers, I just want to write and post. Sometimes I think that I really want to know the answer to a question and think that if people actually read this blog then they may provide a response, like on other bulletin boards, that would answer my question or provide some valuable insight. I don't think so. I've dealt with moderating spam and it sucks like trying to clean out rust from an old car. Most responses on bulletin boards are spam and if I spend all of my time moderating then I might forget what I am writing about. I like the idea of knowing the right way to do stuff, but not so much that I want to waste my time reading a bunch of crap and deleting it before I can get back to what I want to do, which is to ramble on about nothing. If I thought somebody was reading this, then I wouldn't be able to write that above statement. This is like a bathroom wall in that you can post stuff on the internet, in plain site, and most likely nobody but robots will ever really read it.
Most interestingly, I have found that if I write about things, then ads will pop up that are relevant to the stuff I write about and often the ads that show up on my own pages will have products and solutions that I can choose to click on and find the answer to my own problems. It is like my brain is bringing in information from the outside and all I have to do is drop a few words, like refrigerator that also cooks food, or flying car with an 8 track tape player and then next thing you know is that an ad from amazon or ebay will have an item on my page, right in front of me, that shows that very product.
Most interestingly, I have found that if I write about things, then ads will pop up that are relevant to the stuff I write about and often the ads that show up on my own pages will have products and solutions that I can choose to click on and find the answer to my own problems. It is like my brain is bringing in information from the outside and all I have to do is drop a few words, like refrigerator that also cooks food, or flying car with an 8 track tape player and then next thing you know is that an ad from amazon or ebay will have an item on my page, right in front of me, that shows that very product.
Benefits of printing with epoxy
Now that I have condensed my project to simply the process of printing with epoxy, what does it mean and why is it relevant? I keep dwelling on this concept so that I can find a use for the work I have been doing for the last couple of years. I have been doing more research and I can see thousands of used for epoxy casting and an equivalent number of products on the market that allow people to do hi-tech projects like heat resistant epoxy and hi-strength epoxy. It's quite amazing how epoxy is used in rockets, automobiles and jets, especially in combination with other materials like carbon fiber. What this means to little ol' me is still a mystery. My latest project was to screen print a photographic image with black epoxy and fill around the design with epoxy filled with aluminum powder. I have now coated the back with another layer of epoxy and two layers of carbon fiber. Two layers is not a lot when it comes to carbon fiber, but I am trying to be a minimalist and see if the print can how it's shape. I could go a little further and add a layer of vinyl adhesive paper to the back, which helps with future applications, but would limit how the piece could be used in the future.
The first argument for this process would be the durability of the print itself. Most every other printing method that I know about is a coating, beside sculpting. Fresco plaster work is of course an imbedded pigment process and by virtue of this process frescoes have survived in buildings and walls for centuries compared to other printed and painted works on canvas, wood and metal. Plaster itself cannot however survive exposure to outside atmospheric changes and would quickly fail if exposed to water on and off for a period of time, so the frescoes that have survived have been done inside of buildings mostly. The idea of the embedded particle is what I have used from the fresco process while I have updated the materials to epoxies and metallic pigments that are readily available today. The durability of these epoxy frescos aka photo frescoes is from the embedded pigments and weather resistant epoxies.
Porcelain tiles and ceramic items also have proven that they can withstand the test of time given nobody drops a vase or breaks a tile. The high temperature firing of ceramics causes a chemical reaction of the glaze to crystallize on a microscopic level and the color is essentially an inert material inside the piece itself. I'm not an expert on ceramics, but the idea that ancient vases tell the stories of cultures past is as good of an example as I can provide. The fragility of ceramics is a problem that can't be overcome and the images that are put on ceramics are painted or placed on with thin layer or transfer paper, thus making them a coating or applique, not the piece itself. The design could not stand on it's own without the vase or tile carrier and at any moment a bull could come by and ruin the entire thing. I like the idea of the pigment embedded into the ceramic, but once again, for exterior use and extreme weathering you have to pick up the pieces to get something back after years of outside exposure. I propose that these epoxy pieces would be able to withstand impacts of many types, submersion and burial, yet have the original design able to be power washed and scrubbed back into existence.
