Philip Brutz

5/3/08

Hi David, I just coat the area that is in contact with the object.  It doesn't take much to coat the mount.  I have it store in a quart yogurt container and it seems to work well.  If it was sold in a pint size wide mouth jar it would be plenty for most mount makers. It makes a thicker coating than B72.  So I wouldn't recommend it for small jewelry mounts.  The coating is very tough but yet has more cushion  than B72.  The way that industry uses this is by creating what they call a liquid bed.  They have it in a  container that has a paper filter floor that they blow air up through.  The object to be coated is heated in an oven and then dipped into the liquid bed and then passed through the oven again.  It has a slight hot plastic smell so I usually apply it at my welding station.  I would wear a dust mask when you divide it up into smaller quantities and check out the MSDS on it.  It comes in every color of the rainbow.  It is the same coating that is on your dishwasher rack. This is powder coating.  I would only sell in clear because we paint out our mounts anyway.  I use black if it is hidden shadow.  When I get back to work on monday I will weigh how much is in a pint and take some photos of the application. Philip

-----Original Message----- From:   david latouche [mailto:dlatouche@gmail.com] Sent:   Sat 5/3/2008 4:50 PM To:     Philip Brutz Cc:     Subject:        Plascoat

Hi Philip, You mentioned in the mount coatings thread that perhaps Benchmark should sell Plascoat in smaller quantities.  I'd like to pursue that a bit by asking you some questions about the stuff and your use of it to help us in considering it as a product.  The questions follow:

Are you coating the entire mount or just the areas that come into contact with the artifact?

You say the 44 lb box would last a 100 years or so.  But, realistically, how much do you think you have used for how many mounts since you have gotten it?  A pound for 200 mounts or so?  What would you guess?  I realize it's probably hard to be accurate without keeping records, but any estimate will help us in our consideration.  I see on their description that they say it covers 24 square feet per kilogram at 100% efficiency.  If I guess about 6 square inches for the average small mount, then it might cover 44 mounts per lb.  Do you think that might be in line with your experience using it?

Based on your estimate of use, what do you think might be a useful size to sell it in to folks?  Would 4 pounds be reasonable?  Would 2 pounds?

What sort of an issue has it been working with the powder?  Do you need to wear a dust mask when using this stuff if you're pouring it over the mount (if we sell a small quantity, it won't be so easy to dip all mounts into it, I'd guess).  We're certainly going to be pouring it ourselves to repackage it, so I'm real interested in hearing your comments.

If we sell it in small quantities, what sort of container do you think might be most practical and useful to us mountmakers?  I'm speculating that a shallow wide-mounted jar would permit dipping of small mounts.  And perhaps with a paper funnel around the jar, it would serve as a fairly clean way of pouring over the mount and into the jar, when needed.

I appreciate your telling the forum about this and certainly appreciate your help answering these questions for me.

One other question, if this is designed to coat light bulbs, why do they produce it in black? Who knows?

Thanks, David La Touche

Philip Brutz

5/5/08

Hi David,

Here are some photos of me coating your Benchmark pinning pliers with the clear Plascoat.

david 5/5/08 Thanks a lot Philip, Do I guess that the caliper is reading the actual thickness of the coating, .013?  And that the jar, which I think you said is a pint, is holding about a 1/2 pound? It's good to see that the coating can be cut off, if that is the case. I know you mentioned that you wouldn't necessarily use this for small jewelry mounts, but at .013 I don't see it interfering with close fits too much.  I'd probably use it for everything, until it became clear that it didn't work well.  Have you had any experiences where that was the case, that it didn't work well? For me the disadvantage is in having more heat in the shop, but that is far outweighed by the advantage of not having to leave the shop to spray with Krylon Crystal Clear and breathe in the xylene and benzene contained in that spray.  Even wearing a mask when spraying doesn't prevent the ambient fumes from its drying, that seem to permeate the room.  I always try to do my spraying outdoors or in a fume booth, but even so I'd much rather not have to do it at all. Thanks for all your help. David 

Philip Brutz

The thickness of one coat is around .013 but it is hard control.  The pint jar holds about a ½ lb.  We have used it larger jewelry mounts but for really small mounts we still use B72 or Krylon Crystal Clear.

Philip Brutz

Mountmaker

Cleveland Museum of Art

11150 East Blvd.

Cleveland, OH 44106-1797

216-707-2617