What got me thinking about making one of these tools was this video posted by Charles Berger on the UltraStable thread, showing Tod Gangler coating a color-carbon tissue in a most simplistic and perfect manner using a Mayer rod (Meyer, metering, bar, etc...). See 0:34
This was new to me, but these coating rods are elegantly simple in their functionality. A rod is wound with a wire, and the diameter of the wire is directly proportional to the coating thickness. A definite volume of a liquid emulsion is pushed into the valleys between the circular wires and as it passes, these liquid peaks spread out and make a very even coating.
For some eye candy, see here... Dead Link Removed
According to Dead Link Removed, "Mathematical calculation indicates that the wet film coating thickness is 0.173 times the wire diameter."
The example in the video is a #200, laying down a wet film thickness of 18 mils. This means we need a 10-gauge wire.
The best source I came up with for an appropriate wire is Beadalon Artistic Wire for jewelers. Only the red & brown come in 10-gauge and with a non-tarnish coating.
Anyways, I went to Michael's and the best they had was some other brand in 12-gauge aluminum (hot pink no less!); but it was only $2. I figured this would suffice for a prototype. Next stop was Home Depot for a 1/2" oak dowel rod (wood is probably not the best long term solution).
I drilled a little hole in one end, put the wire into it and then began to wind it up. This is of course the trickiest part; the wire is quite malleable, but can kink and get deformed quite easily, plus it requires some strength and dexterity to wind it it as tightly and closely as it needs to be. However, I think it can be done with some practice. The other end was secured with another small drill hole and all told, it looked pretty good. I'll try to post a picture soon.
I did a quick test with some sumi ink and got a respectable coating with only a few gaps due to imperfect winding of the wire.
In summary, I think this is an incredibly useful tool for the alternative printer and they shouldn't be particularly difficult to make once the particulars get worked out.
This was new to me, but these coating rods are elegantly simple in their functionality. A rod is wound with a wire, and the diameter of the wire is directly proportional to the coating thickness. A definite volume of a liquid emulsion is pushed into the valleys between the circular wires and as it passes, these liquid peaks spread out and make a very even coating.
For some eye candy, see here... Dead Link Removed
According to Dead Link Removed, "Mathematical calculation indicates that the wet film coating thickness is 0.173 times the wire diameter."
The example in the video is a #200, laying down a wet film thickness of 18 mils. This means we need a 10-gauge wire.
The best source I came up with for an appropriate wire is Beadalon Artistic Wire for jewelers. Only the red & brown come in 10-gauge and with a non-tarnish coating.
Anyways, I went to Michael's and the best they had was some other brand in 12-gauge aluminum (hot pink no less!); but it was only $2. I figured this would suffice for a prototype. Next stop was Home Depot for a 1/2" oak dowel rod (wood is probably not the best long term solution).
I drilled a little hole in one end, put the wire into it and then began to wind it up. This is of course the trickiest part; the wire is quite malleable, but can kink and get deformed quite easily, plus it requires some strength and dexterity to wind it it as tightly and closely as it needs to be. However, I think it can be done with some practice. The other end was secured with another small drill hole and all told, it looked pretty good. I'll try to post a picture soon.
I did a quick test with some sumi ink and got a respectable coating with only a few gaps due to imperfect winding of the wire.
In summary, I think this is an incredibly useful tool for the alternative printer and they shouldn't be particularly difficult to make once the particulars get worked out.