Cements and mortars are also a good set of materials that I have experimented with and have had some success with. The molded results that I have gotten would withstand significant amounts of exposure. With cement I have mixed the pigments embedded into the cement while it is being set and even tried to print with cement. It could work on a very rough scale, buy the shrinkage of the materials and the final weight of the pieces make them difficult to handle. I can't get the same detail with cement as I can with epoxy. I've coated some cement items I've made with polyester resin and can make a rather thick-skinned panel with cement, but these panels are one wayward lacrosse ball toss away from breaking, unless you make them over 1-2" thick and then they are too heavy to use easily and too heavy to move around. Epoxy fresco prints or panels could be made as strong as cement, for practical purposes, and still be light enough to use. The materials definitely cost more for epoxies, but the thinness would offset some of the cost and a lighter piece requires less structure to hold it up, so theoretically epoxy panels could be a lower or equal cost depending on the final use of the materials.
Metal structures like cars that are painted with urethane paints and specialized coatings are a good example of a durable material in our everyday lives that could stand the test of exposure and be resilient. To find comparisons in the art world I would have to think about metal sculptures. Generally metal sculptures are made with the raw materials and are coated later with paint or materials that keep them from deteriorating. Which means that over time the exterior coatings are the determining factor for strength of the object. Painting on metals with enamel or epoxy isn't a bad idea, but I could also apply an epoxy fresco print, like a sticker, to the metal and get the same effect. The metal is the substrate and although it is durable itself, it usually provides the structure of a piece or is the art itself, regardless of the design that may or may not be painted on top. I like metal as a product for durability but the coatings that go on top of it would in fact be the design coating, unless I can print with hot metal, not even considering the weight factor. The epoxy fresco prints that I am making are using cold casting techniques that mix atomized metal particles into the epoxy which makes it a cold and wet version of printing with metals in a plastic form.
Molded objects are a superior form of encapsulating artistic designs into our world and jewelry is the best example of how objects can be made using inert materials that can last a long time. Gold and silver come from the ground to begin with so they have already proven their worth. Worth is the problem though with making jewelry and I can't even begin to imagine making a print with actual gold or silver. I can use particles in my pieces that resemble gold and silver, but in some ways it cheapens the pieces to imitate highly valuable materials. In a sense I look at my photo fresco epoxy pieces as large photographic pieces of jewelry, sort of like a shape on a necklace, but on a larger scale and of less expensive materials. I truly enjoy using some decorative metals in the epoxy like brass, copper and bronze, but due to the cost I have to limit the use of these metals until I know that it would be relevant to the pieces I am making. Currently I use mostly shiny aluminum to imitate the silver in a photographic print and iron oxide for the black. This is subject to change, but the basic idea of black and white photography can be duplicated with these two pigments. Jewelry will last as long as the material takes to break down and with the exception of exposure to uv rays, I think my photo fresco prints would also hold up as well as the pigments due.
Etching and plate photography is interesting, but the thickness of the printing layers is miniscule, although I imagine with some acids things could be made significantly deeper. Printing plates are not my field of expertise, but there is something to be said for the durability of scratches and etching on metal or rock since it would be the equivalent of an molded object, but in a strong durable surface.
The first argument for this process would be the durability of the print itself. Most every other printing method that I know about is a coating, beside sculpting. Fresco plaster work is of course an imbedded pigment process and by virtue of this process frescoes have survived in buildings and walls for centuries compared to other printed and painted works on canvas, wood and metal. Plaster itself cannot however survive exposure to outside atmospheric changes and would quickly fail if exposed to water on and off for a period of time, so the frescoes that have survived have been done inside of buildings mostly. The idea of the embedded particle is what I have used from the fresco process while I have updated the materials to epoxies and metallic pigments that are readily available today. The durability of these epoxy frescos aka photo frescoes is from the embedded pigments and weather resistant epoxies.
