Home brew activator

hydrographicsindia

I was having a lot of trouble with some activators which are available to me so out of desperation I decided to make some of my own I tried at least six formulations I could lay my hands on I was able to get all the raw material and to my surprise most of them work you just need to understand them and set your gun right and the best part is you can save a ton of money 

NotSoFast

It CAN work, yes. But the problem is troubleshooting. When something goes wrong and you ask for help diagnosing, no one can offer definitive advice if they don't have experience with your homemade concoction.

Also, Super Brew is $75 shipped. Unless you are running production, it will last quite a while. It's worth a few cents per part to know it will work correctly every time to me. I know you being in India have to use what you can get, but for the other 99% of folks on here, experimentation isn't advised.

Alan

NotSoFast said:

It CAN work, yes. But the problem is troubleshooting. When something goes wrong and you ask for help diagnosing, no one can offer definitive advice if they don't have experience with your homemade concoction.

Also, Super Brew is $75 shipped. Unless you are running production, it will last quite a while. It's worth a few cents per part to know it will work correctly every time to me. I know you being in India have to use what you can get, but for the other 99% of folks on here, experimentation isn't advised.

There's a lot more than 1% having to mix their own activator brew.

MidOhioHydrographics

Alan said:

NotSoFast said:

It CAN work, yes. But the problem is troubleshooting. When something goes wrong and you ask for help diagnosing, no one can offer definitive advice if they don't have experience with your homemade concoction.

Also, Super Brew is $75 shipped. Unless you are running production, it will last quite a while. It's worth a few cents per part to know it will work correctly every time to me. I know you being in India have to use what you can get, but for the other 99% of folks on here, experimentation isn't advised.

There's a lot more than 1% having to mix their own activator brew.

I think he's referring to the users of this forum. It may not be 99%, but the users w/ access to quality activator far outnumber the users from countries where it is not available.

K2Concepts

I don't think it's more than 1%...actually I would be shocked if it was more...

GravityGrafix

I'm one of those unlucky people that have to mix my own and on top of the un fortune I can't get that many types of chemicals here in Colombia as many are restricted as for some reason many solvents are used in cocain production. I was talking to Jim about shipping 2 gallons of super brew to Colombia. As @NotSoFast mentioned the super brew is 75 dollar per gallon but the shipping would be an extra 2k plus that I hade to pay any extra import tax on dangerous goods. So sadly for me and many other we have to accept super home brew over the famous super brew. 
I don't like my super home brew at all as it in some way looks like it's drying out the paint in the film or just don't sustain the color on rounder objects. I'm getting faded parts really easy. But it's not much I can do as I think it will be hard getting the job if I have to charge the 2k shipping cost for my activator. 

I would be happy if other people that have to make there own activator put up there formulas so other people can try.
And for the people in the states, It's not that people like to mix there own, it's just that there is no other option. 

So if anyone in the states are sailing down to Panama or Colombia soon give me a call so you can bring me some gallons. 

MidOhioHydrographics

GravityGrafix said:

I'm one of those unlucky people that have to mix my own and on top of the un fortune I can't get that many types of chemicals here in Colombia as many are restricted as for some reason many solvents are used in cocain production. I was talking to Jim about shipping 2 gallons of super brew to Colombia. As @NotSoFast mentioned the super brew is 75 dollar per gallon but the shipping would be an extra 2k plus that I hade to pay any extra import tax on dangerous goods. So sadly for me and many other we have to accept super home brew over the famous super brew. 
I don't like my super home brew at all as it in some way looks like it's drying out the paint in the film or just don't sustain the color on rounder objects. I'm getting faded parts really easy. But it's not much I can do as I think it will be hard getting the job if I have to charge the 2k shipping cost for my activator. 

I would be happy if other people that have to make there own activator put up there formulas so other people can try.
And for the people in the states, It's not that people like to mix there own, it's just that there is no other option. 

So if anyone in the states are sailing down to Panama or Colombia soon give me a call so you can bring me some gallons. 

We absolutely understand that you have no choice. And I feel for you personally. This is a difficult process without throwing in another variable. Even when testing different "professional" activators it was difficult to dial them in and see what was the best results for our production.

We just refer to the people in the US where they can eliminate a variable straight away by using a proven activator. There are so many things that can go wrong, just don't shoot yourself in the foot.

K2Concepts

I don't think you are going to get many volunteers that are willing to sail down to Columbia with a boat full of solvents that are/could be used in the manufacture of cocaine...not to many guys have "Seeing the inside of a Colombian Jail" on their bucket list...

NotSoFast

MidOhioHydrographics said:

Alan said:

NotSoFast said:

It CAN work, yes. But the problem is troubleshooting. When something goes wrong and you ask for help diagnosing, no one can offer definitive advice if they don't have experience with your homemade concoction.

