Making bakelite plastic (Part 2)

[@micahphilson]

3:42 Nile pours out the product me: "Wait, wasn't that just 120 C?" Nile, casually : "The flask was still really hot, and I was burning my fingers."

[@ashkan_1339]

So this means who haven't seen an Iranian

[@ezranian]

yeah my family calls this chemist fingers

[@mCreecher91]

I would love to see Nile revisit Bakelite with all the equipment and knowledge he has now.

[@GenaTrius]

It seems like everybody and their uncle's "made bakelite" but no one does it all the way

[@Teth47]

Looks like you could just do the reaction inside a pressure cooker. They are designed to run at 120C while full of water, so they can definitely take the pressure, you'll just have to control the heat input so it doesn't need to vent to regulate pressure.

[@joshc5613]

can't wait for the new video, "making plastic with an Instant Pot"

[@thetruthwithin1]

Couldn't you just do this but with a scientific hotplate?

[@gpweaver]

A pressure cooker is only meant to go to 15psi-ish. You'd need something a bit stronger--you wanna go to 100psi. Looks like some people built mini-Bakelizers out of steel pipe, pressurized with an air compressor, and heated with a heat gun.

[@johnathan8267]

I am astonished by how little chemistry I know and how much I love this channel.

[@jaysnk408]

I don't know how to X but I still love watching X. Replace X with almost anything from cooking to mixed martial arts.

[@3starsburningbright]

Same

[@megagaming8337]

dopplers effect :- kzbin.info/www/bejne/pIaspnepi8qto68

[@atleastimnotginger]

exactly. i have no idea what im seeing/hearing here half of the time or i forget the stuff i learn but i watch every nilered/-blue video youtube recommends to me 💀💀 even my cat enjoys them. he watches with full attention everytime.

[@cliprimate_EXtinted]

youre lucky

[@G1itcher]

What I have taken away from this series: Almost every step of making Bakelite looks delicious

[@AnnaDeeDee]

Tasty tasty carcinogens :)

[@AnneMarcyandsashaVlog-md9ev]

@@AnnaDeeDee lol

[@brianreddeman951]

Hexamine is used in the synthesis of RDX but jeeze who cares. Someone probably thinking he's saving the world when there's a bazillion postings on various forums on how to synthesize the stuff. Must be someone jealous of Nile's videos.

[@brianreddeman951]

I'm sending the internet police after you...right after I hide my package of hexamine cubes I have in my camping gear.

[@user255]

Yeah, it is pretty retarded to sensor video making OTC products.

[@Kwazzaaap]

Probably a YT hero or something.

[@etnocsama]

What is rdx?

[@krisreddish3066]

@@etnocsama Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, and now you know why we just say RDX. It is a nitramide. An explosive powder that is often mixed with various plasticizes, stabilizers, and waxes to make stable military explosives and shape charges. C4 for instance. Sad that they would flag his video on hexamine since since it has tons of uses outside making RDX you can buy it all you want from sporting good stores as solid fuel tablets, sometimes also containing trioxane. So of course the video would just exploring the science as it is much easier to buy then make, and it is sold all over.

[@user255]

+NileRed Please try to repost the hexamine video with title "How to make fuel tablets for camping gear". Maybe they would then get the idea.

[@BoredPleasure]

It's a good thing you advertised your shop at the end, I've been watching your content for a while now, and really enjoy it! Those keychains are perfect as gifts and I just ordered two of them! I hope it supports you a bit in making awesome content!

[@robertbaldwin4261]

A family member told me he had a job at a sugar cane processing plant when he was a young man in the 60’s. Apparently, the plant also made Bakelite products. He said they used cellulose fibers from the sugarcane (after squeezing out the sugar) plus asbestos as strengthening agents. One of his jobs was handling the asbestos, but fortunately he never had any health problems from that. Anyway, he told me that because I was collecting Bakelite radios at the time and he was telling me how they made similar products. This series reminded me of that.

[@Thingsthatgopew22]

Please make the hexamine video hidden and add the link to this description.