Porcelain tiles and ceramic items also have proven that they can withstand the test of time given nobody drops a vase or breaks a tile. The high temperature firing of ceramics causes a chemical reaction of the glaze to crystallize on a microscopic level and the color is essentially an inert material inside the piece itself. I'm not an expert on ceramics, but the idea that ancient vases tell the stories of cultures past is as good of an example as I can provide. The fragility of ceramics is a problem that can't be overcome and the images that are put on ceramics are painted or placed on with thin layer or transfer paper, thus making them a coating or applique, not the piece itself. The design could not stand on it's own without the vase or tile carrier and at any moment a bull could come by and ruin the entire thing. I like the idea of the pigment embedded into the ceramic, but once again, for exterior use and extreme weathering you have to pick up the pieces to get something back after years of outside exposure. I propose that these epoxy pieces would be able to withstand impacts of many types, submersion and burial, yet have the original design able to be power washed and scrubbed back into existence.
Cements and mortars are also a good set of materials that I have experimented with and have had some success with. The molded results that I have gotten would withstand significant amounts of exposure. With cement I have mixed the pigments embedded into the cement while it is being set and even tried to print with cement. It could work on a very rough scale, buy the shrinkage of the materials and the final weight of the pieces make them difficult to handle. I can't get the same detail with cement as I can with epoxy. I've coated some cement items I've made with polyester resin and can make a rather thick-skinned panel with cement, but these panels are one wayward lacrosse ball toss away from breaking, unless you make them over 1-2" thick and then they are too heavy to use easily and too heavy to move around. Epoxy fresco prints or panels could be made as strong as cement, for practical purposes, and still be light enough to use. The materials definitely cost more for epoxies, but the thinness would offset some of the cost and a lighter piece requires less structure to hold it up, so theoretically epoxy panels could be a lower or equal cost depending on the final use of the materials.
Metal structures like cars that are painted with urethane paints and specialized coatings are a good example of a durable material in our everyday lives that could stand the test of exposure and be resilient. To find comparisons in the art world I would have to think about metal sculptures. Generally metal sculptures are made with the raw materials and are coated later with paint or materials that keep them from deteriorating. Which means that over time the exterior coatings are the determining factor for strength of the object. Painting on metals with enamel or epoxy isn't a bad idea, but I could also apply an epoxy fresco print, like a sticker, to the metal and get the same effect. The metal is the substrate and although it is durable itself, it usually provides the structure of a piece or is the art itself, regardless of the design that may or may not be painted on top. I like metal as a product for durability but the coatings that go on top of it would in fact be the design coating, unless I can print with hot metal, not even considering the weight factor. The epoxy fresco prints that I am making are using cold casting techniques that mix atomized metal particles into the epoxy which makes it a cold and wet version of printing with metals in a plastic form.
Molded objects are a superior form of encapsulating artistic designs into our world and jewelry is the best example of how objects can be made using inert materials that can last a long time. Gold and silver come from the ground to begin with so they have already proven their worth. Worth is the problem though with making jewelry and I can't even begin to imagine making a print with actual gold or silver. I can use particles in my pieces that resemble gold and silver, but in some ways it cheapens the pieces to imitate highly valuable materials. In a sense I look at my photo fresco epoxy pieces as large photographic pieces of jewelry, sort of like a shape on a necklace, but on a larger scale and of less expensive materials. I truly enjoy using some decorative metals in the epoxy like brass, copper and bronze, but due to the cost I have to limit the use of these metals until I know that it would be relevant to the pieces I am making. Currently I use mostly shiny aluminum to imitate the silver in a photographic print and iron oxide for the black. This is subject to change, but the basic idea of black and white photography can be duplicated with these two pigments. Jewelry will last as long as the material takes to break down and with the exception of exposure to uv rays, I think my photo fresco prints would also hold up as well as the pigments due.
Etching and plate photography is interesting, but the thickness of the printing layers is miniscule, although I imagine with some acids things could be made significantly deeper. Printing plates are not my field of expertise, but there is something to be said for the durability of scratches and etching on metal or rock since it would be the equivalent of an molded object, but in a strong durable surface.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
There is no fresco like a photo fresco
That's right, a unique combination of printing and casting makes photo fresco a special breed of fresco. Today I patched a little here and I poked a little there, just enough so that I felt like I was moving ahead. I dropped a little carbon fiber behind the first truly epoxy photo fresco print with in order to stiffen it up so that it can be flat, light and straight. I checked my Mayan calendar print and it was astounding, beyond my wildest expectations. I mixed up a batch of bronze filled epoxy and laid a thick coat to the entire ring that I am hoping I can rough up and apply a little acid to it to make it patina. I may just put some silicon on it and make a mold, because that piece looks dope. I also test printed the brass epoxy mixture on some magnet sheets with no success. Finally I did a 3-color transfer print and created Slap Tags, a removable sticker that has a secondary use of being a transfer to clothing if so inclined.
