Epoxy encapsultation for the busy working mum.

[peskywinnets]

what special kit is needed to totally encapsulate a pickup? (expensive kit involved?)

And while I'm on - what's the process?

By that, ok, I realise there's a mould involved & some epoxy resin (plenty of associated videos on youtube), but specifically to pickups .....how do you mount the pickup in the mould etc?

If you do venture into this kind of stuff at home, will it likely turn out like my 9 year old 'gave it a go'.

[Dave Kerr]

Jonson had a tremendous thread on this a while back, search for threads started by him

[Peter Naglitsch]

I've recently started to cast pickups to try to differentiate me from the current vintage clone/PAF market. I have started to get the hang of it but I'm no were close to being an expert. I use silicone for the mold and PUR (poly urethane resin?) with added black pigments as I got too much shrinkage when using epoxy. Watch out for shrinking in the 5-6% range. The PUR I use have only 2% shrinkage and works fine. The trick is to spend a lot of time on the original part that you make the mold from (whats that called in English?). Every tiny imperfection from that will show up in the mold and in the finished product.

Oh, just found the thread Dave were reffering to:
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t13575/
Start there, much info

[David King]

The original model to be cast is called the plug.
I'd want a way to hold the armature in position from the back side. I've heard of folks using little wedges inside the mold but that's only when they are going to drop the whole thing into a plastic pickup shell.

[Peter Naglitsch]

Tnx David! Plugg...

I did almost the same way as Jonson describes. I cast a thin layer of PUR at the bottom (top to be) and let it set. Immediately after the PUR has set I place the pickup, sparsely taped together into one unit, onto that solid surface, tack it onto the surface with a single drop of fast CA. to fixate it. While the CA cures I quickly mix another batch of PUR and pure it over the assembly to cover it completely. I have not yet had any problem with bubbles at the sides, but at one time, when leaving the fist layer in the mold to long I didn't get adhesion between layer one and the second part. Al this will of cause depend on the type of resin you use. When I started I used an iron plate, some stacked iron washers and stuck the pickup to that and thus suspending the pickup in mid air using the magnets to hold on to the iron and the washers to adjust for distance. I stopped when I got air bubbles trapped between the pickup and the mold on the bottom (top to be). Not pretty... Oh, and I use thin CA to solidify the coils. solid lump of wires and it adheres without problems to the PUR.

[David King]

Peskywinnets,

AeroMarine Products - Epoxy Resin, Urethane Foam, Silicone Mold Making Rubber is the place to go in the States for this material. Not sure where to send you in the UK but I think Jonson mentions sources.

[peskywinnets]

Thanks to all.

Just wondering what the pro pickup manafacturers use? I'm assuming some form of mixing injector/nozzle (to automatically mix the resin & hardener from two separate tanks), pushed into a steel/aluminium mould & then filled under pressure?

[David King]

Get out your wallet...

If they're serious, I'll bet they use something like this bad boy:
Exact Resin Dispensing Systems, Meter Mix Equipment - Vacuum Encapsulation

[Peter Naglitsch]

I tried to buy from AeroMarine but they don't ship outside the US according to the on line order form...

[peskywinnets]

I tried to buy from AeroMarine but they don't ship outside the US according to the on line order form...

Got to say, for a nation built on being entrepreneurial, such a common stance is puzzling by Stateside sellers ...if you sell to an international buyer, the courier/postman kindly delivers it on your behalf, much like if you sold to someone local.... wtf?

I flog things now & then on Ebay - just so long as he's prepared to pay the extra P&P incurred, I don't care two hoots where the buyer lives....his/der dosh is as good as anyone elses.

[ScottA]

Got to say, for a nation built on being entrepreneurial, such a common stance is puzzling by Stateside sellers ...if you sell to an international buyer, the courier/postman kindly delivers it on your behalf, much like if you sold to someone local.... wtf?

I flog things now & then on Ebay - just so long as he's prepared to pay the extra P&P incurred, I don't care two hoots where the buyer lives....his/der dosh is as good as anyone elses.

Maybe they aren't equipped or don't want to deal with ROHS requirements and regulations.

[Joe Gwinn]

The trick is to spend a lot of time on the original part that you make the mold from (whats that called in English?). Every tiny imperfection from that will show up in the mold and in the finished product.

Names vary, but it's often called a master or a master pattern, and in industry the person making these is called a Patternmaker.

However, a Master Patternmaker is a very good maker of patterns, be they master patterns or not.

Pattern Maker

[Marko Ursin]

As international buyer I can't help wondering why on earth it is so difficult for some US sellers to ship international? Last week I tried to buy a vacuum controller/switch from US, no luck. Glad there are helpful people on another forum I'm in and they help me as a middleman. I agree with you, as long as the buyer pays extra costs I see no reason why I wouldn't sell anywhere.
Marko

[jonson]

Peter, Pesky and europewide guys,

Buy fibreglass supplies online - East Coast Fibreglass Supplies
Sculptors Tools, Modelling Materials, Studio Equipment - Alec Tiranti Ltd
Mould Making and Casting Supplies items - Get great deals on RTV Silicone, Liquid Latex Rubber items on eBay.co.uk Shops!
Sylmasta Ltd Online Catalogue
All good guys to deal with.
In the Uk it's a master, a plug or a buck.

[jason lollar]

heres a pickup I made using a silicon mould etc- its a reproduction of an old supro but that type of construction takes alot of prepwork to make a good mould. You hang the pickup from a jug you make to mate up with the mould and its better to pressurize the epoxy than vacuum- the latter just creates bubbles and the former shrinks them down to nothing.