I have of late been experimenting with the wax gun that I
constructed using a glue gun, a rheostat, and pastry tips. I
love the green matt gun wax–you get cool organic type
structures. I have a few questions though. What the hell is the
blue for?? The red?? How do I keep the extruding pressure even
so that I do not get “bumps” in my wax?? Argh!
Also, I was thinking of buying the actual matt wax gun. I
figure that there may be more pressure control there. Does
anybody have a used one to sell?? I mean, if you are going to do
something right, you need the right tools. I like the gun that I
made, and I will keep it, but I want more consistent results! If
anybody has a matt wax gun to sell (with both tips), please email
me at @Marshall_Jones.
I recommend that you don’t purchase the overpriced and
innefficient Matt Wax gun but rather go to your local hardware
store and purchase a mini-wax (glue)gun for hobbyists ( with a
pull-trigger, unlike the push through system for Matt. I have
both and much prefer the dept store edition even though it is 1/4
what I paid for the Matt. Experiment with varied waxes.
the red wax is for weaving or prongs. it is very flexible. you
can extrude long thin threads on plexiglass or formica, glass
takes the heat away too quickly and could deform the cross
section. the blue wax has a higher viscosity than the green.
going to a blue wax might help you eliminate the ‘bumps’. the
blue is rec’md for working in air, so is the green, but not
exclusively. the green can be used to extrude into water for
different efffects.
i did the same as you with a glue gun and then bought the matt
gun, thinking it might be better. to tell you the truth, i don’t
use either enough to tell you which one is better. but i would
venture to say there is no big difference.
the matt gun inventor, adolfo mattiello was at last years
’catalog in motion’ put on by rio grande. he wields his
inventions like a magic wand! i bought the whole set because of
his great demonstration. i got it home and find them useful
some of the time when modeling in wax. he has also written a
book ‘wax modeling’ that explains the use of the matt gun. i
think it comes with the gun but not sure about that.
Geo, Which do u consider right for the home made gun.... I
have tried the green , but small wax, not the matt wax and have
peoblems .........
hi Jim,
the matt gun wax is designed as an extruding wax. i’m not sure i
know what ‘small’ wax is. NO WAIT, i just figured it out! you
put small pieces of green carving wax in the ‘chamber’ of your
homemade gun. i imagine that this won’t do at all tho i’ve never
tried it. carving wax characteristics change after melting and i
don’t think they were designed for extrusion.
if you don’t want to buy the matt gun wax, try some injection
wax. though i’m sure the matt gun wax will give much better
results and won’t be that expensive. matt has a sampler. hope
this helps.
I haven"t been following this thread, but if you want to carve
on wax you’ve extruded through your gun, use green wax, it sets
up to the consistency of purple and does well with all tools,
hand and electric. Roland
Good… we are closing in . . My green wax is not wax for a wax
injector… it is just small like the RED wax u build a sprue
tree with for a casting… It doesn’t work… My question is do
u think that the matt wax will work in the home made gun … if
so I’ll give it a try… The problem with the ‘small green
wax’ that I currently have is that I cannot set the Rheostat to
the right setting to get a flow of semi-hard wax such that it
will hold a shape… i get either liquid or nothing . .
wondered if the matt wax would allow me to adjust the Rheostat
such that I could get a wax flow for forming.
I assume that with the homemade gun U have that the matt wax
worked
I assume that with the homemade gun U have that the matt
wax worked
hi jim,
yes, it does. but you have to find where on the rheostat is
appropiate for the type of matt gun wax you are using for your
project. if one just shoves the wax pellet into a glue gun w/o
any modifications the glue gun will be too hot. so you put the
rheostat on the glue gun and turn the voltage/amperes (whatever)
down. as you know there is red, blue and green. the red takes
the least heat to melt and the green the most. the wax is
supposed to be liquid as it leaves the nozzle. one limitation of
the homemade is that there is only one nozzle that is attached
to the glue gun, whearas the genuine matt gun has two choices of
nozzle. with a little ingenuity i’m pretty sure you could take
care of that limitation. please note that i keep saying matt gun
wax, matt makes all kinds of waxes like kerr and ferris. matt
gun wax is made to extrude in the way we are discussing, i don’t
know of other waxes that are. i was just suggesting to try
injection wax because it is designed to stay the same as it was
before it was melted. and i imagined that it has properties
closer to the matt gun wax than the wax you were using.
I thing the GREEN wax is for use in water (might be the BLUE
however). The RED is for making wire (squeeze out the wax as you
move across ((rapidly)) a sheet of glass). A bit faster or
slower movement or a bit more or less pressure will result in
larger or smaller diam. wax wire. Ther RED is very plastic, you
can tie a closed knot in it without it breaking! We have the set
of MATT tools, yes hight priced, but I must admit we can do some
pretty unique stuff. I saw a demo by the developer about 5 years
ago in San Francisco and I was amaized at all the different
things that the guy made. 2 piece rings (either side by side
rings OR one on top of another ((one could be white gold the
other regular)) stone setting potentials, custom basket and cup
settings, etc…). I must say lots of practice will be
required to get the proficency I saw at the show, but I was
really impressed! (Maybe I am just easy to impress?!). If you
need info on the waxes that Matt sells, contact them ans ask.
They have been pretty helpful. They also have a video, though I
must say I have not seen it.
Hope this helps.
John and Cynthia/MidLife Crisis Enterprises
Maiden Metals/C. T. Designs/ Bloomin’ Wax Works. etc.
PO Bx 44, Philo
CA 95466
Ph 707-895-2635 FAX 707-895-9332
If your’re headed in the right direction,
each step, no matter how small, is getting you closer to your goal.