Today was a hodge podge of projects including cleaning out a few screens and seeing if I could get some dried ink out and remove the emulsion. The results of that procedure were better than I thought. My next big job is to pull out some old artwork and create more designs for Slap Tags that can be made for an extremely cheap price, just transfer paper and ink. I can't find this one roll of transfer paper that I purchased, so that I can do larger format prints, but I have a bunch of 12" X 12" cut paper that works well. I also tried an epoxy print made on water slide decal paper and had given up on it working, then when I turned around it slid right off the backing. I put the piece on a magnet sheet, but I don't think the thickness of the epoxy is a good match for the water slide paper which deserves extremely thin mediums. I did get captivated by the wide range of magnet materials and am working on finding the best material for printing directly onto magnets for car emblems and magnet art. I learned that 30 mil is the minimum for applying to cars, less than that will blow off.
Today was a hodge podge of projects including cleaning out a few screens and seeing if I could get some dried ink out and remove the emulsion. The results of that procedure were better than I thought. My next big job is to pull out some old artwork and create more designs for Slap Tags that can be made for an extremely cheap price, just transfer paper and ink. I can't find this one roll of transfer paper that I purchased, so that I can do larger format prints, but I have a bunch of 12" X 12" cut paper that works well. I also tried an epoxy print made on water slide decal paper and had given up on it working, then when I turned around it slid right off the backing. I put the piece on a magnet sheet, but I don't think the thickness of the epoxy is a good match for the water slide paper which deserves extremely thin mediums. I did get captivated by the wide range of magnet materials and am working on finding the best material for printing directly onto magnets for car emblems and magnet art. I learned that 30 mil is the minimum for applying to cars, less than that will blow off.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Less is more
I chopped up some magnets from my patent pending technique of epoxy relief casting and I am still impressed. Delusions abound, but my feeling is that the thinness of my epoxy layer, the strength of the substrate, the easiness of the methods and the potential for complex design elements are not currently represented in other products on the market. I have to admit that if I had a laser cutter, etching equipment, rubber mold making skills or simply a lot of money, then I could create something better. I am sneezing a bunch when I am writing this so I must be stretching the truth. I am not a huge factory, but I can take a photographic image and manipulate it using basic screen printing and casting techniques to transform it into a relief. The relief is only a decorative element of the process, yet without the decorative elements I don't think I am interested in making these pieces.
The less is more concept says that lighter and tighter construction means less mass, but in the end, because there is less mass, then there is less need for stronger construction. A super-light plane does not require a large massive engine and the bigger the engine, then a larger wingspan is required, and so on. To get used to a lighter and tighter structure one would have to be inside it and feel the difference. I can only use sailboats as a comparable structure for how homes could be built with lighter and tighter materials. I love the water and being on a boat in the water is great, but I've also wanted to dig a hole in my backyard and bury a completely manufactured boat so that I could climb down in it and play fort. Would the resins and materials survive, or should the boat be coated with a fungus proof barrier coating before I bury it?
The less is more concept says that lighter and tighter construction means less mass, but in the end, because there is less mass, then there is less need for stronger construction. A super-light plane does not require a large massive engine and the bigger the engine, then a larger wingspan is required, and so on. To get used to a lighter and tighter structure one would have to be inside it and feel the difference. I can only use sailboats as a comparable structure for how homes could be built with lighter and tighter materials. I love the water and being on a boat in the water is great, but I've also wanted to dig a hole in my backyard and bury a completely manufactured boat so that I could climb down in it and play fort. Would the resins and materials survive, or should the boat be coated with a fungus proof barrier coating before I bury it?
Am I making any sense here? Whatever!