Also, Super Brew is $75 shipped. Unless you are running production, it will last quite a while. It's worth a few cents per part to know it will work correctly every time to me. I know you being in India have to use what you can get, but for the other 99% of folks on here, experimentation isn't advised.

There's a lot more than 1% having to mix their own activator brew.

I think he's referring to the users of this forum. It may not be 99%, but the users w/ access to quality activator far outnumber the users from countries where it is not available.

Correct, Joe. The 99% was in reference to those on this forum who may be reading the original post. North America and most of Europe have access to K2 Brew, Super Brew, and Hydrovator through distributors. I think that estimation is pretty close to correct. I did not mean to infer that 99% of the world's population had access to these products.

GravityGrafix

I still have hope for me as I'm Swedish and moving back to Sweden soon with my family so I'm going to be pipping there. So I'm going to be using the good activators from @AquaGraphix "I don't care if you guys isn't in the EU I will come get it by boat if I need to"
@MidOhioHydrographics and yes as you said, if you are an American or even a EU sitizen you just plain stupid if you don't buy good activator and keeps mixing your own I do agree on that point.

hydrographicsindia

MidOhioHydrographics said:

I'm one of those unlucky people that have to mix my own and on top of the un fortune I can't get that many types of chemicals here in Colombia as many are restricted as for some reason many solvents are used in cocain production. I was talking to Jim about shipping 2 gallons of super brew to Colombia. As @NotSoFast mentioned the super brew is 75 dollar per gallon but the shipping would be an extra 2k plus that I hade to pay any extra import tax on dangerous goods. So sadly for me and many other we have to accept super home brew over the famous super brew. 
I don't like my super home brew at all as it in some way looks like it's drying out the paint in the film or just don't sustain the color on rounder objects. I'm getting faded parts really easy. But it's not much I can do as I think it will be hard getting the job if I have to charge the 2k shipping cost for my activator. 

I would be happy if other people that have to make there own activator put up there formulas so other people can try.
And for the people in the states, It's not that people like to mix there own, it's just that there is no other option. 

So if anyone in the states are sailing down to Panama or Colombia soon give me a call so you can bring me some gallons. 

We absolutely understand that you have no choice. And I feel for you personally. This is a difficult process without throwing in another variable. Even when testing different "professional" activators it was difficult to dial them in and see what was the best results for our production. We just refer to the people in the US where they can eliminate a variable straight away by using a proven activator. There are so many things that can go wrong, just don't shoot yourself in the foot.

My point was one should practice reading film and how a activator is working and your gun setting  it is kind of tough at times to diagnose but with the knowledge on this forum one can do that easily and for the price of making your home brew is not funny once you can dial everything in its worth every penny for me for 75$ I can at least make 30L of activator and no shipping a custom taxes 

MidOhioHydrographics

That's awesome @hydrographicsindia! And for you, that's a great price. For someone in the states? Their time would be better spent learning the craft and activating correctly. Once they have that down? THEN start to experiment. But if they want cheaper prices? Order bulk. I pay 1/3 of that $75/gallon for my Hydrovator. Not worth my time to try and develop my own.

Alan

K2Concepts said:

I don't think it's more than 1%...actually I would be shocked if it was more...

So far we have 6 people contributing to this thread, on this forum, and guess what ... 50% of them have to make their own activator it seems!

Alan

Before anyone says it ... no, I'm not suggesting that 50% of people in the hydrographics industry make their own activator - I'm merely trying to emphasise it's probably more than 1%.

hydrographicsindia

Alan said:

I don't think it's more than 1%...actually I would be shocked if it was more...

So far we have 6 people contributing to this thread, on this forum, and guess what ... 50% of them have to make their own activator it seems!

There are definately more then one percent people a lot of people just read the forum and they don't participate and Hydrographics is not new lot of people call it cubic printing and many people are doing it with there home brew 

GravityGrafix

Not to getting in to % but yes there is people mixing it's own activator. Americans or not. In many ways it is stupid to mix your own activator IF you have the possibility to buy mixed activator. But people do mix it. 
You not just shoring yourself in the foot mixing it on your own you shooting the client in the foot to as many times you have to take longer to hand over the job as you need to re dip it because the activator didn't do its job and the problem I'm having that it don't sustain the color that good on flame patterns. 


Can't we all just get along?  LOL. 

The people that do mix there own activator please email me the formulas as I really need to try different. 
[email protected]

MidOhioHydrographics

Alan said:

K2Concepts said:

I don't think it's more than 1%...actually I would be shocked if it was more...

So far we have 6 people contributing to this thread, on this forum, and guess what ... 50% of them have to make their own activator it seems!

Alan said:

Before anyone says it ... no, I'm not suggesting that 50% of people in the hydrographics industry make their own activator - I'm merely trying to emphasise it's probably more than 1%.

Yeah I have zero actual numbers to confirm it, so I can't say either way. Just going by how many domestic users vs foreign (meaning USA since it's a USA based forum) that I've seen. Far more from the states. I would say Jim could get the numbers for that.

