Kaylyn831 Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Does anyone know if there are plans available to make a dip tank for carved candles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsposey Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 http://www.candlefun.com/pl-02.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaylyn831 Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 http://www.candlefun.com/pl-02.htmlThank you, but he sells those already built. I am looking for plans to make one myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetsCandles Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 I've been looking for one as well. I went to San Diego recently and saw a dipping tank over in Toby's Candle shop in Old Town there. It looked to be custom made. Was a recessed heating area, covered vats for each color and all housed in a round countertop looking base. I'm rather thinking that I'll probably be working on making my own vat sooner or later. The main concern with any of it is the heating source. I know some places use immersion heaters, but it seems that the candlefun version is an open air tank, which will evaporate over time (and probably much quicker than a closed system would). The jacketing system might be the most tedious to do. You'd have to have access to an arc welder of some sort to be able to weld the stainless steel. But that's about as far as I've thought on the whole thing. It's something I'll have to work up toward, and need a lot more space than I currently have available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poker Mechanic Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Basically you need to build a hot water heater that will also hold your dip tanks and heat them up. Talk to your local metal fabricator or visit your local metal scrap yard to get er done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 (edited) I've been looking at those Bunn burners for coffee warmers. I was thinking about putting a pouring pot on them with wax to keep liquid. They do work (and kinda hot actually) for this. The down side is that once done for the day and the pouring pot cools and the wax solidifies, I would think it a problem to heat it up again from the bottom on the bunn. So, I might try to empty the pouring pots into a thick plastic bag, let it cool for storage, and then when I am ready to do use dipping tanks again, take each bag, rip it off, put the wax into the presto, melt, fill the pot, put the pot on the Bunn, and go for it.Sounds like a lot of work, but 6 bunns with 6 pots costs under $100 on Ebay. Edited May 28, 2011 by EricofAZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaylyn831 Posted May 28, 2011 Author Share Posted May 28, 2011 Do you think the commercial grade soup warmers would work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beekeeper_sd Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 You can almost eliminate evaporation if you use vegetable oil in your tank. It might cost a little to start out with but you can get the vegetable oil in bulk at a restaurant supply company in bulk. Added it to my water jacketed system 2 years ago and haven't had to do a thing with it since. Plus it keeps the corrosion down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 (edited) So I just ordered some tools and videos from candles and supplies dot com. Those folks have no idea how to write a web page. The cart checkout asked for an address, didn't specify, so I assumed it was where I wanted the stuff sent. CC denied because the shipping was not billing addy. I had to start over and when I did THEN it asked me if there was a difference. Idiots. Just tell me shipping or billing up front and I'll input the right addy. Then the quintessential rain forest killer. I printed the purchase order. First printed page, header only. Second printed page - the one that had the order on it. Third printed page - header only. Talk about paper wasting.Well, I hope the videos and tools are better than their web programmer. Edited May 29, 2011 by EricofAZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 I've been looking for one as well. I went to San Diego recently and saw a dipping tank over in Toby's Candle shop in Old Town there. It looked to be custom made. Was a recessed heating area, covered vats for each color and all housed in a round countertop looking base. I'm rather thinking that I'll probably be working on making my own vat sooner or later. The main concern with any of it is the heating source. I know some places use immersion heaters, but it seems that the candlefun version is an open air tank, which will evaporate over time (and probably much quicker than a closed system would). The jacketing system might be the most tedious to do. You'd have to have access to an arc welder of some sort to be able to weld the stainless steel. But that's about as far as I've thought on the whole thing. It's something I'll have to work up toward, and need a lot more space than I currently have available.Why don't you contact Toby's Candles and ask how they got their tank made and what materials they used? Even if its not the same exact tank style you want I'm sure you can get some good tips to help you get started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 Ok, my rant is over, I'm actually looking forward to the videos and tools. I'll let you know how the videos are.I was looking at crock pots as well, but they are generally wider than they are deep. Might be OK for smaller candles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miadrianel Candles Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Interested in this thread..I would also like to make my own....Can't you make your vats with metal pipes? Get someone to weld them on the bottom with some kind of lid...that's more or less what I was thinking a while ago.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetsCandles Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Why don't you contact Toby's Candles and ask how they got their tank made and what materials they used? Even if its not the same exact tank style you want I'm sure you can get some good tips to help you get started.Hoping someone there would know. But an excellent idea Thanks! (And I feel a bit retarded for not thinking of it myself.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Might be worth it to buy the tank and vats if you are going to do this for a while (then sell it when you're tired of it). I probably will buy the real thing if I decide I like it. For now, I just want to test. So, maybe a deep fryer with 4 tubes in it attached to a frame that holds the tubes upright and prevents spills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetsCandles Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Eric, if you want to test, but not spend a whole lot of money, you could use a hurricane mold (the outer mold portion) about 5 or so inches wide, 6 inches deep, and then practice on a small star mold for the insert. I know Peak has all of those supplies. If you don't want to spend out the money for the hurricane mold (I'm using them to practice because they don't have a wick hole and have the plating like a dipping vat does at the bottom), you could try to find some of the big soup cans or veggie cans like they'd use at some of the elementary schools or hospitals. You could ask if you could just take the cans after they were used even. I'd suggest an old coffee can, but they're all plastic now. But all of those options would be cheaper than getting the full vat just to practice on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I think the cans are the easy part. Yeah, quart size coffee cans are probably fine. The hard part is re-heating the wax after it solidifies in the can. A bunn warmer that heats from the bottom up is probably not the best idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetsCandles Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 You can prevent that by getting some paper drinking cups. The wax doesn't soak through them if you pour it out into the cups, then it's easy to strip the cup off and then remelt the wax if you need to. The wax doesn't stick to the cup either like that. I'm using the dixie brand 9 oz cups. Fairly economical and saves a lot of hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheller Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 or you can put a small peice of wax into the water. It melts forming a thin film of wax on top preventing any water from evaporating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I bought two GE double burner hot plates, Model 169214. Walmart also had some stainless pots that were tall and narrow in the area where they sell containers for stuff that you would put in the pantry. I also bought some aluminum disposable bread bakery trays that are about 2 inches deep x 3 x 6 or so.Then heated up some 1343 wax and filled four containers. One I colored with white pigment and one with gold color and titanium oxide. The other two were red and blue. Then one pot nearby with cold water to the top. The thermostat keeps the wax at about the right temp when set just a tad past "warm." I spilled a little wax on the burner and it seemed to be cleanable. I'm concerned that if the burner is turned up the wax spill will catch fire.Seems like they worked OK for dipping smaller candles. I didn't want to cool and store the wax in the pots because it would be very unsafe to try and heat it up again so that's what the bread pans were for. Next day I put the bricks in the presto to heat and started over.Its a bit of work, but all for under $100 bucks to get started. I think if I decide to do more of this it would make sense to buy the real thing from Candle Fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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