The circles of logic are so large that the world may as well be flat. Each time I think I have found a new horizon I am back where I started, but with a little more logic in my quest. The quest is currently revolving around screen printing and molding with epoxy versus some other materials. For years I have worked on different methods of making durable printed pieces that could be used or left outdoors and not deteriorate, assuming that we are heading for a great disaster and that all things will eventually end up buried. Much of my work started with plasters, cements and polyester resins that I printed either digitally or with screen printing. I have a bunch of old screens and am always trying to find a use for them, but as I keep needing new screens to experiment with my inventory of old screens just keeps growing. The most durable material that I have been working with, that is also the most frustrating material due to the time it takes to set up, is epoxy. I have gone full circle now and that instead of using epoxy as the method of supporting and bonding my other materials to each other I have been printing with epoxy and reducing my need for other materials, except for the mold making processes.
This being said I have to wonder what is the least I can get away with and every time I think I have reached a minimal amount of materials, I find that I can go thinner. Patience is not my virtue, but to get stronger thinner layers that are durable, I have to wait longer and let my prints and castings set properly, even as much as a week before I tear them out of their molds or cut them into different shapes. I am imagining a world of lightness and although I am not used to super thin veneers being the only thing between me and the world, there are some advantages including the economics.
How thick would I need to build an epoxy and carbon fiber shell to get the same strength that you get from a layer of 2 X 4 's and 3/8 inch plywood? Or if that is overkill, how about 1 X 2 inch frames with 1/4 inch plywood which would be the equivalent of some small boats I used to built as a young man in Sausalito? My fiberglass boat seems to be a good quarter inch or at least 3/16th inch thick. Assuming epoxy is stronger than polyester resin and carbon fiber is stronger than fiberglass then 1/32 to 1/16th of an inch thick would be an accomplishment. I have made a few epoxy resin pieces that seem to be less than 1/32nd of an inch and without any carbon fiber they seem pretty strong and decorative. I am thinking that if I combine a 2 thin veneers, two layers of carbon fiber and a printed layer of epoxy I can create a very strong surface with a water resistant exterior that might be as strong as a tortoise shell.
This hypothesis is still possibly more than I can chew since paying my bills and doing my day job is and should be the most important thing I work on. How then can I use these techniques and materials to build a better mousetrap, i.e. something I can actually sell that people need without redesigning the universe. Coffee mugs, trucker hats and t-shirts are my business, but this includes a rather large swath of other potential products that are kitschy and marketable from the angle of a fun gift. Why is epoxy better or useful as compared to the tried and proven techniques that already exist?
Machining cost are low with epoxy for one. Durability is a plus with epoxy. Availability of epoxy is relevant. Cost of epoxy is quite low.
This being said I have to wonder what is the least I can get away with and every time I think I have reached a minimal amount of materials, I find that I can go thinner. Patience is not my virtue, but to get stronger thinner layers that are durable, I have to wait longer and let my prints and castings set properly, even as much as a week before I tear them out of their molds or cut them into different shapes. I am imagining a world of lightness and although I am not used to super thin veneers being the only thing between me and the world, there are some advantages including the economics.
How thick would I need to build an epoxy and carbon fiber shell to get the same strength that you get from a layer of 2 X 4 's and 3/8 inch plywood? Or if that is overkill, how about 1 X 2 inch frames with 1/4 inch plywood which would be the equivalent of some small boats I used to built as a young man in Sausalito? My fiberglass boat seems to be a good quarter inch or at least 3/16th inch thick. Assuming epoxy is stronger than polyester resin and carbon fiber is stronger than fiberglass then 1/32 to 1/16th of an inch thick would be an accomplishment. I have made a few epoxy resin pieces that seem to be less than 1/32nd of an inch and without any carbon fiber they seem pretty strong and decorative. I am thinking that if I combine a 2 thin veneers, two layers of carbon fiber and a printed layer of epoxy I can create a very strong surface with a water resistant exterior that might be as strong as a tortoise shell.
This hypothesis is still possibly more than I can chew since paying my bills and doing my day job is and should be the most important thing I work on. How then can I use these techniques and materials to build a better mousetrap, i.e. something I can actually sell that people need without redesigning the universe. Coffee mugs, trucker hats and t-shirts are my business, but this includes a rather large swath of other potential products that are kitschy and marketable from the angle of a fun gift. Why is epoxy better or useful as compared to the tried and proven techniques that already exist?
Machining cost are low with epoxy for one. Durability is a plus with epoxy. Availability of epoxy is relevant. Cost of epoxy is quite low.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)