Hey so I tried Tinkermans way I did three coats of silicon witch I feel like came out pretty nice looking unfortunately It did not work for me I took 2 screen shots the to show my results if anyone might know “should I add more coats?”

Just thought i’d chime in and give my results on a slightly different approach.

I used a double matt 50 micron drafting film from a company in the uk called polyester converters.  This is the surface upon which the image is projected.

To thin the silicon i used a product called Heptan Analar.  This is what the medical industry use to thin there silicon for manufacturing silicon based products.

The first test was promising and produces very nice blobs. Only one layer was rolled on. I used a foam roller, clear silicon from a DIY store and a chemical mask, goggles and gloves. 

I don’t recommend this to any others and would suggest if you are going to thin the silicon to try Acetone, it is available from beauticians as they use it as nail polish remover.

Also the Rosco Grey would be by-far the best surface to project on to, if i could get hold of an old rear fast fold screen then i would use that over the drafting film.

Oh and incase you didn’t already know the silicon needs to be touching the acrylic!

Hey Tinkerman!

I managed to get 42 inch wide vellum and finally got great results.  My camera batteries are dead but ill post some pictures when I get some new ones.  I found the optimal ‘drying’ temperature somewhere around 100-105 degrees.  Gave us about 5 minutes to spread it and less then 15 minutes to dry.  Thanks for the information and advice!

Has anyone here tried using GE Silicone II? I happened to get a small squeeze bottle and I tried it on a scrap piece of acrylic. I have pictures coming, but it came out pretty good.

I diluted the silicon (sorta clear 40), simply with some white spirit, it works very well. It is better for the health than the xylol!

This looks like a great method, I’ve been looking for a better silicone alternative to pouring.  Has anyone tried it with some Rosco yet?  If not I’d be happy to give it a go.  Where in the UK can I get Xylol, and so you need a specific type of silicone.  Think I’ll go to the hardware store in the morning.

I’m trying this with rosco and mylar as I write, just on some small scrap pieces.  Just finished a batch with one very thin coating, seems to work well with the myalr, the rosco is giving me quite some streaks (it stays lit up).  But I am not sure it has completely dried yet, so I’ll give it another couple of hours, I’m making 12 pieces total with thinned silicone (xylene): 6 mylar and 6 rosco .  1 layer, 2 layer and 4 layer (x2 for trying both sides of the materials).  I’ll post some pictures/video once I’m done.  I’m also going to try straight silicone on rosco like joerg suggested.

Is there a preferred thickness for the silicone?  I’m going to try the pure silicone onto Rosco method tomorrow after work, wondered about how thick it should be?

And what about rolling a layer onto the Rosco, the same onto the acrylic, then a second onto the acrylic quickly placing the Rosco on top and using a clean roller to bond the two together?  Bonded surface, no wrinkling.

well from what’ve noticed in my tests it shouldnt be more than 0.5mm thick thicker than that blob intensity starts t decrease

OK I’ll try that.  Do we know the life span for this method, I’ve heard the acrylic/silicone can degrade quickly?

Thomas, I saw your recent post regarding your problems, seems like we’re both experiencing the same issues.  I was really hoping the Sulky Solvy would work, but we get hardly any blobs at all.  May just go back to DI.

hey! my name is tom and i’m from germany. i recently worked on a test-sheet of tracingpaper with tinkermans method (just silikon, no thinner, 3 layers).
it worked out beautifully and i’m totally overwhelmed by the great results i got. thank you so much for sharing tinkerman!
each layer dried within one hour or so and i made the discovery that putting two treated sheets on top of each other creates brighter but more diffused blobs,
but one sheet creates bright enough blobs for me.

thanks again!

check out http://www.ahdesigns.de/touchvid.avi to see some action!

Tinkerman,
I want to use your method for LCD FTIR, so I can’t use Vellum, of course. You said early in the thread that you had tried applying it directly to a scrap piece of acrylic - did it turn out perfectly clear?
thx
rbedi100

rbedi100: You can always apply silicone directly to acrylic. Although, if you do so you shouldn’t make it textured like this and should follow the methods originally used for pouring silicone.

Cerupcat,
Ok, thanks for the info. I searched “pouring silicone” in the forums, and I’m a bit confused - what method are you referring to?
thx again
rbedi100

@Tom_Bombadil1988:

What kind of silicone did you use and where in Germany did you buy it ?

I was thinking about getting “Sorta Clear 40” but it’s kind of expensive…

Florian