Home Made Pressure Gauge

So, I have been working on a lot different steampunk projects for quite a while.  So many, in fact, that I have not been able to find the time to post any new items on my blog.  One example is this part of a new set of goggles for my etsy store.  The goggles are based on a pair that I made for a friend who made me think of a more engineering style overall.  The goggles needed something that would help out with the effect of an industrial look.

I had read online several months ago about making your own pressure gauge but I lost the bookmark and I'm not sure where I found the article now.  The basic idea is to take a flush finger pull which normally gets put into a cabinet or closet door to help to open and close it.  I found a set of four that were small enough to be made to fit some goggles.



As you can see, these were pretty reasonable so if I messed them up it would be no big deal.  Next you have to use clear casting epoxy to make the "glass" for the gauge.  I already had plenty Easy Cast left from earlier projects.  The process will be to fill the finger pull partially with the epoxy then let it dry, add a custom gauge face then finish filling to top the gauge off.

In order to make the custom gauge be able to attach to whatever item I am steampunking it was necessary to drill a hole in the finger pull then put a small bolt through the hole and a nut on the outside to keep it in place.  Once the first layer of epoxy dries it will make the bolt permanent which will make it possible to bolt it onto whatever I'm working on.



I searched for quite a while trying to find the right gauge face art that would work in this custom part but I finally had to end up printing one and then cleaning it up by hand simply because the detail did not transfer well onto the very small scale that I needed.  This is the first image I found.

I printed this, cut it out and coated both sides with generous amounts of Mod Podge to protect it from the liquid epoxy.  After this covering had dried I put the face into the partially filled gauge and then covered it the rest of the way until the epoxy was level with the outer rim of the metal pull.  Once it had dried, I was left with a small gauge that could be added to my new goggles and it really came out nice once finished.

*Note: some tricks about using epoxy.  The Easy Cast clear epoxy has some quirks to it that can be frustrating if you have never used it before.  It is very easy to pour too much into your project and have the epoxy overflow.  Try to pour in small amounts and let the liquid settle a little before pouring more in.  Make sure the mixture is right which should be 50/50.  It's possible to get a sticky mixture that never fully dries if the mix is off.  And last, the epoxy is made to off gas on its own but it really can help to get all of those tiny bubbles out by exhailing on the epoxy because carbon dioxide helps the liquid release the bubbles even faster.

Steps in Goggle Creation

Here is a breakdown of most of the major steps that it took to get my goggles completed.  I have put the pictures that I had on file to try to help with the visualization of the process.

The original goggles as they were when I purchased them from a local flea market.  Here I had removed the elastic strap and had to do some repair work using 5 minute epoxy to the round vents as they had a few breaks in them.   Next, I painted the base coat of Krylon Fusion black paint so any other paint would have a way to stick. I now believe that glueing on most of the components first would have been better since the flexible area became very sticky and attracted a lot of hair.  I glued several wing nuts and acorn nuts around the flip up lense assembly to make things a little more mechanical.  Then the radio tubes with their custom plugs were added along with gears on the side and an assembly from the car instrument panel with a bubble level added for effect.  The magnifying loupes have their own clip to attach them but also alows them to be removed at any time.  These were actually saved until the end along with some other items.  Finally you can see what I wanted to do with this project start to come into focus.  I only needed to add the rub n buff color, work a bit on the lenses and then cover everything in clear coat to preserve the painted details.

Rub-N-Buff Finish

I have read different articles on line about the AMACO brand of Rub-N-Buff finish that can be used to give your experimental sculptures and projects a weathered, metallic look. Although the product was ostensibly created for use on picture frames to lend an old metallic feel this stuff works really, really well on making basically anything look like tarnished metal. It is primarily a wax metallic paste that carries tiny particles of soluble copper and other metals.

This is to be applied either with your finger tip, a cloth or a stiff bristled brush.  The warning on the package says to use small amounts as they dry quickly.  I decided to experiment on something other they either of my main projects first so that I could get used to this new medium that I have never worked with before.  I chose one of the things that I found at one of the local junkyards in an old car, an after market horn assembly.  I removed the large, internal magnet, circuit board and the few other things inside and cleaned the housing really well before getting started. 

Once I broke the seal on the rub-n-buff I got started with a little on my index finger and started painting the back half of the housing.  The warning on the instructions about the stuff drying so quickly does not do justice to how fast this stuff will no longer spread.  I would almost classify it more closely to drying almost instantly.  I also could not resist the urge to really "paint" the plastic surface probably because I am so used to working with canvas rather than plastic.  It turned out to be best to make short quick strokes on the housing and to put larger amounts around the more raised details.  The key way to imagine what you want to accomplish with this is to look at the black base color as the tarnish and everywhere you touch with the rub-n-buff is where the "metal" is cleaner and showing through.

One technique that I was able to bring over from past painting experience is that you should choose a brush stroke to work with as you apply the metallic paste.  When I first started on the back half of the plastic housing I was using a more circular pattern but as I moved around the sides and then on to the front half I realized that I liked it better when I just more dashed on strokes in a single direction.  Plus, it will really help to either paint multiple sections of one item together so the patterns match.  I ended up holding the two sections together at the last and bringing a few lines across both to make sure they looked like they aged together.

Later, when all of this has dried, I will go ahead and coat the housing with my Krylon clear sealant as to make all the new coloration permanent.

