Cure Box Tutorial

[TurboHeart]

Hey All, USE AT OWN RISK, I'm not responsible for anything.



Cure Box Tutorial:

Make a cheap cure box. This way you can heat things up in the box, and actually be able to cure your resin material! This was about $25 at Lowes. They cut it for you and everything.

Materials:

-A single 8x4 sheet of Insulation Foam ($10)

(Hint: Its huge, the guy at lowes can cut it into sheets so you can fit it in your car)

-Duct Tape

-Thermometer

-Measuring Tape

-Long Ruler

-Box Cutter

-Scissors

-Marker

-Light Source (Got mine at lowes for $7)

-Spotlight light bulb (no more than 75w)



Note: I apologize for all the movement and the First Person Shooter Style of recording, i had to do everything myself for a bit.



Note2: Extra pieces can be used as shelves! I didn't take that route though



VIDEO:

Myspace VIDEO

 

[pok3rst4r89]

dude, great tutorial!!!!

 

[Flyerfye]

Great Tutorial, and also great video. I'll definitely be building one of these for the winter. Thanks!

 

[bosho0721]

Wow! Thank you Optimus. I live in Minnesota and was trying to fiqure out how I was going to cure the resin in my cold garage. I am building ones of these tomorrow.

 

[TurboHeart]

Hey no problem guys, me and the team just put our box to use and it kept a constant temperature of 80-90 degrees fahreighheit. We would move around the pieces every 10 mins. We would have pieces completly cured in as little as 30 mins!

 

[boryenko]

Excellent tutorial; I live in Canada and there would be no way of curing my pieces over winter unless I had a curing box.

 

[DreadMullet]

dont forget to decorate your box... mine has Grunt Birthday Part candles all over it



also, adding a little to the subject. If you have the means to make a wooden frame for this i strongly advise doing so... i had mine set outside my shop door all last winter and it worked like a dream, she is ready to go for round 2. also in the summer you are able to stack stuff on top of it



for mine i did a 2 by 2 frame and sheeted it with 1 1/2 in. insulation foam, then my lid was made out of strips of plywood with 2 by 2 on the inside corners to screw to... Then wired and mounted 2 light fixtures to the lid stuck a digital thermometer on the outside and have been using it since.



here is a little pretty picture i clicked together real quick like

i was to lazy to go take a pic of my box.... its cold outside. With my set up i use 2 60 watt bulbs, and it stays around 85-90 degrees in there, if you are in a colder climate or just want to use one fixture a heat lamp may be needed (i doubt it tho)... when i first built it last fall i added 2 heat lamps, and it spiked to about 120 really quick and kept on climbing... needless to say i unplugged it and downgraded my bulbs.

 

[TurboHeart]

dreadmullet, your box looks sick!! i like =] the wood frame is a really good idea.

 

[tiredofbuttons]

Very nice Glad someone made a tutorial and I'm glad you're getting some use out of it



Btw dreadmullet be aware that the way that is set up can cause hotspotting which can make portions brittle.

 

[DreadMullet]

you sure about that? when i built it last year i placed my thermometer in various locations inside the box and each 5 locations read within about 1-3 degrees of one another... and with the amount of curing it has done for me, i havent had any issues with brittle pieces.



i dont see how my set up is would cause hot spots anymore than OptimusPrime's would?

 

[OneForgot10Soul]

just an idea



make this box out of plywood line the inside of it with aluminum foil/ mirrors use the tape that is made to patch holes in metal stove pipe to secure everything on the inside.you could probably insulate the outside of the box or in between the wood and foil but this would cause the heat and light to bounce probably making it alot warmer ...



havent tested this but im almost positive it would work

 

[Namauri]

just an idea



make this box out of plywood line the inside of it with aluminum foil/ mirrors use the tape that is made to patch holes in metal stove pipe to secure everything on the inside.you could probably insulate the outside of the box or in between the wood and foil but this would cause the heat and light to bounce probably making it alot warmer ...



havent tested this but im almost positive it would work

Optimus Prime i will say this once i freaking love you so much right now. Hello to winter work



And oneforgot10soul just gotta let you know something off topic lol i love the girls in the chior program at Nitro High School especially the ones who went to Allstate lol and for no paticular reason >.>

 

[tiredofbuttons]

you sure about that? when i built it last year i placed my thermometer in various locations inside the box and each 5 locations read within about 1-3 degrees of one another... and with the amount of curing it has done for me, i havent had any issues with brittle pieces.



i dont see how my set up is would cause hot spots anymore than OptimusPrime's would?

I didn't mean that it WILL, just that it can Sorry for the misunderstanding.



Last night I left a part in my cure box, and it wasnt supported well enough. It was one of the HD thighs and part of it caved in (was totally sturdy, but the epoxy liquifies right before cure and I'm an idiot and didnt think of it). I think I'm going to have to actually cut off that large piece and reconstruct that part. This sucks :-(

 

[TurboHeart]

oo man i hope you make a new one!

 

[Arithen]

beauty! This will help me quite a bit! Screw you canadian weather! Take that!

 

[Spydwar]

Nicely done this tutorial kicks and I like how you put a video in for all of us visual people. Will be making one of these very soon after Holloween.

 

[Drahkir]

Cure Box! Great idea! I live in AZ, I'll only be able to use it for 3 weeks though! LOL!

 

[ZackyPanic]

Living right by the rocky mountains here in Canada.



This is possibly the greatest must-have for winter crafting ever.



Appreciate it, will be making one of these soon.

 

[TurboHeart]

its funny how it snows here so i make one of these, but now its like sunny lol

 

[Booyakz]

I wish I had seen this about a week ago before I tried to resin my assault rifle... The news claimed it was 16 degrees (celsius), yet the resin didn't seem to cure... Anyway, great tut!