Post by Tweetiepy on Jan 13, 2009 15:03:50 GMT -5
Okay I saw this in our club newsletter - I didn't quite understand it but it might be helpful for others who aren't threatened by epoxy or terrified of gluing themselves to themselves.
Cream of Wheat in 5-minute Epoxy?
1. Mixing on a clean sheet of paper, lay down equal amounts of Epoxy resin and hardener. sprinkle the Cream of Wheat on the Epoxy, shake off the excess. Now, move the mixture around like mixing concrete; Don't just stir it, but combine stirring with folding. When the Epoxy is thoroughly mixed, the Cream of Wheat will be spread evenly throughout. Use this as a guide to tell you when your mixing is complete.
2. The Cream of Wheat will keep the stone from coming in contact with the sides of the dop. This will offer some protection to the stone. The Cream of Wheat is softer than the dop.
3. As the Epoxy sets up it softens the Cream of Wheat. The Epoxy the Cream of Wheat expands, as the Epoxy starts to harden it starts to shrink. At this stage, the Epoxy can pull pieces off the stone, (especially stones with cleavage planes), the Cream of Wheat expands as the Epoxy shrinks and this keeps the tension off the stone. This in turn tends to balance the stresses inside the dop.
4. After the faceting is complete, it is time to remove the stone from the dop. The Cream of Wheat is providing soft spots in the Epoxy, this I feel speeds up the soaking time required to remove the stone. Further, if you
choose to boil the dop and stone to separate them, the Cream of Wheat speeds this up, also. As the Cream of Wheat expands further, it helps push the stone away from the epoxy. The above seems to work for me. I have lost very few lets since I started using the above system. This was very
important because I was orienting topaz on the "C" axis to enhance the colour. This left the culet exposed to the pulling effect of the shrinking epoxy. I had lost a lot of culets before I started using the above method. Now I have very few stones damaged when they come out of the cone dop.
Cream of Wheat in 5-minute Epoxy?
1. Mixing on a clean sheet of paper, lay down equal amounts of Epoxy resin and hardener. sprinkle the Cream of Wheat on the Epoxy, shake off the excess. Now, move the mixture around like mixing concrete; Don't just stir it, but combine stirring with folding. When the Epoxy is thoroughly mixed, the Cream of Wheat will be spread evenly throughout. Use this as a guide to tell you when your mixing is complete.
2. The Cream of Wheat will keep the stone from coming in contact with the sides of the dop. This will offer some protection to the stone. The Cream of Wheat is softer than the dop.
3. As the Epoxy sets up it softens the Cream of Wheat. The Epoxy the Cream of Wheat expands, as the Epoxy starts to harden it starts to shrink. At this stage, the Epoxy can pull pieces off the stone, (especially stones with cleavage planes), the Cream of Wheat expands as the Epoxy shrinks and this keeps the tension off the stone. This in turn tends to balance the stresses inside the dop.
4. After the faceting is complete, it is time to remove the stone from the dop. The Cream of Wheat is providing soft spots in the Epoxy, this I feel speeds up the soaking time required to remove the stone. Further, if you
choose to boil the dop and stone to separate them, the Cream of Wheat speeds this up, also. As the Cream of Wheat expands further, it helps push the stone away from the epoxy. The above seems to work for me. I have lost very few lets since I started using the above system. This was very
important because I was orienting topaz on the "C" axis to enhance the colour. This left the culet exposed to the pulling effect of the shrinking epoxy. I had lost a lot of culets before I started using the above method. Now I have very few stones damaged when they come out of the cone dop.
