Dyed Cork Coffee Tumbler
With it being New Years Eve at the time of this writing, it seemed appropriate to present a project that was based on cork stoppers from champagne & wine bottles! Peter previously had used cork in another project, but wanted to revisit the material after a viewer suggested that he should add some dye to the mix.
The first step in this process was to break out the shop blender. This is used to pulverize the cork into a variety of sizes and shapes. FYI, if you do not have a “Cork Stopper” button on your shop blender, you could just use the smoothie button. Peter pressed the button and allowed the blender to fully spin up before dropping the cork in. After obtaining an appropriate aggregate of cork particles, it was time to move over to the Chill Ice 2 resin. Using this low odor resin gave Peter a whopping 10 hours of working time! This allowed for him to get the color just right and still have time to watch the Lord of the Rings Theatrical Edition Trilogy! Score!
There was some discussion with Mrs. Brown over the dye pigment color to be used, but in the end, “Hot Lips” was revealed to be both a solid color choice and new nickname for Peter!
The cork and dyed resin was then combined until it appeared to be the oatmeal crumb topping for a raspberry fruit cobbler, just like Grandma used to make…
This was deliciously poured into the mold where it was to spend some time in the pressure pot until it was cured.
To many peoples surprise, the cork floated in the resin, so a bit more dyed resin and cork was poured in to fully maximize the volume within the mold.
After yet another 12 hours in the pressure pot, it was mounted on the lathe.
Once mounted, Peter used various center boring bits and tools to hollow out the internal region of the casting.
Extra care and tedium was spent to get the shape just right in order for the tumbler insert to fit.
After long last, it came time to work the exterior of the tumbler. This was simply a matter of gradually tapering and shaping the rotating mass until it had a pleasing profile to hold.
The final step on this project and so many more on the Shop Time Channel is MicroMesh. This is a specialty sanding system that brings the surface to a level of smoothness previously unknown to mankind. For an additional sheen Peter likes to also apply a bit of plastic polish at the very end.
Pop the champagne, that’s a wrap!
Currently hailing from a basement shop somewhere in North Carolina, Wes, a.k.a. Geeksmithing, creates geek and nostalgia inspired projects of all kinds using any new material or technique he can get his hands on including anything from 3d printing, cnc, laser cutting, prop making, robotics, electronics to even a bit of woodworking.
