Weekly Update

This week I did not work as much on the things that I have been trying to keep you updated on, this is because I have been focusing a lot on a personal project. I have been building a bedside table out of old pallets left by the dumpsters.

Injection Mold Machine

I still have not tested the injection machine. I think it is because I am scared of it not working. That being said, I still remain hopeful that it will work on the first try. I am not asking much of the machine. I don’t even have a mold to inject into yet. All I need to see is if the plastic can go in, melt, and then be pushed out. I will put more work into this project again once I finish my personal project, which I expect to do in the upcoming week.

Concrete Pots

I tested my concrete pot mold. It didn’t go as I had hoped, but it went about as well as I had expected. It did, however, mess up in ways I was not expecting. My biggest worry was that I would not be able to demold it, but it actually came out pretty well. I probably should have let it dry a bit longer first. I messed up the water-to-concrete mix ratio, so it was too wet and didn’t dry very quickly. When I demolded the pot, it sort of crumbled and broke apart in a couple of spots. 

I’ve decided that I need to rework the design slightly, because another big issue that I had was that it was difficult to get the concrete into the mold. The design change I will make will essentially flip the pot over, so that the bottom of the pot is facing up and outward. This will allow for a much larger pouring area. 

Personal Project

The personal project that has been taking up a lot of my time is a wood furniture piece. As you probably already know, I am really into recycling and repurposing other people’s garbage. When I am not working with plastic garbage, I like to play crappy pallets. 

Building with old pallets is definitely cheaper than nice wood, but it requires a lot more effort and time to prep the wood before it is usable. This week, I finally finished prepping the wood and was able to actually start cutting the pieces I need for assembly. Once I get to this point in the project, it starts to go by really quickly, so I should be able to get back to the plastic stuff soon.