Texturing tool for TPE

[AIMD]

Wheezer had mentioned something about stippling with a heat gun and a stippling brush for texture and it got me to thinking there might be an easier way. So here we go and if others have ways of improvement please mention it.
This uses a regular soldering iron and depends on the speed at which you work. You'll see smoke in the pictures but that's because of posing for the pictures.

First. copper wire, solid and braided

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Strip the insulation.

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Then twist and fold until it fits snugly in the soldering iron, making sure to have a "brush" end.

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Screw it into the soldering iron. The copper wire is soft enough to deform.

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Wait until it's hot and then stipple or draw lines.

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(if there is a better way please comment)

Now for solid wire sculpting using solid house copper wire.

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Bend to shape, which can be any shape or straight if you prefer (like a foam cutter). Experiment with length but too long might not get hot enough. The right length though and you probably won't have to worry about smoke.

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Edge sculpting.

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Digging out divots.

[AIMD]

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Tool can also be used for heat joining under the surface and surface smoothing. Not a good job here but it is for demonstration purposes.

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Posted this way because for some reason the whole post wouldn't go in one shot. Maybe there is a file limit per post even though it's under the size limit.

[AIMD]

Was just thinking, this might be able to be used for hair punching into TPE by creating a heat bond. Could use a single very thin wire from the braided wire or like a brush. Of course the hair has to have a higher melting point than the TPE or soldering iron. Once again, experimentation will tell.

[Ant999]

If you could find aluminum or stainless wire, it would be better, because from a chemistry point of view, copper is bad news for most kinds of rubber. Granted, the copper does not stay in contact with the TPE for very long, but copper initiates the chemical degrading of rubber, so the best is no copper at all. Stainless for the thin brush, aluminum would not be stiff enough, aluminum for the thick tool, stainless would be hard to bend.
Just my 10c worth.

[TYSONCHICKEN]

Try a piece of a seatbelt, soaked in baby or mineral oil. Use a heat gun and temperature gun. Heat area until it is approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit, then use the seat belt piece to gently press against the area. You can Pat gently. Be careful not to make any creases. You’ll get a feel for it.

Also, fine grit sand paper (180+). Very important to let it sit in baby/mineral oil before each use. Heat area, gently pat with sand paper, repeat. If you do not use enough baby oil, you will get sand paper grit in the doll.

For sculpting, I use a mini leather iron with a temperature dial. I usually run it around 200 degree Celsius. I also have a plastic welder gun with a flat tip, but it is difficult to keep a steady temperature.

[seagull]

Seatbelt material has been mentioned as being quite successful
Depends on what appeals to the individual, whether fine grit Wet n Dry (180), Seatbelt or anything else

[AIMD]

Tried stainless steel aircraft cable and stainless solid wire due to the concern with copper reacting with rubber. (Not sure about TPE though since copper reacts with the sulphur in rubber and not sure if sulphur is used in TPE.) Heat did not transfer well, maybe 1/2" (12mm) from the tip of the soldering iron so not useful at all. The soldering iron is 25w so probably a higher wattage is needed for stainless to be effective. Don't have any aluminum wire to play with so didn't test that but did have some aluminum window screen. That yielded some interesting results for texturing. Still a work in progress with trying to create a one-handed tool.

Wrapped screen around soldering iron

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Looks better in real life

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Another angle

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An aluminum mesh with wider holes might produce more realistic results.
Suggestions and comments are always welcome.

[Ant999]

Tried stainless steel aircraft cable and stainless solid wire due to the concern with copper reacting with rubber. (Not sure about TPE though since copper reacts with the sulphur in rubber and not sure if sulphur is used in TPE.)

Sorry for harping somewhat off the subject, but reactions with sulfur are not the problem, TPE is not vulcanized, there should not be any sulfur. Copper's villainy comes from the fact that it has two oxidation states that are not too far apart in terms of energy, so it easily jumps back and forth between the two: when it increases its oxidation state, it gets oxygen from the air, and when it decreases its oxidation state, it has oxygen to give away, that it gladly passes on to your piece of rubber, oxidizing the rubber. Polymers differ, some become stiffer and eventually brittle, some become goo, not sure about TPE, but oxidation is bad news, any way you look at it. The heat energy from the soldering iron just makes the party merrier.
It was more than 40 years ago that I studied polymer chemistry, but this is what I was taught.

[seagull]

Wowsers!
Thanks Ant, added this to my resource file

[Wheezer]

Very good on the sculpting tools.
It is nice when users develop tools for TPE repairs and updates.
Well done !