[@ArchieHalliwell]

or at least put it on LBRY

[@h.r.9563]

Probably big hexamine,

[@williamhuang8309]

Unlisted

[@sansajune8004]

Why was it flagged so much??

[@ArtsyKnox25]

But like why.

[@mr.conductor6168]

Someone really doesn't like hexamine.

[@arkhilious]

Any clue who? My guess is the scum of the earth.

[@washboardman7435]

You can nitrate it into high explosives.

[@flightpointer]

​@@washboardman7435 yum

[@flightpointer]

explosives

[@MostlyPennyCat]

​@@washboardman7435 So?

[@MD-pg1fh]

4/21 bakelize it

[@Phhase]

The only 420 related joke I will ever upvote. Well played.

[@aliensguy4291]

@@Phhase same

[@MrCh0o]

@@zhg4485 The video was posted on April 21st, and April 20th (04.20) is considered a sort of important day in the weed smoking community, hence "420 blaze it" turned into this comment, based on close dates and somewhat similarly sounding words

[@therestorationofdrwho1865]

I’m the 421st like.

[@stumblingdeth83]

@@therestorationofdrwho1865 I'm a scumbag and made it 422 before realising :(

[@jerenable]

you can send it to Cody's lab he has an pressure chamber maybe he can play around with it

[@ScoriacTears]

Good idea that man, pressurize it and cook it with lazer beams! that's what I always say.

[@CommodoreFluffy]

i had the same idea, but if you go to his video entitled "Restoring The Vessel" the first few seconds show the nameplate, where the maximum design pressure is 55 psi at 650 F. Bakelite's cure temp is around 150 C (302 F) which gives us a pretty good factor of safety on temp, but if we then look at a TS phase diagram for water, the minimum pressure needed to prevent water from boiling at 150 C looks like it's around 4 bar (58 psi) which is just past the listed max pressure. Since it's an older vessel, its a bit sketchy to push the limits like that, but if you have a very good temperature control, he just might be able to get away with it (you'd probably a PID controlled temperature management system that mixes high flow of coolant and some kind of heating mechanism to make sure you get it up to temperature, but not much higher)

[@brianmckinley7160]

And here's the comment i was looking for. I was curious if a pressure cooker would be able to keep the pressure high enough to prevent the phase change

[@richard-gn3es]

@@brianmckinley7160 a few pressure fittings and a thick pipe would do the job.. very cheap too

[@jmowreader9555]

NileRed, the secret to success with Bakelite is the tooling you use. Baekeland, who invented this stuff, was having the same problem as you. On June 18, 1907, he was experimenting with making a wood coating and writes that he had placed in his "horizontal digester" (which was later named the Bakelizer) some blocks of wood, plus an open tube "rammed" with a mixture of asbestos fiber and liquid, and a sealed tube rammed with asbestos fiber and liquid. He heated all of it 4 hours at 140 degrees C. (He refers to "A" and "D" in the next paragraph; he had four different resins and the one he called D was the Bakelite resin that made it to production.) He wrote: "Asbestos + A in sealed tube. I found tube broken perhaps in irregular expansion but the reaction seems to have been satisfactory because the resulting stick was very hard and below where there was some unmixed liquid A there was an end of solidified matter yellowish and hard and entirely similar to the product obtained by simply heating A alone in sealed tube. This looks promising and it will be worth while to determine in how far this mass which I will call D is able to make moulded materials either alone or in conjunction with other solid materials as for instance asbestos, casein, zinc oxid, starch, different inorganic powders and lamp black and thus make a substitute for celluloid and for hard rubber." This is how Bakelite was made in Bakelite factories. First, a steel mold was made. The mold has three pieces. It's got a top and a bottom. The third piece serves as a dam. It wants to be three to four times as deep as the height of the finished piece...so if the part you're making is an inch high, the dam is four inches deep. You apply a lubricant called "release agent" to all the parts of the mold so you can get the part out. Set the dam on top of the bottom and fill it with a mixture of resin powder, catalyst and a filler like wood flour. (The filler makes it stronger. Also cheaper to make.) Put the top on the mold and use hydraulic pressure to compress the resin/filler mix to its final size. Then put the whole thing in an autoclave heated to 300 degrees F and leave it in there until the resin melts and catalyzes. When it cools enough to handle, open the mold and remove your new bakelite object. So...how can we do this when we don't have a factory? Silicone spray will work for a release agent. You could make a really simple mold out of a piece of two-inch black iron pipe and two metal discs that fit nicely inside of it, and use a big C-clamp to press it in place. One disc you can call "bottom mold," the other "top mold." (Alternately, Spray the inside of the pipe and the two molds with silicone spray. You'll need a vise and a C-clamp you can tighten down with a wrench. Since you need 300 degrees F and a pressure cooker will only get you to 250, you'll have to put it in the toaster oven. Leave it there for...oh, thirty minutes will get you started. Make enough resin powder to fill the tube to the depth of 2 inches from the bottom mold. Add wood flour at a 1:1 ratio and mix thoroughly. Dump the resin mix into the tube (there should be 4 inches of mix in there, half wood flour and half resin mix) and put the top mold on. Put the C-clamp on it, pressing the top mold and bottom mold together. Put the C-clamp in the vise, and tighten it until the assembly has been pressed to a quarter of its original size. Then bake it for half an hour, pull it out, put it on a heatproof surface and let it cool. When you can handle it, undo the C-clamp and pop your Bakelite disc out.

