Vinyl slush casting - toluene, equipment and misc. questions

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sonambulo

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Feb 22, 2004
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Hello.

So I recently came across this video of vinyl products being manufactured on another forum I frequent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cHuU_cKD0M

another (slightly more famous) factory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qUJ7TPKSns&feature=player_embedded

There are also several other videos and photo sets of other factories and they all appear to use the same process:

Pour vinyl > degas > cook > dump extra vinyl > final cook > cool > pull finished product

In the first video, the narrator/translator said they were using Toluene as a cooking agent. Isn't that, uh, a bit on the unsafe side? PVC vapors mixed with toluene vapors seem like they'd be rather hazardous to one's health. Wouldn't the water residue from the cooling bath jump when the molds go back in the fryer or is the water cooking off because the molds are still so hot after coming out of the bath?

I've been trying to duplicate the process on my own now and I am at the stage where I am about ready to do this for real. However I was thinking of using oil to cook given it's relative ease of disposal and commonality. Is there any reason I wouldn't/shouldn't be able to use oil? Is the 'trench' fryer necessary for this or could I just use a commercial fryer and build my own cooling bath and drain/pull station? Does anyone recognize what kind of machine that is, exactly?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

herm0016

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Feb 26, 2005
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should have posted in highly technical. I will look some things up when i go home. this stuff gets burried in OT, where in HT it will stay on the first page for a while.
 

herm0016

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Feb 26, 2005
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what temperature would you be looking to cook it at? i would think oil would be fine, really anything that can take whatever temp you are looking for. peanut oil is good to about 300F. Oil may jump a lot more after the water bath. you could use cold oil for the bath and avoid this issue though.

which machine? the vacuum chamber or the spinning machine?
 

sonambulo

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Feb 22, 2004
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Hehe, I actually had this moved from HT to here :p

I need to keep the cooking oil at or below 200 deg Celsius. The vinyl hardens at about 193 C and, depending on how thick I want to go, needs to cook for a few minutes.

As far as the machine goes I am referencing the fryer. I'm not even sure if it would be classified as a fryer or just a bath and I can't find anything naming it positively either way on the Japanese side of the net. I'm mostly curious if those hose lines at the bottom are for draining and what heats the machine, exactly. There's pretty much zero chance of me getting my hands on one of those actual machines so I'm going to try and approximate it with a commercial fryer. I've already got the racks, tools and vacuum chamber taken care of I just need to finalize the cooking step.

Originally I was hoping to go all out and open a proper factory but I have since changed my mind and just want to do small runs as a hobby. I will be working in extremely small quantities. Something like 30-50 pulls (you could say finished dolls) at a whack and only doing it once a month but more realistically every 6-8 weeks or so.

Anyways, thank you.
 

herm0016

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Feb 26, 2005
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the fryer should work great as long as the thermostat works well. i would get a second thermometer just to be sure. be sure to post some pics of your setup!
 
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