Copper has been shown in some blends to cause TPE deterioration with extended contact.
This usually is with wired fingers where the wired breaks, copper contacts the TPE and eventually you get a green rot.
Thus I would use care with copper brushes for heated work. You don't want bits to break off and embed in the TPE.

A good alternative is WIRE BRUSHES. The come in various sizes and shapes, shaft sizes and with non copper wire.
For your application you might want to look into those designed for Dremels or other hand held rotary tools.
Insert in soldering iron, heat up and away you go. Flare the ends to get the effect you want.

What I have found with texture sculpting is to go a bit exaggerated with the first pass heat tool stuff.
Then follow up with hot air to knock down the top edges and give a subtle result.
You might find that handy.

Again, great to see home made TPE repair tooling !

Cheers!
...W...

[Babel99]

Could be outdated information but I remember and old thread where Mishka was heating up the TPE with an air gun and texturing it by lightly tapping the TPE with sand paper. The result was astonishing. I did not try it myself but wondering if you guys ever tried it.

[Wheezer]

Could be outdated information but I remember and old thread where Mishka was heating up the TPE with an air gun and texturing it by lightly tapping the TPE with sand paper. The result was astonishing. I did not try it myself but wondering if you guys ever tried it.

That is a common technique for area texturing.
Oil target, heat with hot air, apply texture from a material.
Just make sure the material is cleaned and supple prior to use.

It works well for AREA work with large and not too complex structures.
The finer the detail area or with more curves it gets challenging.
For that you start to get into heated tooling like this.

Cheers!
...W...

[Babel99]

Could be outdated information but I remember and old thread where Mishka was heating up the TPE with an air gun and texturing it by lightly tapping the TPE with sand paper. The result was astonishing. I did not try it myself but wondering if you guys ever tried it.

That is a common technique for area texturing.
Oil target, heat with hot air, apply texture from a material.
Just make sure the material is cleaned and supple prior to use.

It works well for AREA work with large and not too complex structures.
The finer the detail area or with more curves it gets challenging.
For that you start to get into heated tooling like this.

Cheers!
...W...

Make sense!

[AIMD]

Tried stainless steel aircraft cable and stainless solid wire due to the concern with copper reacting with rubber. (Not sure about TPE though since copper reacts with the sulphur in rubber and not sure if sulphur is used in TPE.)

Sorry for harping somewhat off the subject, but reactions with sulfur are not the problem, TPE is not vulcanized, there should not be any sulfur. Copper's villainy comes from the fact that it has two oxidation states that are not too far apart in terms of energy, so it easily jumps back and forth between the two: when it increases its oxidation state, it gets oxygen from the air, and when it decreases its oxidation state, it has oxygen to give away, that it gladly passes on to your piece of rubber, oxidizing the rubber. Polymers differ, some become stiffer and eventually brittle, some become goo, not sure about TPE, but oxidation is bad news, any way you look at it. The heat energy from the soldering iron just makes the party merrier.
It was more than 40 years ago that I studied polymer chemistry, but this is what I was taught.

Thanks for the information, it is very informative! Would brass cause the same reaction or would the alloy somehow mitigate the problem? Copper is so nice because of the heat conductivity whereas aluminum is only 60% of that. Brass has a high heat conductivity as well but the copper in the alloy might cause the same oxidation problems.

[Ant999]

Tried stainless steel aircraft cable and stainless solid wire due to the concern with copper reacting with rubber. (Not sure about TPE though since copper reacts with the sulphur in rubber and not sure if sulphur is used in TPE.)

Sorry for harping somewhat off the subject, but reactions with sulfur are not the problem, TPE is not vulcanized, there should not be any sulfur. Copper's villainy comes from the fact that it has two oxidation states that are not too far apart in terms of energy, so it easily jumps back and forth between the two: when it increases its oxidation state, it gets oxygen from the air, and when it decreases its oxidation state, it has oxygen to give away, that it gladly passes on to your piece of rubber, oxidizing the rubber. Polymers differ, some become stiffer and eventually brittle, some become goo, not sure about TPE, but oxidation is bad news, any way you look at it. The heat energy from the soldering iron just makes the party merrier.
It was more than 40 years ago that I studied polymer chemistry, but this is what I was taught.

Thanks for the information, it is very informative! Would brass cause the same reaction or would the alloy somehow mitigate the problem? Copper is so nice because of the heat conductivity whereas aluminum is only 60% of that. Brass has a high heat conductivity as well but the copper in the alloy might cause the same oxidation problems.

Now you have me stumped, metallurgy is out of my field. It sort of stands to reason that brass will be less troublesome than pure copper, that is one of the reasons for making the alloy, to make it less susceptible to oxidation, but this is an opinion, not to be confused with scientific fact.