Comments for The Daguerreotypist

Comment on Plastics Testing – Happy New Year! by andy

andy — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:45:47 +0000

Hi Ben – PTFE is a challenge to join. In the sliding box I just laminated a textured PTFE sheet to the acrylic for the box cover. This worked quite well although there has been some question about the longevity of the cyanoacrylate glue used. I have been thinking about lining the insides of the box as well. That gets a lot more exacting however and I don’t have a good plan for sealing the edges. It’s unclear that is required however. It is quite clear that acrylic will hold up for some time to both iodine and bromine. The question is for how long – and it is a difficult question to answer. It is also clear that the plastics are more permeable to the vapors than glass. But again it is difficult to find out how much. At present the sliding box is charged only with I2 – and it does leak some fumes, subjectively it doesn’t seem any more leaky than the glass based boxes I used to have. It’s not like you get a perfect seal with the ground glass edges. But it is pretty hard to quantify. Ergo my testing program…

Comment on Plastics Testing – Happy New Year! by Ben

Ben — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:40:07 +0000

Thanks Andy for the quick reply. I see where you’re coming from now. I saw your double slide fuming box when you first posted it. It’s a great idea. You used acrylic which is fairly easy to work with and join. But when using PTFE it probably gets a little toughter. PTFE is pretty expensive and usually comes in thin sheets. How do you plan on joining the seams?

Comment on Plastics Testing – Happy New Year! by andy

andy — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:38:47 +0000

Hi Ben. Good question. If you are interested in the shortest and most proven path to a fuming box, go with glass. It will get you making dags in short order, work well and last for years if you avoid exposed metal in your design. I am an experimentalist at heart and enjoy the process of trying out new things. I don’t have a way to form glass, so am stuck with existing shapes (pans/trays) that don’t necessarily work well with some of my design ideas. That leads me to look at alternate materials that I am able to fabricate with more easily. Here is a short video of one design I have been playing with. http://youtu.be/moUfrlAQGFw. And yes PTFE is the generic name for the brand Teflon. Good luck with your fabrication efforts, please consider sharing information and pictures on cdags.org when you are done.