Glad you are online, I have your book and have almost completed the
press design you have outlined. Where can I buy Urethane at a resonable
price? Lloyd
The best and only source for urethane that I know about is BonnyDoon
Engineering. http://www.bonnydoonengineering.com/index.html The sizes
and types of urethane available here are made specifically for use in
small hydraulic presses, and you should remember that the stuff can be
used thousands of times before it wears out. Urethane is sometimes
available in large industrial areas, in scrap yards etc., but you may
not know exactly what you are getting (what durometer). There are
industrial suppliers with large minimum orders that will sell you big
sheets, like 4 x 8 feet, but there is no easy way to cut it up. When I
began using urethane I was casting it myself from a two part substance
that you mix. I even published how to do it in an article in Metalsmith
before I learned how extremely toxic, even lethal this material is while
liquid. This material (which I don’t even want to name) should not be
used by craftspeople, ever. (You wouldn’t find it much of a savings,
either.) If you are into experimentation, a creative Canadian metalsmith
I know uses hockey pucks, and someone else told me that skate-board
wheels are urethane. If you do come across an alternative source for
urethane, don’t cut it using a bandsaw because this heats it and
releases toxic fumes. It must be cut with a knife. Good luck, Susan