Cactus Juice Question

[Joseph Maiorano]

Hi All,

I bought some Cactus Juice and have all the necessary parts and pieces to stabilize wood. I have a basement shop without a lot of ventilation. How much does the cactus juice off gas when it's in the oven curing?

TIA for your help,

-Joe

 

[Gary Beasley]

It does get a little stinky in the first minutes of curing. Be sure and have a catch basin under your parts, if any juice drips onto a heating element it will catch fire easily.

 

[Todd A Williams]

The smell is very bad if it gets on your oven. Make sure your catch basin is bigger than you think you need. I almost had to buy my wife a new oven. PS: My opinion is it’s not worth the time or money.

 

[Karl Loeblein]

A toaster oven from Good Will can be easily moved outside when it’s not raining to keep the wife happy.

 

[Darryn Achall]

A toaster oven from Good Will can be easily moved outside when it’s not raining to keep the wife happy.

Yep, I put a Good Will toaster oven in the shed. Wife is happy. It comes in handy for recycling plastic too. Melted the lid from a salsa jar yesterday and filled some cracks in a bowl with it.

 

[Chris Lawrence]

An electric smoker is safer then a toaster oven and can be used outside. I have used my propane smoker in the past but required constant checking to make sure it stayed in the correct temp range.

 

[Michael Brown]

Better half found a half broken toaster oven on a street corner. It lives on the back porch on a bench. The stink is bad, but worse on punky wood that already has an aroma. Nicely it has good temperature control and a timer too.

 

[Joseph Maiorano]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like doing it away from the house is a good idea. The electric smoker sounds like a better alternative to the toaster oven. If I get deeper into this I will probably invest in an electric smoker.

Cheers,
-Joe

 

[Michael Brown]

One recommendation I keep hearing from locals is don't cure resin in anything you plan on cooking food in. Not sure how bad it could get, but I recall hearing one of the compounds common to stabilizing resin(s) is propylene glycol. I don't doubt it as it shares the same stank as engine coolant. I know polyethylene is toxic and propylene is not (?as) but I just assume not eat either.

 

[Russell Nugent]

One recommendation I keep hearing from locals is don't cure resin in anything you plan on cooking food in. Not sure how bad it could get, but I recall hearing one of the compounds common to stabilizing resin(s) is propylene glycol. I don't doubt it as it shares the same stank as engine coolant. I know polyethylene is toxic and propylene is not (?as) but I just assume not eat either.

PG is commonly used in food, so I don't think is a worry in cured resin.

 

[Richard Coers]

A toaster oven from Good Will can be easily moved outside when it’s not raining to keep the wife happy.

Just be sure to not trust the heat setting on those toaster ovens. Get a good cooking thermometer to verify temps.

 

[Tom Draffen]

Thanks for asking this question, I'm just about ready to start doing this myself.

 

[Michael Brown]

PG is commonly used in food, so I don't think is a worry in cured resin.

I think I can recall that is why I thought it wasn't. I think it's frequently used in oral suspension medicine like non-drowsy sinus medicine as a substitute for ethanol, as it is frowned upon while driving. It's still gross.

 

[Michael Brown]

BTW, my most recent stabilized apple burl went from packing peanuts to massive figured in one stinky session

 

[Joseph Maiorano]

Well Murphy struck and my stabilizing project is on hold. I'm all set to get going and my NEW vacuum pump won't turn on. The motor just hums. I upgraded from a Hold Fast vacuum generator to a Gast vacuum pump back in February. It's worked great until yesterday. Contacted the company and so far they are non-responsive.

 

[Gary Beasley]

If you got any juice in the pump it may have got it stuck. You might be able to nudge the cooling fan with a screwdriver and get it undone. If theres a problem with the starting circuit it might be worth taking it to a motor repair shop.

 

[Joseph Maiorano]

Fortunately, I was doing a "dry" run and had not broken out the Cactus Juice. This is definitely a motor issue and should be under warranty.

 

[Michael Brown]

Most small motors are single phase induction, unless they are brushed or permanent magnet, which cheap motors almost never are. so assuming it is indeed single phase induction, the starter cap is important as it creates the phase shift necessary to destabilize the fields and start rotation. Just [unplug the motor from the outlet first] open the hump on the motor and find the (usually) ceramic cylinder with some numbers. they are typically 250v and fairly low μf relatively, and therefore quite cheap. I have replaced caps on my compressor, AC unit, pool pump and attic circulators with zero issues.

 

[Joseph Maiorano]

Hey Michael,

Thanks for your help and advice. This motor doesn't appear to have the little hump where the starter capacitor lives. The problem is definitely indicative of a faulty capacitor. I just have to find it. This is something I am not ready to do, yet. Although I am getting the feeling I will end up fixing this myself. Currently, I don't want to void the warranty by opening up the motor.

I purchased the pump, new, through Packard. I contacted Packard and they tried to get me a return authorization through One Way. Apparently, One Way supplies these pumps to the woodturning stores. Come to find out One Way severed its ties with Gast. I'm waiting for One Way to send me some info on who to contact at Gast (I'm not holding my breath). In the meantime, I've tried several times to contact Gast on my own. So far Gast's customer service needs much to be desired, and it seems Gast does not stand behind their products.

 

[Gary Beasley]

Also a possibility of a problem with the centrifugal switch. Its possible to DIY if you can get the parts. A motor shop should be able to handle it if Gast or the motor manufacturer cant or wont help.

 

[Joseph Maiorano]

Well low and behold I got the pump to run. It was a real hi-tech solution. Basically, stuck a small screwdriver in the holes at the back of the motor and rotated the shaft a bit. Plugged it back in, flipped the switch and it started running. If I had to guess, the centrifugal switch may have gotten stuck.

Got my blanks soaking under vacuum. I'm assuming you leave the pump running until there are no more air bubbles.

Thank you all for your help!!!

 

[Michael Brown]

I am cheap, therefore I purchased the lowest cost vacuum pump. Typically I can run it for 25-30 minutes before it's too toasty to touch. I typically shut the vacuum chamber valve to the pump and turn off the vacuum till it's cooled down. I have noticed that the air continues to evacuate from the wood for a few hours, so I will wait until the bubbles stop before I turn the vacuum back on and open the valve again. I repeat this process till the vacuum maintains 29.8(ish) hg without creating any new bubbles.
I usually wait overnight to release the vacuum and then leave the wood submerged for the rest of the day. I cook the saturated wood in the evening and leave it overnight to cool and stop stinking.

 

[Jerry Bennett]

To stabilize the temperature, fill the drip pan with gravel. without it the temp will have wild swings up and down. Cheap is the least frugal path.