GravityGrafix

K2Concepts

Alan said:

I don't think it's more than 1%...actually I would be shocked if it was more...

So far we have 6 people contributing to this thread, on this forum, and guess what ... 50% of them have to make their own activator it seems!

The forum gets 13,000 hits a day...And I still think its still less than 1%...

GravityGrafix

MidOhioHydrographics

This thread makes me smile... like this

GravityGrafix

We are the infamous 1% of the hydrographics business. 

K2Concepts

GravityGrafix

hydrographicsindia

Some results of my home brew 

HobbyAquaGraphics

Both don`t look dipped right... But anyway, my 3 pennies..

I never went up the road of calculating how many cents I`ve spent on lacquering 1&3/4 square inch of curved interior bit for 1974 limited edition red carbon on blue whatever... As long as you use good quality tools and know what you`re doing I don`t think it would make much of a financial difference. Let`s say chem cost you 30 quid on 350,- order (that`s a lot chem there!)... To what lengths of expenditure and time you`re willing to go in order save 30% of that 30 usd? Is it worth it? What level of business you`d need to do to justify the effort? How do you actually measure your effort, practically?

How much activator would anyone use on those two helmets? How much would it cost to have it dipped using hydro or K2? A dollar? 2 dollars? Let it be 10 quid... Your time in this game has to be worth x amount. If one work hour saved by using K2 or Hydrovator, rather then figuring out why my home brew had activated flames but hasn`t work on aliens - I call that a good business.

Better to focus on making the business turning over something, then cover its cost, then start paying yourself, then grow it from that point onwards... a lot of ''then`s'' later maybe making your own acti makes sense... Probably not, but maybe...

NotSoFast

HobbyAquaGraphics said:

Both don`t look dipped right... But anyway, my 3 pennies..

I never went up the road of calculating how many cents I`ve spent on lacquering 1&3/4 square inch of curved interior bit for 1974 limited edition red carbon on blue whatever... As long as you use good quality tools and know what you`re doing I don`t think it would make much of a financial difference. Let`s say chem cost you 30 quid on 350,- order (that`s a lot chem there!)... To what lengths of expenditure and time you`re willing to go in order save 30% of that 30 usd? Is it worth it? What level of business you`d need to do to justify the effort? How do you actually measure your effort, practically?

How much activator would anyone use on those two helmets? How much would it cost to have it dipped using hydro or K2? A dollar? 2 dollars? Let it be 10 quid... Your time in this game has to be worth x amount. If one work hour saved by using K2 or Hydrovator, rather then figuring out why my home brew had activated flames but hasn`t work on aliens - I call that a good business.

Better to focus on making the business turning over something, then cover its cost, then start paying yourself, then grow it from that point onwards... a lot of ''then`s'' later maybe making your own acti makes sense... Probably not, but maybe...

The thing is, @hydrographicsindia and others do not have access to mass produced activator in their countries. They have to use what they can purchase in their areas. It's not about the financial savings to them.

MidOhioHydrographics

Yeah for guys like @hydrographicsindia? I think they're going about it the best way they can.

If you look at the MSDS for Hydrovator, HydroGator, K2 SuperBrew, etc. It's not simply Xylene and Reducer. Yes, I understand that will work ok, But remember chemistry companies (with real-life chemical engineers w/ degrees and everything) have formulated solutions to help the dip simply turn out better. So if you have access to it? Go with proven, known, trusted activators. Then we can help you when one of the 1000 other things go wrong.

If you don't have access to it? I understand it's difficult so carry on and do what you do! Maybe post some of your formulas and techniques so others like you can benefit.

GravityGrafix

MidOhioHydrographics said:

Yeah for guys like @hydrographicsindia? I think they're going about it the best way they can.

If you look at the MSDS for Hydrovator, HydroGator, K2 SuperBrew, etc. It's not simply Xylene and Reducer. Yes, I understand that will work ok, But remember chemistry companies (with real-life chemical engineers w/ degrees and everything) have formulated solutions to help the dip simply turn out better. So if you have access to it? Go with proven, known, trusted activators. Then we can help you with one of the 1000 other things go wrong.

If you don't have access to it? I understand it's difficult so carry on and do what you do! Maybe post some of your formulas and techniques so others like you can benefit.

hydrographicsindia

@MidOhioHydrographics well all the chemicals needed to make activator are easily available to me easier then buying activator  like no much work and if you mix them right which is not that difficult then why not ? making a gallon costs me around 10$ and if it works then why on earth will I pay 100$ for a gallon which it will cost me to buy some decent activator .Well there are some activator manufacturer here also but they also sell it for around 60$ a gallon and when I compare the result there is no difference they what's the harm making my own 
I got all the formulation from this forum only and I bought some off eBay so no point sharing as its already there 

K2Concepts

Bottom line? If it works for you? Then don't change a thing...