[@NileRed]

Thanks for this, im gonna copy all this and keep it for the next time i try!

[@jmowreader9555]

Oh yeah...the "alternately." If you're just molding in a pipe, you could use a pipe cap or pipe plug at one end of the pipe.

[@abrunosON]

@@jmowreader9555 did he done it?

[@TheWebstaff]

@@abrunosON was just wondering this myself!

[@a0flj0]

I would get a multimeter with a temperature probe, and use it to start and stop the oven repeatedly, so the temperature inside stays more or less constant at 150 C, instead of just letting the oven go for 30 minutes straight. Or a thermostat. Maybe even keep a lower temperature for a longer time - curing should be slower, but gas release should also be slower, allowing for bubbles to pop and gas to escape instead of building up inside the material.

[@fthorup]

I second that of contacting Codys Lab. He has large pressure vessel and is not in any way afraid to use it! Could you release the hexamine video for patrions - just as a private video - then at least somebody can see it

[@christopherhauck4702]

sadly I think he is tired of fighting youtube anti-heros who flag videos they have no understanding of so likely it won't be released ever or if it is it will remain unlisted and he will just share the link to patrons :( I can't support the nile family with money but I could help with fighting illegitimate flagging wars....

[@ianwiese1]

The color in the middle one at the end is amazing. I have several late 40s and 50s electronics and a 1949 Ford. I always thought the colors were added in(I'm sure some were) but still really cool

[@fleance2k]

There are a number of videos on KZbin about DIY solder reflow oven conversions from toaster ovens. That would allow you to control temperature curves over the span of hours automatically. Might be something useful over the long term if you have needs for more precise temp control (+/-2-3C).

[@RaExpIn]

It was quite interesting to follow these experiments becoming more complex. Good explanations, too. Keep up the nice work! :)

[@NileRed]

Thanks!

[@rubbafunk]

Giggity!

[@kevinbyrne4538]

Wow. You devoted a LOT of time and effort to this series. I learned much about bakelite. _Many_ thanks.

[@iceburnt2390]

OMG HE WAS CRUSHING THE SPINNING THING at 12:31

[@simonberg5969]

The heart with some pink inside it actually turned out pretty beautiful

[@Stiftoad]

Nile the man strong enough to grind a stir bar into a fine powder.

[@thereisapricetoeverything4377]

Nice haha I was not expecting you to have a thc keychain but I think I’m gonna get one of each. I love you and Cody’s lab I love how most of Cody’s stuff is more basic practical chemistry and yours are an in depth breakdown of complex chemical interactions keep up the great work man I’ve learned so much from this channel and what your doing is great. God bless brother

[@littlelemming9688]

They don’t have a thc keychain?

