Pre Cooked Plastic

[navarre66]

Hey guys, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to pre cook plastic. I have an 8 x 8 pyrex pan and wanted to cook up 2 or 3 colors in bulk, I only will be using a few colors (YEAH RIGHT ). is this a good idea or should I just stop being lazy and shake that damned plastic.

[mark poulson]

From my limited experience, reheating has a whole 'nother set of concerns, like hardening, scorthing, and color change.

I only buy in single gallons, so shaking the plastic isn't an issue for me.

I don't know how people who buy in fives do it. Wheaties, I guess.

Edited October 8, 2010 by mark poulson

[mark poulson]

I guess the only way to know for sure is to make up 4oz of each color you want, and reheat them individually, so you can see how each color is affected.

[nova]

The easiest answer is don't do it unless you have to re-heat the sprues or mispours. Don't try to complicate the process. You'll find out it's not really a shortcut and can wind up costing you money for burnt plastic.

It takes about the same amount of time to melt fresh plastic as it does to re-heat solid plastic.

www.novalures.com

Edited October 8, 2010 by nova

[biggun]

From my limited experience, reheating has a whole 'nother set of concerns, like hardening, scorthing, and color change.

I only buy in single gallons, so shaking the plastic isn't an issue for me.

I don't know how people who buy in fives do it. Wheaties, I guess.

I buy mine in five gallon buckets and mix it with an paint mixer and a drill for at least 15-20 min.

Then i just break it down into gallons and quarts, depending on how many pours I have to make that week. Ive been thinking about buying some of the gallon paint cans the tin ones and an old paint shaker then after I break it down from 5 gallons into 1 gallons i could just toss it in the shaker for a few mins and done. Just a thought.

[Richard Prager]

Hey guys, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to pre cook plastic. I have an 8 x 8 pyrex pan and wanted to cook up 2 or 3 colors in bulk, I only will be using a few colors (YEAH RIGHT ). is this a good idea or should I just stop being lazy and shake that damned plastic.

Stop being lazy

[BuffTriton]

I buy mine in five gallon buckets and mix it with an paint mixer and a drill for at least 15-20 min.

Then i just break it down into gallons and quarts, depending on how many pours I have to make that week. Ive been thinking about buying some of the gallon paint cans the tin ones and an old paint shaker then after I break it down from 5 gallons into 1 gallons i could just toss it in the shaker for a few mins and done. Just a thought.

This is close to what I do, break down bulk plastic into qrts that are labeled by mold configuration. Because so much of my work is custom ( quantities of 30-50) I pre-mix only two base colors without flake, learned the hard way it doesn't pay to put flake in until ordered because..... see Murphy's law. I would agree with the earlier post in that in small amounts it's just as fast to heat up from scratch, but having those two colors already mixed in bulk has saved me valuable time on rush orders for retailers plus it's consistant in color, add flake and pour. My way of thinking might be skewed also by the fact that I'm a creature of habit and it may only be psychological that it saves me time.

Edited October 8, 2010 by BuffTriton

[Vodkaman]

My approach would be to make some kind of permanent slow tumbler for the 5 gal container (hardbaits drying wheel style). This way the plastic is always ready. The thought of shaking up a half litre rattle can is bad enough. I would never get anything done if I knew a 5 gal container was waiting down stairs for me to wrestle with. You can get timers in hardware DIY stores. Switch on 5 minutes in every hour.

Paints in rotating racks, mounted next to front door or bathroom. Encourage family to rotate everytime passing. This idea may be naive, it all depends on the attitude of your family. Don't expect miracles from teenagers, but if you have young children and an understanding wife, you will never have to shake a container again.

Dave

[Richard Prager]

Not all plastic settles out. Using M-F''s plastisol in the 5 gallon container, all that is needed is to rock it back and forth 1/2 dozen times and it's ready to pour using the spout. It is also bubble free.

[Delw]

Hey guys, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to pre cook plastic. I have an 8 x 8 pyrex pan and wanted to cook up 2 or 3 colors in bulk, I only will be using a few colors (YEAH RIGHT ). is this a good idea or should I just stop being lazy and shake that damned plastic.

The best way to do this is to shread it after you cook it, No glitter should be in the color at all. Glitter is what really messes up reheats.

I have a few customers that use a meat grinder and shred the plastic. then the heat it up slow. one of them even uses the micro, most use sta warm or big commercial pots but all do shred the plastic to be successful in it.

If you do it with salt in the plastic all ready the salt mixes alot better after shredding it. there is a huge benifit from what I am told to doing this when you have weighted plastic with salt. one of them is your colors will come out clearer.

Delw

[powerworm]

i purchase my plastisol by the drum and mix it in the drum when it arrives i mix the drum with a kayak paddle for like 30-40 minutes then i portion a 1/3 out and stir for 5-10 minutes then portion out half of whats left then stir a little bit then finish portioning it out. i only use 1 gallon jugs as the wife is pregnant and i dont want her to have to handle a 2.5 gallon jug if i can avoid it!!

[mark poulson]

i purchase my plastisol by the drum and mix it in the drum when it arrives i mix the drum with a kayak paddle for like 30-40 minutes then i portion a 1/3 out and stir for 5-10 minutes then portion out half of whats left then stir a little bit then finish portioning it out. i only use 1 gallon jugs as the wife is pregnant and i dont want her to have to handle a 2.5 gallon jug if i can avoid it!!

You are a truly thoughtful husband, indeed.

Myself, I stopped buying beer by the case because it was hard for my exwife to lift. Needless to say, my thoughtfulness went unappreciated.

[Richard Prager]

You are a truly thoughtful husband, indeed.

Myself, I stopped buying beer by the case because it was hard for my exwife to lift. Needless to say, my thoughtfulness went unappreciated.

Yeah, I bought my wife a flipping stick when they became popular in the 80's

That's about all I got to keep! I'll tell you, you just can't win for trying!

[mark poulson]

Yeah, I bought my wife a flipping stick when they became popular in the 80's

That's about all I got to keep! I'll tell you, you just can't win for trying!

That's right up there with "No good deed shall go unpunished".

They just don't know how good they have it, do they?