Help Making a MyCarta press

R

RHankins

Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
190
Could use some suggestions on materials and designing a MyCarta Press...
Looking to make one that will last, easy to DE-Mold and is relatively easy to make. I am Shopless :( at the present time.

Tried this with some success: Used a 1 1/2" PVC pipe with some alltread thru the cap on the bottom, running thru the pipe. Fill up with your resin soaked material of choice and run a couple fender washers down with a nut.
Compresses out the air and voids HOWever it requires destruction of the mold to extract the finished product.

There has got to be a better way
 
im thinking a small box with a big threaded screw on the top. like the threads in vises.
 
I saw one guy make really nice micarta with just two slabs of wood covered with wax paper and pressed together with C-clamps. That may be the cheapest way to start out. I've seen a few different guys make presses out of $30 automotive hydraulic presses too.
 
raythebigfoot said:
I saw one guy make really nice micarta with just two slabs of wood covered with wax paper and pressed together with C-clamps. That may be the cheapest way to start out. I've seen a few different guys make presses out of $30 automotive hydraulic presses too.
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thats a neat idea. but if one is not careful, the jack might break the press.
 
Keith_H said:
thats a neat idea. but if one is not careful, the jack might break the press.
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Oh I agree totally; you have to use metal plates as the press if you use a hydraulic press. Otherwise it would break the wood no doubt. But you can use wood with C-Clamps no problem. Just make sure that when you tighten them you tighten them about the same throughout the whole board.
 
Too add to my last post I would personally use small pieces of a harder wood (like cocobolo or ironwood scraps) on the clamp ends so that you can tighten the clamps without them digging into the softer wood you would probably use to press the micarta.
 
Leu Custom said:
I suggest you ask "butcher_block" this question as he makes tons of it. :D
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I agree, he makes some of the best homemade micarta I have seen. Check out the knifemakers custom knives for sale and he's got quite a few there. All great looking handle material (as well as knives).
 
hi there i started with 2 boards and c clamps and then tried a shop floor jack with the samme boards

next step was wood box and drywall screws and a 12 ton shop press. after about 3 presses i would have to remake the wood box from splitting the sides out and braking the screw heads off

the latest and so far best is the steel take down box i made out of 6 inch C channel and 1/4 plate bolted together
 
Thanks for the replies. Kinda figured I would need to invest in some steel and a press.
Next question is pressure???
Should it get cranked down as tight as possible??? or somewhere in between???
Thanks for the help.
 
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