[@Gameboygenius]

You may want to look into a toaster oven reflow controller. It's basically a temperature probe, a relay for controlling the oven power, and a microcontroller. They are mostly used for DIY reflow soldering of electronics, but should be programmable for this task as well. They usually contain a PID loop that can be calibrated against the thermal lag and overshoot of the oven being used. And of course... If there are heat elements on the top, look into covering the mold with something like aluminium foil so it's only heated by the air and not from radiation which could be a source of temperature overshoot.

[@gonnabeadoctorsoon2]

Use a pressure cooker with a water bath under it to simulate the higher pressure and temperature regulation of the bakelizer

[@experimente9912]

What about using a pressure cooker to harden it?

[@laharl2k]

Experimente 99 pressure coomers dont work at very high pressures and also have a safety valve which breaks when the pressure goes too high. plus, the pressure works on steam, unless it produces enough steam, it will be hard to even raise the prwssure to begin with. Maybe he could take with Cody and have high cure it in his pressure chamber.

[@MrGoatflakes]

+Laharl Krichevoskoy they work at 120°C before boiling, which should be all you need.

[@you238]

If the resin isn't soluble in water, I suppose autoclaving it (put it into the pressure cooker above a good amount of water at the bottom) should cure it. It might still foam if the resin heats beyond water's BP inside, but maybe it would be less?

[@noanoxan]

121 C, according to google, but yeah a regular pressure cooker should be plenty for curing bakelite.

[@skonkfactory]

Just put some water in the pressure cooker with the resin and mold.

[@romosapien9758]

Super excited for the Nylon 6,6 (Zytel) video finally! the wait is almost over :)

[@Nanoscore]

This video is right in time for my Organic Chemistry class. We will be making some Bakelite in the lab in a couple of hours so this is perfect, i will be ahead of class ! Thank you and greetings from Mexico !

[@Osmone_Everony]

5:03 Interesting video editing there. It looks like you pulverized that stir bar along with the other stuff. 😅

[@willemkossen]

Shame the hexamine vid is no longer available. As a steam engine hobbyist, making esbit would be very helpful.

[@dutenait824]

A pressure cooker or a autoklav should do the job. If it still isn´t enough maybe a hydrothermal reactor (either a small one or a cheap one build like a pipe bomb) with a small silicone inlay you probably can mold too.

[@RegiPavan]

I will now value even more my old bakelite radios...😎❤

[@adamabele785]

I imagine it could be done in a pressure cooker with some agent that removes water and cured at a controlled temperature of 120° in an oven under pressure.

[@rexp2video]

If you do not have the book: K.M. Swezey, Chemistry Magic, McGraw Hill, 1956, you should find a copy. There is an experiment in this book to make a resole. Their C-stage cure is done under a lightbulb. The bulb is spaced such that 50 C is held for 1 hour then 75 C for 2.5 hours. They did not have bubbling problems. Now, I wanted to do this experiment, but as a kid in the 70's, I could only obtain phenol with hypophosphorous acid as a stabiliser. Its thermal decomposition product is phosphine gas which is pyrophoric and I did not want this burning at the top of the reflux condenser used in making the A and B stage resins.

[@simonesavigni9546]

10:03 *DETERMINATION starts playing*

[@frankobacic8396]

Two parts at once? Nice!

[@NileRed]

Ive decided to go the Netflix route. All multi-part series will be released in 1 shot.

[@jessost1788]

NileRed sploosh

[@Akkillies]

That's a great idea, I hate waiting for part 2.

[@jaredwilliams5252]

@@NileRed a friend of mine rebuilds old electronics and things made out of bakelite. He uses a modified paint pressure pot that he wired to run a heating element and a controller for pressure/heat control. Seeing as how old this video is im sure your not even thinking about it anymore.

[@nathanbrickles6387]

Well based on your description of the baseline I would suggest a pressure cooker...the old timey ones are far better than the newer ones and the have built in pop off valves that you can actually see...you can also put a calibrated weight on it for the pressure that you want

[@mateuszwzgarda3479]

You can control the temperature in your oven by using a variac and hooking it up straight to the heater coils

[@PyroRob69]

As far as getting rid of the bubbles, cook it down in a pressure cooker. That will keep the bubbles in solution until the bakelite can harden.

