THE MATERIALS...r363b wrote:
An issue may be long term how the two materials will work together.. can TPE and silicone bond to each other, will the TPE start to move out the silicone casing, leak oil, and other factors not known.
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To me and I think others on this forum .. your superior Silicone sleeve project is most interesting and not a TPE and silicone hybrid. Not to say others outside this forum may want your hybrid sleeve and this would be the reason to continue this hybrid concept.
.. otherwise If someone would want to have a TPE sleeve which has only one downside to me .. mildew / mold, It would be the Fleshlight. (But if you clean and dry properly a Fleshlight it will last years and costs $33 each when you purchase the buy 2 get 1 free for $99.) https://us.fleshlight.com/collections/buy-2-get-1-free
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... As we discussed in earlier posts...
Others have had silicone and TPE react, within a period of several days, where Silicone has hardened, likely caused by the plasticizing oils in the TPE...
...and others have had the TPE melt in response to the Silicone (Over a few days).
I have had one freezer bag holding ALL of these sample materials, touching each other for several weeks, and NOTHING has happened, except for the bleeding over of dyes, especially from the TPE, which has a LOT of dye in it (The sticky hand toys I mean. Red, Green, Blue, Orange, Pink. The red is the strongest).
So these specific materials are fine together so far. The question will be then, how will THESE ones react with YOUR materials?
ANSWER(s)...
Well, based on that. If you are using it as an insert I am selling, which is made of TPE, hopefully you can get a sample piece of your material separate from your product, and place it in contact with these TPE sticky hand TPE materials from Walmart ($1 for 0.1lb, four of them in one package).
THE SILICONE SHOULD BE SAFE, I think with all materials...
I plan to make all of the above. At first just liners, and then the fill (which should be a smooth round face and flat back end at first, and later reversible ones), and these will be JUST Silicone at first.
So far these are totally inert, and dont react with anything. And I wont have dye at first, so they will be a semi-clear (Cloudy) material.
Pigment is at the top of the list when I sell a few though.
Then a brand new fleshlight (maybe the 3 set), which I will probably just duplicate then resell (Not use, since I am sure I can make a better one, and I did alter the one I bought long ago shortly after buying it, so I always had a better design in my opinion)....
And that is to make perfect liners that fit on other fleshlights, to change the color, texture (Obviously it will be tighter since these are inner liners). That will make them easier to clean too I'm sure.
I am pretty darn sure its just the plasticizing agents (Oils) in the TPE substances which cause them to bleed/leak oils out.
The samples I made with more than 1:1 (50%) Slacker also did leak some oils, but I think that was only the ones close to 2x slacker (The max), I have to check again, but I think the 1.5x slacker (3/5ths or 60% total weight, the rest being DragonSkin or EcoFlex 00-10) might have left an oil mark, maybe not.
UPDATE ON MY SITUATION...
And that leads to the problem. Now I have to search for a shelter to stay in, and have left ALL of my project materials, tools, prototypes, etc., behind. And now there is a slim chance I might even lose all of that and have to start completely over again with no money or home or anything.
And all of this is because of some crazy ass hole I was trying to help, after CPS took his child...but he just wouldnt put in the effort to prepare an Affidavit (All the facts, names, dates, times, etc.. Its a lot of work!), so I stopped answering his calls, and he started to threaten my friend who was helping me.
Now I have no home, and I was probably only a couple days or so from finishing the first prototype (was about to smooth the face part and then pour the cylinder smooth, then add the texture, then pour the first products! That close!).
But I will find some where I can stay, with a fully working kitchen (I need microwave, sink, fridge and freezer to make and change prototypes, as well as to make the molds to pour silicone into, which have no seams, until I can buy urethane rubber this Silicone wont stick to).
So who knows how long it will be now before I can even work on this again, but as soon as I have my things and a place to work, I think I can get the first models ready in a few days or so.
If I have to start over....
It costs: $33 or so per 2lb Kit...I need 2 so $66, plus SlackerX4 ($20/lb) and Thi-Vex ($3.08/Oz)... and Gelatin (Around $20/lb. I have a few pounds I think, so lets say $60)....I picked up the plastics I was using while riding my bike around (All #s, 1-7), and bought the TPE from Walmart for $1/0.1lb ($10/lb).
So to make these products, I will need All but the TPE above, and some other tools (I am using bolts with round 'acorn cap' nuts, and an oil lamp to heat them without charring/carbonizing like butane lighters do, or maybe later my Soldering Iron when I buy an expensive variometer, or 120vAC light dimmer. Around $20-30 last I checked, see note below).
On the soldering iron...
When I have made new ones, I plan to test on a FleshLight if I can use the Soldering iron, a thermometer that measures the temp touching its point, and the dimmer switch, and adjust the Soldering iron to exactly 300F (Or just use oil with a smoke point well above that, maybe just around 310-320 so it CANT burn the TPE), with a thermometer sitting in that, to heat these tools JUST RIGHT...
So you can actually weld the TPE back together!
I have done test like this before, with plastics, and you CAN, CAREFULLY, melt plastics, dip a finger in water, and smooth it out while it cools, and weld thermal plastics and rubbers together.
So far, the only ones you cant 'melt' (with heat, as opposed to 'dissolve', with chemical solvents), are the ABS (Cant melt. It burns first), and PVC (Releases toxins when heating. And I have not found the exact temp yet, but will get around to making a chart on the site I plan to make soon).
Besides ABS (#7) and PVC (#3), also #1 (PETE, Polyethylene Tetraphthalate) would not melt, but ONLY the TV dinner trays. Normal beverage bottles are made of a PET/PETE plastic I COULD melt in the oven. I will eventually get all that data up here for you guys too, but I dont know where it is right now, with all this crap going on.