hey what’s up guys we are back huge
success with the pokeball castings
except for the bubbles the bubbles are
our number one enemy and we need a way
to get rid of them I got a lot of
suggestions in the comments saying we
should build a vacuum chamber so we
could extract the bubbles so our
silicone and plaster casts are as
perfect as they can be so that is
exactly what we’re gonna do today so
I’ve gathered up these materials and
we’re going to spend our afternoon
together building ourselves a vacuum
chamber this here is a 12 inch stainless
steel cooking pot and we’re not going to
need the lid we just need the pot itself
I also stopped by a hosts supply company
and picked up a bunch of various
fittings we have a couple of
quarter-inch shutoff valves we have a
quarter-inch cross three quarter inch
male female nipples specially what
they’re called a quarter inch hose barb
and a fitting just to connect it up to a
vacuum pump and just for fun I picked up
a liquid filled vacuum gauge as well
this isn’t really necessary it’s just
going to show us what pressures were
pulling inside the vacuum so we have got
our pot we’ve got our fittings we got
our vacuum pump and now it’s time to put
them together and for our lid I’m using
some of this three quarter inch crystal
clear acrylic and using this stuff
because we’re going to be able to look
down inside the chamber and see what’s
going on now kerlick is pretty brittle
and under vacuum pressure it can implode
but three quarters of an inch thick
should be more than we need that should
give it enough integrity to hold up to
the pressures we’re gonna put it under
I’m also using some clear poly tubing
for the vacuum hose but if you look
closely you can see this stuff has
really thick walls so we pull a vacuum
it’s not going to suck in on itself and
collapse the tube now this sheet of
acrylic is way bigger than we need and
frankly it’s quite expensive this piece
right here probably cost about $100 but
all we’re going to need is a section
just bigger than the mouth of the pot so
we’re going to flip this thing over use
a sharpie marker and draw around the
edges leaving about a quarter to a half
inch overlap all the way around let’s go
grab ourselves a jigsaw and cut this
thing out
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
this is a vacuum pump I picked up from
Harbor Freight it was one of their
higher-end models that’s still really
cheap this one goes down to 22 and a
half microns which is honestly overkill
for this project but I got it just in
case because you never know what we
might do down the road that might
justify the expense vacuum pumps are
designed to suck air out of objects and
the air gets sucked into this little
port here so to make it a little bit
easier I picked up this little fitting
that’s going to screw on this is a
90-degree elbow that will connect to our
hose so we can swivel it any direction
we want
once our 90-degree hose barb is attached
we can take our hose and just press it
over top so we’ve got a three-quarter
inch acrylic lid we’ve got our pot we’ve
got our vacuum pump this is the part
where we put them all together this
little tool here is called a tap and
it’s for making the little ridged
grooves for screw holes this is a
quarter inch NPT that stands for
national pipe thread and for this one we
need a 7/16 drill bit to drill the pilot
hole for it now to drill the suction
hole in the lid we can really put it
anywhere we want but I’m going to put
mine closer to the side and here’s why
if we ever want to flip this thing over
and use it as an acrylic base we can put
something like a glass bell jar over top
so we can see the reaction happening
however if our hole is in the middle
then any object we put in the center is
going to block the suction but if we
have the hole near the edge it should
still be able to work in either
direction so there you go now we have a
threaded hole in our acrylic lid and at
this point we can go ahead and remove
the paper because we’re not going to be
machining it anymore so let’s go ahead
and throw on some thread tape get all
these things connected together and get
ready to finish up
so here’s the idea of how this works
we’ve got our pot with the lid and when
this thing is closed the vacuum pump
will suck air out of the system now
we’ve got these little ball valves here
so we can actually close off the vacuum
turn this thing off and it should stay
this other valve on the end is to let
air back in so when we’re ready to
repressurize the system all we have to
do is open it and of course this is
completely optional but I added a vacuum
gauge just so we could see what kind of
pressures were drawing here now you’re
probably looking at this system saying
grant that’s not going to work because
as soon as you turn on the vacuum pump
air is going to leak under the bottom of
the acrylic you are exactly right we
need some kind of a rubber gasket to
seal the cracks and prevent the air from
getting sucked in and for that I’m using
proto cutty
[Music]
all right this is looking good I just
rolled myself a ball of proto putty if
you want to learn how to make this you
can find it in a previous video this is
basically play-doh that turns into
rubber and so what we can do is line the
edges of our acrylic with it and set it
into place and give it about five to ten
