Ouch!! I have looked for a good sized bell jar at flea markets and junk stores. I haven't found anything close. I'm chicken to try a heavy glass flower vase. I'm afraid it may implode. I picked up this acrylic thing at a surplus place and it works great. I went back to get the other 4 of them and they were gone. Someone else found a use for them.
finally got one of these that I'm half way happy with that doesn't have a giant sink in the side shown in the photo. I'm not going to try to do anything other then a little scraping around the letters to see if that will help with the sand tearing the patterns not mine so I don't want to mess around with it too much.
hope to try to pour it in cast iron Friday just hope I can get one this good there was a little shrinkage on what is actually the bottom which gets milled off flat anyway, so the shrinkage if any is in a good place.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster
If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
did this one today after receiving the patterns in the mail, the initial plate is changeable, the guy made 4 different ones I happen to like the oval one best.
David and Charlie aka the shop monster
If life seems normal your not going fast enough" Mario Andrette
dallen wrote:finally got one of these that I'm half way happy with that doesn't have a giant sink in the side shown in the photo.
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What sink? As for the tears around the letters check and see if there are any crisp edges that might have subtle undercuts or vertical sides in the position they lay when rammed with sand. You can eliminate that with a couple light coats of spray paint... one over the letters only then another uniformly over the entire pattern. If the pattern's durable and belongs to someone else you can remove the paint with chemical or a very soft wire brush wheel chucked to a die grinder.