Fun With Mold Making

This just goes to show that when you ask a question at a retail store you can most definitely expect to get the right answer every time because customer service is job one. And to that end I was very surprised to see at the local Michaels that they not only carry several different brands of mold making materials but they also carry several kinds of resin to make parts out of too. So, even though I had asked the store clerks while visiting this location a couple of weeks ago and was clearly told that they did not have anything like this, here were the exact products I had been looking for. My only conclusion is that these must have been stocked immediately after I left the store the last time and the poor clerks were none the wiser.

I looked at four kinds of silicone mold making kits and eventually went with Sculpey Moldmaker which states on the box that the mold is soft and pliable to shape around the most intricate details. Then when the material is cooked in a conventional oven it makes an Elasticlay mold that is permanent and flexible. This was around $10 for two 4 oz bars of the clay-like material.

The instructions say to use a small amount of the mold maker to make a copy of the part you want to duplicate. You are supposed to cover the part in corn starch so it can be released from the mold maker easily then you just bake the mold in the oven at 275 for 20 minutes. It turns out that all of this is easier said than done. The pliability and softness of the mold maker also goes along with making for a very sticky and very easily deformed consistency. It’s all well and good getting the part down in this stuff but the real trick is removing it again afterwards without warping the whole mold while extracting the original part. I think that what the instructions should tell you to do it what I eventually figured out on my own.

1. Get a small aluminum pan that can be placed in the oven

2. Cut off a section of the mold maker and then use corn starch on your fingers so you can work the material without it sticking to you

3. Once you have shaped the mold material into a small disc place it into the pan

4. Keep as much of the corn starch out of the pan as possible and that way the disc of mold maker will stay in place when you remove the original part

5. Put corn starch on the original part and press evenly into the mold blank. The original will be a lot easier to press in and then remove if it has something sticking off its back or if you attach a temporary handle maybe using a hot glue gun. (I ended up gluing one gear down onto a piece of cardboard to make one mold by pressing the material over it. This would have been simpler if I had just glued the gear to wax paper, but you know hindsight and all that.)

6. If you have succeeded in removing the part and have not changed the shape of the mold in the process you can then place the pan in the oven and cook it for 20 minutes.

I ended up making six different molds tonight and interestingly enough they all turned out to have the feel of erasers once they had been cooked.  This is supposed to give them the ability to hold their shape when you pour liquid resin into the impressions and then enough flexibility to stretch to allow the hardened resin to be released.  The next step now is going to be to get one of the resin mixes and pour some into the molds to see how good these took.  Hopefully soon I will be able to start making my own resin gears for steampunk modifications and I will not have to worry about running out of any particular style of gears.  Wish me luck.

Let The Painting Begin

Now the dart gun and my set of goggles have been dissasembled and made ready for the great painting.  This was pretty easy on the goggles since it mostly just meant taking off the elastic head band and then unscrewing the locking rings that hold the lenses in place. 

The gun on the other hand was a little more complicated than that.  I thought it would just be a matter of about eight phillips head screws but it turns out that the orange plastic ends on the barrels were glued in place and it made it impossible to seperate the two halves without breaking something first.  I finally took a metal exacto knife and completely cut the ends off of the barrels and shaved these areas smooth once the pieces were removed.  This was only about 1/8th of an inch of plastic and if need be I can always glue something else on the ends to give a different effect anyway.  There was also a long orange plastic piece that fit into the back of the gun that you had to pull back to get it ready to fire a dart.  I was able to take this apart for painting but with it being bright orange I may have to do a few more coats to get it completely covered.

What is pictured below is the gun with only the first coat of black paint and the goggles have two coats.  I am using Krylon Fusion which is made specifically to stick to plastic.  If you start with regular spray paint first there is a good chance of it not sticking or flaking off over time.  Interestingly though, the flexible part of the goggles that presses against your face is still sticky to the touch even after drying almost 24 hours.  This will most likely mean that I will have to treat the goggles to a couple of coates of clear sealant even before adding any steampunk stuff.

The Joy of Mold Making

So, I ran across this video on You Tube a few days ago and was struck with inspiration.  You see, it turns out that it's not all that simple to glue metal parts onto plastic pieces like goggles or guns.  That was what led me to think that it might make more sense to use replicas of metal parts, like gears, instead of the real thing.  That's where the instructional video from Brickintheyard.com comes in.  Their video on You Tube shows how to use 71-20 Silicone to create a flexible mold around an actual part and you can then use the mold to make resin copies of the original.  Thus started our trips around the area this weekend to try to find a store that might provide the raw materials for this latest venture.  We ended up going to craft stores, costume shops, hardware stores and even the dreaded, giant mart but to no avail at all.  The closest we could come was a form of resin bonding material that is used with a type of synthetic cloth to repair cars with. 

My idea on this was to buy the silicone and eventually the resin from a local store so I could avoid the shipping costs involved with ordering online.  But, the best laid plans and all that.  Take a look at the video that started all of this and see if it gives you any sparks of inspiration and in the mean time I'll try to put together the best list of online sellers.  These silicone molds can be used for a lot of different things including making candles and even sugar replicas that go on really ornate cakes.

Steampunk Gloves Video

This is a how to video that was posted on You Tube by the Threadbanger site.  The audio isn't great and I am not really sure that I'm going to go with gloves in this style.  Still, all the info you can collect will eventually help you out down the road.  You might even be able to apply this to some other item in your outfit.