minutes to set and it should form a nice
rubber seal for us our container is
actually collapsing that’s kind of funny
whoa okay okay so update guys don’t
actually use these pots from the super
center if you can push it in with your
thumb
it’ll get pushed in with a vacuum so I
went on the classified ads and I found
one of these things this is a pressure
cooking pot it’s got reinforced walls
this is made to handle pressure you find
these things for about twenty to
twenty-five dollars does increase the
cost a little bit but your system is
gonna last a lot longer and I ended up
getting a really lucky in the sizing
because the lid that we made for the
other pot fits perfectly under our
pressure cooker as well
I’ll make some proto puddi and then
we’ll come back and slap this thing
together
[Music]
now the proto putty has had about five
minutes to set so we can go ahead and
start pulling up with the edges to
remove this thing and you can see the
whole acrylic plate comes right off so
you can see how smooth the surface is
now so when the acrylic sits on top it
makes a perfect airtight seal which is
exactly what we want and the coolest
thing about this prototype a from your
pressure cooker so you can still use
this for cooking food as well it’s very
important that your vent hole is inside
the container so adjust it so that it’s
off the gasket but line it up so that
the gasket completely seals around the
edges of the plastic just for a
demonstration we tried dumping in these
old stale marshmallows I don’t know if
they’re going to work the same because
they’ve been sitting out for quite a
while but you never know unless you try
[Music]
three-two-one excellent just pops right
back off
there you have a guy’s sourcing
materials from a few local companies
we’ve made ourselves a vacuum chamber
now I have to say that you can probably
buy them online for cheaper than I
purchase all these materials myself plus
they’re going to be guaranteed and from
a company that knows how to make them so
I’ll put a link in the description if
you’re just more interested in
purchasing one of these but if you have
the spirit of DIY and just love doing
things with your hands I hope you give
this project a try and I want to give a
quick shout out to my cousin ty Moser
with the mana local workshop for
inspiring this project he was the one
that stopped by with those scorpions
that glow-in-the-dark and he’s got a
video on his channel showing you how to
build a vacuum chamber out of a cookie
jar so check them out
thanks for joining me for this project
I’ll be looking for you the next one
talk to you then hmmm nothing like
having the wrinkly marshmallows for
there
[Music]
you
[Music]
success with the pokeball castings
except for the bubbles the bubbles are
our number one enemy and we need a way
to get rid of them I got a lot of
suggestions in the comments saying we
should build a vacuum chamber so we
could extract the bubbles so our
silicone and plaster casts are as
perfect as they can be so that is
exactly what we’re gonna do today so
I’ve gathered up these materials and
we’re going to spend our afternoon
together building ourselves a vacuum
chamber this here is a 12 inch stainless
steel cooking pot and we’re not going to
need the lid we just need the pot itself
I also stopped by a hosts supply company
and picked up a bunch of various
fittings we have a couple of
quarter-inch shutoff valves we have a
quarter-inch cross three quarter inch
male female nipples specially what
they’re called a quarter inch hose barb
and a fitting just to connect it up to a
vacuum pump and just for fun I picked up
a liquid filled vacuum gauge as well
this isn’t really necessary it’s just
going to show us what pressures were
pulling inside the vacuum so we have got
our pot we’ve got our fittings we got
our vacuum pump and now it’s time to put
them together and for our lid I’m using
some of this three quarter inch crystal
clear acrylic and using this stuff
because we’re going to be able to look
down inside the chamber and see what’s
going on now kerlick is pretty brittle
and under vacuum pressure it can implode
but three quarters of an inch thick
should be more than we need that should
give it enough integrity to hold up to
the pressures we’re gonna put it under
I’m also using some clear poly tubing
for the vacuum hose but if you look
closely you can see this stuff has
really thick walls so we pull a vacuum
it’s not going to suck in on itself and
collapse the tube now this sheet of
acrylic is way bigger than we need and
frankly it’s quite expensive this piece
right here probably cost about $100 but
all we’re going to need is a section
just bigger than the mouth of the pot so
we’re going to flip this thing over use
a sharpie marker and draw around the
edges leaving about a quarter to a half
inch overlap all the way around let’s go
grab ourselves a jigsaw and cut this
thing out
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
this is a vacuum pump I picked up from
Harbor Freight it was one of their
higher-end models that’s still really
cheap this one goes down to 22 and a
half microns which is honestly overkill
for this project but I got it just in
case because you never know what we
might do down the road that might
justify the expense vacuum pumps are
designed to suck air out of objects and
the air gets sucked into this little