[@ecartman1214]

Hexamine is the base for RDX which is the explosive agent in C-4. People are probably afraid the video would be used for that despite the fact that it’s readily available in the form of solid fuel tablets.

[@Tjalve70]

Did you consider trying to sure it in a pressure cooker? I'm not sure if that would be hot enough, but it should make sure the bakelite doesn't puff up, since the pressure should be enough to prevent the water in the bakelite from boiling. I guess.

[@deddoil9616]

4:48 - tell me, who had ever felt more betrayed than that stirring rod?

[@aetius31]

Hi Nile Red! As you ask for ideas: Did you consider using a water getter as a filler, for example powered zeolite? X13 Zeolite for instance has a quite high desorption temperature so it should not give off much steam

[@MrGoatflakes]

Good idea :D

[@MattOGormanSmith]

The traditional wood flour would mop up a fair bit I was thinking.

[@janklobener435]

At first, I was kind of impressed /shocked how you were able to manually crush the magnetic stirring rod.

[@burntorangeak]

Might you try a pressure cooker (or instapot) with a belly full of something that has a higher vapor pressure -or boiling point than waster?

[@mechadrake]

in uni we had classes in material strength and on plastics we cooked some reactoplastics, not sure what it was (you are mechanical engineers, it is not important, or something, so i do not remember writing it down). It was made in a small mold which closed and squished the powdered mixture and then heated. That made the small cylinder exactly to test on machine which crushes material and measures strength of it :)

[@thysonsacclaim]

I was wondering if a sealed mold would work? In other words, a two piece metal mold that you bolt shut. As the bubbling occurs, it would push out into the mold, but be restricted by it. This would increase the pressure, and prevent further bubbling. I am wondering, though, about the escaped of products as gas, and if they effect the end product.

[@_Pyroon_]

Big camping is keeping Nile down by blocking hexamine vids.

[@PlasmaHH]

From both videos I conclude that you should better never do chemistry when hungry...

[@illustriouschin]

These videos were much more informative and accurate than the Periodic Video edition.

[@RepublikSivizien]

You could try to carefully heat this white stuff, crush it again to powder and then meld again. Maybe multiple times until the product does not bubble or is too hard. It may be useful to dissolve it in acetone, fill it in a mould, let the acetone evaporise a wee bit and then heat it.

[@zanpekosak2383]

You know somebody is a good youtuber when he sacrifised his finger tips to a good shot of that flask.Nice!

[@aga5897]

Maybe try the hydrothermal thingy ? Some steel plumbing pipe & fittings, a bit of water, heat, and a lot of safety precautions.

[@shaynekinney2263]

that's actually quite normal that candy and the resins are similar as candy is usually made with some starch polymer, a common starch that is used is potato starch

[@djpenton779]

Interesting! This video popped up in my youtube recommendations. As soon as I spotted the maple leaf I thought "oh yeah, a fellow Canadian"! I have math and computer science degrees, a couple of first year chem courses. Lately I have been experimenting with electroplating, and anodizing aluminum. Watching those videos probably tipped off the youtube algorithm. I will now subscribe to NileRed.

[@brettwardo12]

Wow dude those keychains are a great idea, far out bruv

[@ElPikacupacabra]

3:47 If you want to see the moment of soul-baring honesty in this epic adventure.

[@davidcallahan3615]

Very nice demo. There were tears. Seriously. I tried to use ammonia to tie up the hydroxyl groups. I was crying for days…he- he

[@startedtech]

2:24 why are the bubbles moving around with the stir bar? Weird

[@hans-jurgenvogel6789]

I was actually wondering if someone else had noticed and posted a comment about it.

[@juliaf_]

It's likely a better thermal conducter than the liquid

[@craigs5212]

Cool, how about using the Novalac to make some Photoresist used for making etched circuit boards and semiconductor manufacturing like AZ 111 XFS. Takes some solvents and a photo activator. The UV exposed areas become insoluble in a basic solution of sodium carbonate.

