General Update

I haven't had a lot of time to work on things this past week. Life has just been way too busy. I did however eek out a little bit of time yesterday to fix/finish off the vibration table. I used some foam and springs to dampen the vibration and things seem to work wonderfully now! I'll have some pictures up soon as well as brief how-to.

I have also switched over to the glass method of scraping the tiles and let me tell you it makes a WORLD of difference. I found some already cut acrylic sheets at lowes for about $3 each that are just the right size for a mold. I picked up 5 of them and plan on getting about 10 more tonight!

I am also now doing a syrenge method instead of pouring from the sides. I bought a bottle that I can squeeze the plaster out of to do this, it isn't an actual syrenge. I plan on going to the restraunt supply store soon and picking up a few more bottles of different sizes depending how much plaster I am working with.

Also I have found that going with a 2 to 1 ratio of plaster to water by volume seems to work out fairly well for overall strength. Now to get to casting a bunch more bricks!!!

Ohh on another note my adsense account was disable because of invalid clicks! Not sure what that is about or how they determine that but I have now switched ad providers and will be looking at finding better ad networks for this blog in the future!

DIY Silent Air Compressor

This article is posted on behalf of Adam and details how he built his silent aircompressor.

After getting tired of not being able to airbrush at night due to a very noisy compressor I set off on a task to build a nearly silent one. I built this compressor about two years ago.

Here is a list of the major parts I used in building my compressor.

Refrigerator compressor (I salvaged mine from a mini fridge that wouldn’t stay cold) (left)

A pressure regulator (110Psi was more than enough for hobby painting) (left)

Pressure cut off switch  (left)

Air Tank (left)

If you are salvaging a compressor from a refrigerator, It is extremely important to properly evacuate all refrigerant from your donor refrigerator's system. Many shops will do this for free.

Cut the two copper tubes coming from the sealed compressor, Make sure to leave as much of the tube as possible. Once cut, avoid turning the unit upside down. Or the oil will spill out.

Follow the power cord into the wiring harness tracing the wires to their separate terminals on the capacitor. Mark both wires and terminals with masking tape or a marking pen to keep their proper configuration. Make note of wires at this location that will go to another set of terminals on 110v sealed compressor module (or "pump"), tape and mark these wires and terminals as well.

Remove the wiring to everything else except the capacitor and pump. Remove the compressor for the donor refrigerator. Save the rubber feet, they will help reduce noise and vibration when you mount the compressor to its new frame. Connect corresponding power cord wires to the capacitor and green ground wire to base of pump.

Gently bend both copper lines on the pump to point vertically. This will help keep the oil from spitting out or making its way down your feed line into your pressure vessel once it’s attached. Make sure the compressor is secured to prevent "lurching" or pulling wires loose from vibrations.

Plug it in and listen for motor sound: If the unit does not run, unplug it at once and check power cord wires. Note, one copper tube may spit oil at first. This is normal mark this tube as the supply line.

If no oil blows out as the unit is running, put a finger tip on the end of one of the copper lines and feel for the side blowing air. The line blowing air is the supply line and should be marked as such. 8

Following the diagram below and using the appropriate brass fittings and air hose connect the compressor supply line to a 3 way tee. On one end of the tee you will have your air tank with safety pressure release valve. On the other end connect air hose to a second tee with the Pressure Switch and pressure regulator. Finally, attach a quick disconnect to the pressure regulator.

Follow the wiring diagram for your pressure switch and connect the wires from the compressor as well as a grounded power cord.

For The air compressor intake you should install an air filter.

Or if you’re in a bind a wiffle ball at the end of the copper intake pipe with a coffee filter wrapped around it. This worked for me for the first few weeks.

Using the original rubber mounts and making it as level as possible, bolt the pump to a sturdy frame or base plate. I decided to make a nice wood box that sits over the 10 gallon air tank.

This compressor won't win any awards for its looks, but it's silent, cheap and fun to build. I plan to use what I have learned from this project on my next DIY, a silent vacuum chamber for investing.

Project Status 1

I am going to do a weekly readers digest version of the status of my projects! This will not have any pictures and is just an idea of when stuff will get done.

Ruined Castle Gate:

The air compressor has stalled my progress here however the piece is done other then painting and final detail work. I am borrowing an air compressor and hope to have the piece done in the next couple days.

Gardens of Morr:

I have 2 of the buildings finished painting and almost complete with the main gate, just a couple details to add there. Once the air brush is working again I plan to do the first 2 coats of paint with the air brush for the remaining pieces which should save me time overall. Hopefully I will be done with the piece middle of next week.

Minas Tirith:

Working on designing the Citadel. I hope to have some sketches up soon of this and begin construction.

Gazebos:

I am still working on the dome pieces and have not made any progress here. Been focusing on casting blocks and working out kinks in that process.

Workspace:

I have more poly bins to mount to finish sorting. Also this weekend I will be installing a sink basin and running water to the shop. This will make things a lot easier. Also need to mount some peg board by my new bench.

Tools:

I made a couple table tops for casting on which are working well. I have the foam to use as a dampener for the vibration table but have yet to fix that. Might get to that this weekend but probably won't happen till next week.

Lots of stuff going on time to complete some of it!

Shopping list for the day

Need to pick up some silicone baking mats from the restraunt supply store as well as more poly bins. I may also pick up some silicone RTV but will probably wait on that.

I have found that the baking mats make for a great worksurface cover. The plaster does not stick to them at all really which is really handy for cleaning. I want to get at least 2 more but maybe 3 or 4 to cover the areas where I do the casting and drying.

Mixing Bowls

I need to find a set of Silicone Mixing Bowls. 2 or 3 should be good and 3qts should be plenty big enough. I am looking at trying to cast 18 molds in a single go maybe more... If you have any suggestions please leave a comment below!!!

Casting Updates

Ok so yesterday I spent a little bit of time casting with the merlins magic. I experimented to find the right slurry mix for the poors and I think I am there. I did however run into a problem with the vibration table. When I placed one of the molds on it the thing jumped around like a boucing bean. This made it impossible to pour plaster in it. I still need to figure out what is going on with it. Part of the problem is probably the missing bolt but even then I wouldn't expect the reaction I was having yesterady.

Vibration Table Complete

So I finished or mostly finished the vibration table. It will work the way it is now but I have some tweaks I need to make. For one the table spins slowly when vibrating. This may be because I don't have enough tension on the bolt yet. I also have to put back another bolt between the table top and the motor. I am missing the nut and locking washer though. Apparently they didn't make it into the bin I put all the rest of the parts in... go figure. ProTip: Keep track of your nuts. This is just good general life advice though!

I will be doing a full writeup later of how I built this thing.

Vibration Table Update

I managed to spend about an hour last night working on this project. I would have finished it off but ended up not having an appropriate sized bolt to mount the table. It also took me longer to mount the clipboard clips to the end of the table. I first tried to mount them without removing the brass rivets. This was a mistake and it ended up taking me a lot longer to remove the rivets then it should have because of it. I was able to correct for it so live and learn I guess. I'll have a step by step up sometime this weekend.

The build begins

I started the dissambly of the vibrator/tumbler I picked up from harbor freight. I need to remove the 12" threaded shaft that the bowl attached to and replace it with a much shorter shaft to attach the new table to. In order to do this I had to disassemble then entire top of the vibration table. This was not an easy task because I seem to be missing some of the sockets and wrenches needed. I guess I have some more things to pick up from harbor freight. I did finally get the entire thing apart however. Now time to build the new top and determine the length of the rod needed. I plan to make the table with a pair of clips on either end. These clips will be used to hold down a sheet of wax paper. This should make for easy cleaning!!!