port here so to make it a little bit
easier I picked up this little fitting
that’s going to screw on this is a
90-degree elbow that will connect to our
hose so we can swivel it any direction
we want
once our 90-degree hose barb is attached
we can take our hose and just press it
over top so we’ve got a three-quarter
inch acrylic lid we’ve got our pot we’ve
got our vacuum pump this is the part
where we put them all together this
little tool here is called a tap and
it’s for making the little ridged
grooves for screw holes this is a
quarter inch NPT that stands for
national pipe thread and for this one we
need a 7/16 drill bit to drill the pilot
hole for it now to drill the suction
hole in the lid we can really put it
anywhere we want but I’m going to put
mine closer to the side and here’s why
if we ever want to flip this thing over
and use it as an acrylic base we can put
something like a glass bell jar over top
so we can see the reaction happening
however if our hole is in the middle
then any object we put in the center is
going to block the suction but if we
have the hole near the edge it should
still be able to work in either
direction so there you go now we have a
threaded hole in our acrylic lid and at
this point we can go ahead and remove
the paper because we’re not going to be
machining it anymore so let’s go ahead
and throw on some thread tape get all
these things connected together and get
ready to finish up
so here’s the idea of how this works
we’ve got our pot with the lid and when
this thing is closed the vacuum pump
will suck air out of the system now
we’ve got these little ball valves here
so we can actually close off the vacuum
turn this thing off and it should stay
this other valve on the end is to let
air back in so when we’re ready to
repressurize the system all we have to
do is open it and of course this is
completely optional but I added a vacuum
gauge just so we could see what kind of
pressures were drawing here now you’re
probably looking at this system saying
grant that’s not going to work because
as soon as you turn on the vacuum pump
air is going to leak under the bottom of
the acrylic you are exactly right we
need some kind of a rubber gasket to
seal the cracks and prevent the air from
getting sucked in and for that I’m using
proto cutty
[Music]
all right this is looking good I just
rolled myself a ball of proto putty if
you want to learn how to make this you
can find it in a previous video this is
basically play-doh that turns into
rubber and so what we can do is line the
edges of our acrylic with it and set it
into place and give it about five to ten
minutes to set and it should form a nice
rubber seal for us our container is
actually collapsing that’s kind of funny
whoa okay okay so update guys don’t
actually use these pots from the super
center if you can push it in with your
thumb
it’ll get pushed in with a vacuum so I
went on the classified ads and I found
one of these things this is a pressure
cooking pot it’s got reinforced walls
this is made to handle pressure you find
these things for about twenty to
twenty-five dollars does increase the
cost a little bit but your system is
gonna last a lot longer and I ended up
getting a really lucky in the sizing
because the lid that we made for the
other pot fits perfectly under our
pressure cooker as well
I’ll make some proto puddi and then
we’ll come back and slap this thing
together
[Music]
now the proto putty has had about five
minutes to set so we can go ahead and
start pulling up with the edges to
remove this thing and you can see the
whole acrylic plate comes right off so
you can see how smooth the surface is
now so when the acrylic sits on top it
makes a perfect airtight seal which is
exactly what we want and the coolest
thing about this prototype a from your
pressure cooker so you can still use
this for cooking food as well it’s very
important that your vent hole is inside
the container so adjust it so that it’s
off the gasket but line it up so that
the gasket completely seals around the
edges of the plastic just for a
demonstration we tried dumping in these
old stale marshmallows I don’t know if
they’re going to work the same because
they’ve been sitting out for quite a
while but you never know unless you try
[Music]
three-two-one excellent just pops right
back off
there you have a guy’s sourcing
materials from a few local companies
we’ve made ourselves a vacuum chamber
now I have to say that you can probably
buy them online for cheaper than I
purchase all these materials myself plus
they’re going to be guaranteed and from
a company that knows how to make them so
I’ll put a link in the description if
you’re just more interested in
purchasing one of these but if you have
the spirit of DIY and just love doing
things with your hands I hope you give
this project a try and I want to give a
quick shout out to my cousin ty Moser
with the mana local workshop for
inspiring this project he was the one
that stopped by with those scorpions
that glow-in-the-dark and he’s got a
video on his channel showing you how to
build a vacuum chamber out of a cookie
jar so check them out
thanks for joining me for this project
I’ll be looking for you the next one
talk to you then hmmm nothing like
having the wrinkly marshmallows for
there
[Music]
you
[Music]
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