[@CoolKoon]

You mean sodium hydroxide, right?

[@craigs5212]

NaOH will work but it's little aggressive, the Shipley developer I had for the AZ111 I used back in the 70's was sodium carbonate based with some sort of surfactant, it was still quite alkaline.

[@CoolKoon]

Oh, okay. I've asked that because I have a photosensitive spray paint can and the instructions call for sodium hydroxide. Thus I assumed that Na2CO3 is too weak for such formulations. I wonder what kind of (easily available and cheap) photoactivator could be used with novolac though.

[@wezyap]

Maybe use a preasure cooker to cure the polymer? to try to avoid the bubbeling.

[@cerubineart7116]

One idea for baking it could be putting the mold in a water bath, and then into the oven on a far lower heat.

[@lsswappedcessna]

Would it have worked in a pressure cooker? After all, pressure cookers are steam-pressure vessels that heat up a lot.

[@martijnsteinrucken9976]

Great videos! I know nothing about chemistry, but was wondering if perhaps you could cure your bakelite inside of a pressure cooker to cut down on foaming?

[@TwinnedBanana]

Love this channel!

[@kentuckyprepper1792]

If doing larger than microscale, add formaldehyde drop wise over 20 minutes. The reaction can be exothermic and overrun your container.

[@officiallycxrsxd5246]

ive watched so many of your videos and now i want to go into chemical engineering 🖤

[@tolisl5013]

Have you considered using the heated press you got to both apply pressure and heat? It should create a good result

[@aajjeee]

Psst, hey kid you want a link to the hexamine video?

[@fragilistico]

still waiting

[@TACCOFSX]

yes, still

[@thuun5607]

Yes

[@christopherhauck4702]

@Doom god yes even though it is a precursor to RDX and other highly regulated explosives it is so common that flagging this precursor video is useless since you can just go to any sporting goods store and buy it for camping honestly it is like young-earth creationists claiming abiogenesis and cosmology are part of the theory of evolution then saying evolution has no explanation for the origin of life or of the universe, and ending with a false claim "since it can't explain everything it claims to explain it must be wrong" "the rhetorical god" religion needs to just die out entirely if it can't accept the fact that it misunderstands every aspect of scientific study

[@bitterlemonboy]

@@christopherhauck4702 What the fuck are you saying

[@gastonlutri]

Congratulations for your videos, they are very interesting! Did you ever try to make galalith? I tried it, but it has a horrendous color.

[@altfarthwind]

you should try using a pressure mold

[@arthurdanielles4784]

I'm not a 'chem geek' BUT this was a great vid for several reasons but the main one has to be, it teaches an underlying truth re anything in life. TRIAL and ERROR often produces some crazy results BUT often it also is the precursor to some absolutely amazing 'inventions'. tech and so much more! It also illustrates the amount of TIME and EFFORT put in by those engaged in giving us those discoveries not forgetting the FAILURES which also can often be expensive, demanding and draining on the psyche👀😨😊so much is taken for granted from nylons to hifi to mobile phones to to to the list is endless. Yet, we would not have had them were it not for those whose TIME and EFFORT gave them to us. As said great vid - thumbs up. Oh and for the protagonists - YES when in any of the ie two vid scenarios that's why the vids are always a lot more desirable than attempting such yourself re health and safety et. Keep up the good work ! Stay safe! 👀👍

[@westonforced-last-name-dis3560]

7:10 Busted out laughing at the "+ etc." here xD

[@dr_melski]

in high school we made some bakelite with much better results, but that was 20+ years ago, and would not know how we did it anymore. but we could do pretty consistent mold pours, with full polimerization, and very little bubbling...

[@mafiozos2000]

what about heating it enough so it melts, puting it in vacum (with controlled stable temprature) and THEN completely heatblast it?

