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Inswool Pumpable/uses

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:17 pm
by Glenda Kronke
Has anyone ever used this product? RHI Refractories of America- Inswool pumpable?
It is in a tube that looks like what calk comes in. I think I can use it to make designs, etc. on fiber paper or perhaps to detail a mould. It did not come with any instructions and I can't remember where I originally got it. I would like to use it to 'draw' relief designs and then slump glass over it, but don't know how long it needs to dry or set up or if it needs to be heated before use.

If anyone has experience with this product, I would appreciate some info. (or am I just ignorant about its uses? - it could be a product for repairing holes in your kiln for all I know) :roll:

Thanks!

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:26 pm
by charlie

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:08 pm
by rosanna gusler
OOooo that sounds interesting! i need some of that. i have done that sort of relief with a slip trailer filled with thick kiln wash and it does work. i bet that stuff would work just fine. that sounds like an interesting company to explore as well. rosanna

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:15 pm
by Glenda Kronke
Thanks Charlie, my google search turned up Skutt products site but I couldn't find it in the info. The link you provided was more helpful. So, I guess it is a kiln repair thing. Do you think I can still use it the way I mentioned? (I have about 6 tubes of this stuff and would really like to find a use for it) Seems to me if it sets up enough for repairing holes and cracks in kilns, that I might be able to draw my design on a piece of fiber board and end up with a permant mold to slump glass on. I also want to use it to detail some ceramic molds before slumping my glass.

The only thing that concerned me was the part that said:

"Although normally used as a backup material, as mentioned above, when used as a hot face material, the Inswool Pumpable has excellent thermal shock rsistance, and can be dried or put into service immediately with no pre-heat required, with the exception of direct molten metal contact. Then the Inswool Pumpable should first be thoroughly dried, and fired, to remove all the mechanical water the entire depth of the material, to avoid dangerous steam explosion."

Since I'm not going to have 'direct molten metal contact' should I worry about the 'steam explosion' part? I would really like to try this but I certainly don't want any explosions.

Thanks, and please let me know if I'm hitting my head against a brick wall with this idea.

Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 9:02 pm
by Clifford Ross
Glenda- - - They are most likely referring to pouring already molten metal onto the material. If the glass and 'caulk' go up at the same time, there should not be any temperature shock.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 12:31 am
by Bert Weiss
Glenda

Give it a try. Start small. It might need to be prefired. It might stick a bit. Most likely it will work with some tweaking.

I don't think that any of the prodiucts that we use are directly designed for us with the possible exception of BE kilnwash. I always keep my eyes wide open when I visit the refractory store.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 11:22 am
by Nikki ONeill
Rosanna:
A company called HUB sells Inswool Pumpable (Inswool moldable in a caulking gun tube) for $12 a tube. If you're still interested, their # is (802) 948-2209. I ordered some to experiment with as a mold for casting. Glenda: have you tried anything with it? The data sheet says it doesn't need to be pre-fired, just dried, at least for the purposes for which it was intended :) .
Nikki

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:19 pm
by Glenda Kronke
Nikki, I haven't fired it yet. I set a design up on 1" thick fiberbord this morning. I'm timing it to see how long it takes to harden/dry. This stuff is the consistancy of snot! Like flour dough that is too wet. I thought it would be more like caulk (don't know why I assumed that!)

I have a simple design of curvy lines drawn on the fiberboard and then I drew over those lines with the inswool/caulk gun. It flows pretty easily but like I said before the consistancy is.....well, strange. Since I don't want a lot of detail, just a lot of different textures, I think it will work for that. Seems like there could be lots of possibilities though, won't know until I fire it. Will wait to see how it holds up. Will update you as things progress.

glenda

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 12:30 pm
by rosanna gusler
cool! should be interesting glenda. i would try a little glob first to see if it did stick or not. thanks for the phone number nikki. rosanna