# I am gathering info for diy chamber



## chippin-in (May 16, 2016)

So I'm thinking that instead of trying to stabilize large bowl blanks and then turning a bowl out of them, what I would do is rough turn a bowl and then stabilize it using less resin. That being said I was looking into a chamber that was approximately 12 inches in diameter. I was looking at Stainless Steel stock pots and that sort of thing. I went to Walmart and found these three items. All are priced approximately the same. Would these work?

I will use an acrylic lid and buna-n gasket. 

Thanks
Robert


----------



## Kevin (May 16, 2016)

This is sort of off topic but, why do you want to stabilize bowls? To preserve color? I wouldn't want a bowl to use for srving food that had resin which could be nicked with sharp utensils. 

Bowls, even already rough turned, will ise a lot of resin. Plus they have to be at zero MC% before going in the chamber which means baking in a full size oven. Depending on the species, a rough-turned bowl baking in an oven is courting disaster. It's one thing to bake pen blanks and call blanks, but a big bowl has many stresses waiting to go apey on you.

I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue it or that it can't be done, I'm just thinking out loud because I have never thought about it before.

Reactions: Agree 1


----------



## chippin-in (May 16, 2016)

Kevin said:


> This is sort of off topic but, why do you want to stabilize bowls? To preserve color? I wouldn't want a bowl to use for srving food that had resin which could be nicked with sharp utensils.
> 
> Bowls, even already rough turned, will ise a lot of resin. Plus they have to be at zero MC% before going in the chamber which means baking in a full size oven. Depending on the species, a rough-turned bowl baking in an oven is courting disaster. It's one thing to bake pen blanks and call blanks, but a big bowl has many stresses waiting to go apey on you.
> 
> I'm not saying you shouldn't pursue it or that it can't be done, I'm just thinking out loud because I have never thought about it before.



thanks Kevin,

i want to stabilize spalted and kinda soft bowls or hollow forms and also add dye/color into them. these would actually be smaller bowls... probably about 8" dia or less (kinda small). I found some countertop ovens that are approx. 10"x12"x6" or so on the inside. these would be for decoration only, not food use.

I did see a guy on youtube who just squirts dyed cactus juice on punky wood for duck calls, lets it dry overnight then cooks it. if I remember correctly, he said its ok but doesn't work as well as vacuum stabilizing.

I don't know maybe if I get some extra money (no such thing) I will give it a shot.

but I can also use this to do a larger batch of pen, stopper blanks etc

thanks
robert


----------



## Schroedc (May 16, 2016)

Look into vacuum bags as an option for stabilizing bowls and odd shapes. You have to have an intermediary catch chamber for overflow but they work well for odd shaped stuff as long as no sharp edges to puncture the bag and you don't have to fill an entire chamber with resin. The retail stock pots scare me a bit, most are pretty thin walls and if you have a really good pump the likelihood of imploding one is fairly high. If you do want to use a stock pot, check for a commercial restaurant supply and get a steel or aluminum one with much thicker walls if you can, long term I think you'd be happier and safer

30-35.00 for that bag, here- http://www.packardwoodworks.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=woodprep-stabsys

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


----------



## chippin-in (May 16, 2016)

hey Schroedc, I did find one on the internet, 3/16" aluminum. again, I am in the info gathering stage. it usually takes me a while to make a decision.

robert


----------



## gman2431 (May 16, 2016)

I would also do the bags before using a pot but I've also never done it and could be wrong.


----------



## Brain M (Jun 21, 2016)

I went with a setup from best value vac just recently. I got the 3 gallon system but wish I would have went with the 5. Here's a link to the 5 gallon. They were good to deal with too.

http://www.bestvaluevacs.com/5gvac.html


----------



## chippin-in (Jun 22, 2016)

Brain M said:


> I went with a setup from best value vac just recently. I got the 3 gallon system but wish I would have went with the 5. Here's a link to the 5 gallon. They were good to deal with too.
> 
> http://www.bestvaluevacs.com/5gvac.html


I bought a system from goplus and it works good so far.
Thanks

Robert


----------