[@sweatin]

Really cool video. Despite being in like grade 9 and new to chemistry as a subject. I actually enjoy your videos very much. I bet you can't name one video I haven't watched. ;)

[@en2oh]

when I was in grad school, we made discs out of various glassy materials. Heat plus vacuum left a compressible disc that we then went on to study molecular motions of molecular functional groups in constrained media. Have you tried taking the Type B stage and heat under vacuum? It would be interesting to see what pressure is required to suppress the released gases while curing. In casting resin, there are two ways to remove bubbles 1) degas with under vacuum (since water is continuously formed during curing, not such a great method... and 2) cast under pressure. Harbor Friend has a pressurized paint system that can be adapted to act as a pressure vessel. Where in Canada are you located? I'm in Ontario Thanks for sharing Nitrous

[@Nadesican]

Your image of a 'bakelizer' looks like some sort of pressure vessel. Given your difficulties I'd say it's either a really early instant-pot, or some kind of de-gassing chamber/cooker combo.

[@Bananakid11]

nice work as usual! one question, could you try to make an aldoxime? and after this the beckmann rearrangement, and then the hofmann rearrangement to yield an amine? =) would be awesome

[@yugman95]

I suppose you could try putting it in a sealed clay mold. so long as the mold it thick enough it should keep the required pressure. Then brake off the clay at the end

[@dvantusoctara4802]

You could use a pressure cooker to prevent the water from boiling.

[@Tarkov.]

Googling pressure cooker, and a few other things, has probably put me on some watch lists. I still kind of want to make some bakelite though.

[@laharl2k]

Hey Nile, any chance of doing any plastic commonly used in 3D printers? Like pla, abs or petg. (you are already doing nylon so why not :D )

[@piteoswaldo]

Great idea!

[@ExStaticBass]

Try modifying a pressure cooker. With a thermocouple you can accurately govern the temperature.

[@wankershim1014]

i feel like im the only person watching this even tho i dont understand anything, but cant stop because its so interesting

[@Riann13]

Pardon my possible dumb idea, but would you maybe be able to heat up the resins in a vacuum? To help keep the bubbling down to a more minimal size *shrugs* I like the uniqueness of the pieces you ended up with, though, the darkest colored one turned out pretty nicely

[@user-ok4pk2mp3e]

I can't believe he compared both of the pre-polymers to candy. The other one was gummy candy, and this one is hard candy lol

[@eideticex]

Perhaps try a reflow oven. A reflow oven is essentially a convection oven like your toaster oven but unlike your toaster oven has much tighter temperature control and allows for staging your temperatures. Most toaster ovens can be converted into a reflow oven with relatively little work thanks to electronics hackers looking for cheap alternatives to industrial solutions.

[@Glitch-cp8wz]

4:57 he is crushing the stir bar too

[@BleachWizz]

Makes a lot of sense it looking like candy, both are just long strings molecules that got bunched up together. So that brings me a question: how would you "finish the polymerazation" of sugar? I mean, can you make it into a permanent solid that's still edible?

[@manheap12]

The two on the right at the end are beautiful.

[@pamemramatefuzzleford8538]

If anyone knows their stuff and comes across this, could you increase the pressure during the final cooking stage so the water doesnt boil off and mess up the final product? Would that screw over the reaction and if so, how?

[@TheBreadbocks]

You could try making Galalith with casein and formaldehyde if you want to make a related plastic

[@NileRed]

I will. Apparently it can take months to cure though.

[@iansullivan7753]

With those starting materials it might be cool to synthesize some calixarenes

[@CrepitusRex]

Yumm butterscotch.

[@mrstyles9999]

This is awesome

[@Rockzilla1122]

gotta love youtube, the only website where someone can repeatedly flag a CHEMISTRY VIDEO and youtube will side with the idiot instead of banning them.

[@hermanmartin4585]

if you melted it in a vacuum chamber do you think it would turn out better. Something like what people do with casting resins?

[@kolokol7796]

Hmm. Would adding something that reacts with water to give something with a boiling point higher than the temperature at which the polymer is made help solve the bubbling issue?

[@Ultrazaubererger]

it would be cool if you revisited this! It sounds like all that was missing is a pressure pot.