Hey all
I'm doing a few bits and bobs at the moment and finally I got a chance to test out my new roller and my own skills at rolling stars in a machine (Ken's invention).
I have viewed about every tutorial on YouTube I can find, read everything I can find on all the various forums and I thought I had a pretty good handle on the basics and enough to at least make a start. All this has been acquired over the years while not having a rolling machine and I've just been using cut and pumped stars so far. I want to progress to rolled because I can see that the irregular shape of cut stars affects the way they spread and spoils the break on my shells. I also want to be able to use crackle cores and colour changes etc.
So I knocked up a batch of Veline Red with about 9% Red Gum and 4% Dextrin. Had my misting spray all primed with 80% water/20%(max) Meths. It's a very similar formula to the one I use for basic cut rubber stars as they are called so I've used it a lot.
To make life easier I actually acquired some great little crackle stars which are probably Bismuth trioxide dragons egg with a layer of prime. They are about 1mm in diameter and perfect spheres, not too smooth so should pick up comp well.
So I popped a couple of spoonfuls into the roller, got it spinning. Gave them a very accurate and small spray fine mist of water/alc right on to them. Then gently and slowly added some comp directly on to the stars. I waited...waited more...very little pickup at all.
I could see they were damp but nothing.... I tried more comp but nothing. I tried more misting but this just ended up making the comp too wet and stick to the drum.
I tried more batches and variations on amount of misting...amounts of comp but no luck.
I'd really appreciate some tips that I may have overlooked. Other things I've considered are:
My comp is supposed to be an easy one to roll with but I have not overly milled the chemicals but they are well integrated. I understood that too fine is harder to roll.
The crackle stars should be a good starter and a bit of a cheat.
My mister is very fine atomiser type but lacks a bit of accuracy as the spray is quite wide but I get right up close. It delivers a very small amount at a time.
I'm not sure if I am using enough cores to start? Does it help to really load up the roller?
Is the plastic of the drum too "sticky", I was thinking about an upgrade to a stainless steel bowl I found.
Suggestions will be gratefully received.
