[TenPercenter]

Inspired by _Z_'s machine for testing chip adhesion, I've wondered if anyone has thought about a machine to automate oiling clay chips?

I hope that by seeing the title you didn't think I had solved this problem.

One thing I thought of is a converted golf ball washer? I am not a golfer and I have certainly not seen many washers, but this just popped into my head.

[TenPercenter]

Can't ignore JM's thoughts on oiling chips (from another thread):

Originally Posted by JM

Funny you guys should mention oiling your chips, I've been working on a better mousetrap for this lately since I'm getting sick of oiling my horseheads. Only 200 to go now though I had ordered a custom spotted set about a week before Led announced this buy, and I got it about 5 weeks later. I'm getting a bunch of solids from this buy to complement it though, so with more oiling to come, I've been trying to figure a more efficient way. Here's what I came up with this past weekend.

All of the methods so far are quite tedious and time consuming, as well as messy. I tried the one at a time with oil on the fingers method, oil on a towel method, dip the chip in oil method (messiest by far!). All basically sucked. I decided to go a different route and got myself a couple of those ziplock quart size baggies (the ones with the zipper, trust me on that recommendation) and I figured I could fit 100 chips at a time in there. You could use the gallon size as well I suppose, but the quart size was better for the 2nd step.

Put 100 cleaned chips in the bag and try to drop them in so they separate a bit and aren't all stacked together. Then pour in a couple of ounces of mineral oil. You don't need alot, pour slowly and try to cover the chips as much as possible. Then zip the top shut and turn the bag upside down a few and toss your chip salad! Just work it until they are all coated nicely with oil and then put the bag down rightside up and let the excess drain to the bottom.

Now get a 2nd baggie, and a paper towel roll. Pull off about 3 towels and stack them on top of each other so you have a 3 thick sized towel and fold it in half. Now fit it inside the 2nd bag so it folds at the bottom and you have an opening at the top with 6 plys of towel on either side (a U shaped towel). Remove the chips from the first bag a bunch at a time, grabbing them in stacks with 2 fingers is easiest, and drop them in the towel lined bag. The last bunch that are on the bottom will be quite drippy, so shake them off a bit inside the bag before you transfer. You should have an ounce or so of oil left in the bag when you're done.

Now that you've got all 100 in the towel bag, seal it up and and shake it around a bit to get more oil off, then let it sit right side up for a while, then on one side, then on the other to get most of the oil drained off. Probably a good 10-15 mins on each side so 30-45 mins total. In the meantime, you can go do something productive after wiping off the 2 fingers you used to move the chips.

Now you can do one of two things, take them out one at a time and use paper towels or terrycloth (I prefer terrycloth) to wipe and dry them and put them aside on another paper towel or two to 'cure' for a while before putting them away. Or take them out one at a time and wipe the excess off with a paper towel and put them aside on another paper towel until you have all 100 out, then take them one at a time and use a terrycloth towel to dry them and then put them aside to cure. Your choice. I do the second choice, since I need less terrycloth & paper towels to do that (there's still alot of oil on them when you take them out of bag #2).

It seems like a complex, time consuming process, but after having done it the other ways, this is the cleanest most efficient way I've found so far. You can reuse the 2 baggies for subsequent groups of 100, just add 1/2 as much oil as you did initially (since there's already an ounce or so in there from the last batch) and change the towels in the 2nd bag between each 100 chips.

Maybe I should do an article on this for Ten with some pictures.

[VARoadstter]

Perhaps some adult novelty store item could be, ahem, adapted for use?

[KYBill]

Hopefully someone will have us something soon !

[_Z_]

Seems getting oil on the chips is easy enough, but getting the excess off is where the time consuming part of the process is.

I've got an idea. That 'ol phonograph for wear testing might just draw double duty... One movable plate (turntable on bottom) set against one fixed plate above, with the chips sandwiched in-between. Terryclotch or lambswool pads line each surface. Start up the old Victrola, and your chips are wiped clean and unifromly oiled. Should be able to do 15-20 at a batch. Some sort of raised rim might have to be employed to keep the chips from 'squirting' out from the edge.

Seems to me an old clotheswashing machine may be able to be cannabalized for the same purpose, -not that I'm volunteering! -I only have room for one, and that's going to be needed to wash the pads!

[Q10 soooted]

Originally Posted by TenPercenter

Inspired by _Z_'s machine for testing chip adhesion, I've wondered if anyone has thought about a machine to automate oiling clay chips?

Now where's that thread of one liners that prove that we're nuts....

[_Z_]

Haha... that's what happens when an inventive engineer becomes an 'obsessive compulsive technically maniacal poker chip enthusiast'.

I so awarded myself with the title from that thread. Hope you don't mind... I've enjoyably baffled some of my military/private sector colleagues with the OCTMPCE abbreviation (common fare in this area- the military has abbreviations and acronyms for most everything).

.

[Merlin14]

I was thinking something along the lines of a conveyer belt with some paint brush rollers fixed to roll along on top of it, one to oil, one to soak off the excess oil. The chips ride the belt and go under the brushes. A hand crank gets the belt moving and after passing the two rollers, the chips would drop off into a lazy susan (also spun about by the gears) where they can be thoroughly dried with a blast from Pkrcp's air compressor suspended from above.

But then what do I know, I've never oiled a chip in my life. Never even heard of doing such a thing until I found this place, and from the sounds of it, I'm not looking forward to it either!

[Murf]

Originally Posted by _Z_

Seems getting oil on the chips is easy enough, but getting the excess off is where the time consuming part of the process is.

I've got an idea. That 'ol phonograph for wear testing might just draw double duty... One movable plate (turntable on bottom) set against one fixed plate above, with the chips sandwiched in-between. Terryclotch or lambswool pads line each surface. Start up the old Victrola, and your chips are wiped clean and unifromly oiled. Should be able to do 15-20 at a batch. Some sort of raised rim might have to be employed to keep the chips from 'squirting' out from the edge.

Seems to me an old clotheswashing machine may be able to be cannabalized for the same purpose, -not that I'm volunteering! -I only have room for one, and that's going to be needed to wash the pads!

Sounds like a good idea, but what about oiling the sides of the chips? It really makes the edge spots stand out when the chips are stacked, but with your machine, it seems like you would still have to rely on hand oiling the chips to get the edges.

[CaptLego]

Hmmmm....
Maybe there's an easy way to "steam" them.
Heat up the oil to produce vapor. Stick the chip in the vapor until it's absorbed just the right amount.

Done.