Was: [Source] Fine Silver Granules
Kent Raible had a fabulous setup for sifting the granules by size. He took a bunch of different calibrated sizes of metal screen, heated them up and melted them into the bottom of PVC plumbing tubing that was threaded to screw together.
Ellen, Where do you find calibrated sizes of metal screen?
Thanks,
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
Where do you find calibrated sizes of metal screen?
Generally you can find metal screen (the industrial name for it is
‘metal cloth’ at industrial suppliers. The MSC (mscdirect.com)
catalog has 4 pages (1834-1838) of wire cloth of various sizes &
metals. It’s available 12" x 12" sheets or 36’ or 48" wide cut to
length pieces.
Dave
mcmaster carr is the easiest. http://www.mcmaster.com/ search wire
cloth or wire mesh.
lots of stuff in stock reasonable price you will probably have to
buy much more than you want
These may work for you:
http://www.delphiglass.com/index.cfm?page=itemView&itemsysid=197989
if you go the mesh route I can tell you how to make some simple
sifter sorters from mason jar to mason jar.
Hi All, Sorry I didn’t answer sooner. The place I found that has a
wide range of diameter mesh sizes in Stainless steel, that will sell
small samples it TWP.
They are located in Berkley CA. You only need about a 3-4" square
and most companies on line won’t sell that way. It’s a little pricey
to buy the samples, but at least then you don’t have buy more than
you need.
If someone knows of a cheaper source, I’d love to hear about it. To
be honest, I haven’t made my own set yet. I just used the one that
Kent had made and loved it.
Ellen Starr
Starr Design
In stormy Minnesota
Greetings all:
Apropos of granulation sieves, I did up a ‘how to make one’ webpage
for my students the last time I taught it. You can find it here:
complete with links to a supplier for the sieve cloth.
Have fun.
Brian Meek.
Are you interested in something like a stone sieve? The mesh samples
at TWP (min $150 order) cost more than the stone sieves available
from Rio Grande, Item: Stone Sieve Set Item Number: 113120 ($99) Rio
has a cheaper version too; fewer sieves, less money.
Kelley
I have done something similar using mason jar rings. solder or epoxy
two rings together top to top. insert screen disk of whatever
material - fabric, plastic or metal and shake the stuff from one jar
to the next. Used mostly grading glass frit in larger quantities
than metal granules, but there are small rings in jelly glass size.
Very nice studio setup.
jesse
Thank you to all who responded to my question.
Kelley: The sieve set I want is exactly like the stone set Rio sells
but I need smaller sizes. The Rio set screens 0.9mm to 4.5mm. I need
sizes from 0.2mm to 0.9mm. Maybe Rio could find out if this company
either has or would be willing to make sizes under 1mm.
Jesse: As you indicated in your post www.mcmaster.com has a variety
of mesh sizes but the minimum order is 24" X 48" per size. The total
price is quite high unless you are buying for a very large number of
people.
Ellen: www.twpinc.com does have mesh but the $150 minimum stopped
me. I will be trying to melt the mesh as you indicated into the
stacked plastic cups suggested by Brian.
Dave: As you indicated, www.mscdirect.com has various sizes of metal
screens in 12" X 12’ pieces. I located mesh sizes (width opening
converted from inches) 0.20mm, 0.38mm, 0.045mm, 0.55mm, 0.65mm,
0.73mm, 0.86mm, 1.32mm, 1.9mm. Not exactly even numbers but it is
more important for the granules to be the same size than an even mm
size. Very nice company, fast service, good packaging. The total
price came to $93 so it would be helpful if you have 29 friends to
split the cost.
Brian: Thank you for your excellent instructions for making a
stacked granulation sieve.
Again, thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Nancy
nancy, what if you looked for metal cups instead of screens and then
drilled the size holes you need on the bottom of the cups? camping
supply stores have metal cups for drinking when you are hiking. i’m
not sure where else to look.
jean adkins
i just glanced over at my shelves and saw some altoid tins. what if
you drilled holes in the bottom of altoid tins? i tried putting one
tin on top of another open one. they balance ok–not rock solid, but
one will sit on top of the other. you might use flanges on the sides
if you want the granules to fall through a series of sieves all in
one procedure. then you can choose different flavors for different
size holes…
jean adkins
i just glanced over at my shelves and saw some altoid tins. what if
you drilled holes in the bottom of altoid tins? i tried putting one
tin on top of another open one. they balance ok–not rock solid, but
one will sit on top of the other. you might use flanges on the sides
if you want the granules to fall through a series of sieves all in
one procedure. then you can choose different flavors for different
size holes…
jean adkins
nancy, what if you looked for metal cups instead of screens and then drilled the size holes you need on the bottom of the cups? camping supply stores have metal cups for drinking when you are hiking. i'm not sure where else to look.
Metal cups – available as blanks from any place that sells copper
blanks for enamelling. American Metalcraft has a very nice
selection.
I made my set of sieves from the screw together set of stacking
plastic storage jars like you can get from Rio Grande. you just drill
progressively smaller holes in each one as you go down.
I thought I got the idea from someone on this forum, so thanks to
the unknown person if so, you put them all in the top one and shake
and there they are sorted. I didn’t drill that many holes even,20-30
in each one. A bit of cleaning up the burrs on the plastic, but you
only have to do it once.
I do a lot of casting and sieve out the very fine granules from the
grain I buy, they are not all round but they are free
regards Tim Blades.
i just read my message about the altoid tins. i should have been
more specific. i’m thinking of the round ones for fruit flavors.
(each flavor’s tin is a different color, so that would be a visual
hint about what size holes were in that tin.)
jean adkins
It sounds like you need a soil sieve. We use these to grade soil
particles quickly. The price is kinda’ steep, but it may give you
ideas. Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines
Judy in Kansas