working with cellulose

Is there a book that explains how to make miniature models with cellulose,
bakelite (or other photoelastic materials) safely and cheaply? All I know
is that cellulose is supposed to come in sheets that one can glue together
seamlessly using solvents, which makes me wonder about toxicity risks.
For bakelite, I have no idea. I'm also told one can sometimes use gelatin,
but I doubt that it can be done so as to model anything like a rigid beam
or an airplane wing. (All I found for gelatin using google was K-12
activities making cells out of gelatin and nuts and jelly beans and also
making volcanoes). I also have no idea about the costs of working with
cellulose or bakelite. If one machines bakelite, maybe one has to also
worry about inhaling particles.

My source for all the information I do have is pretty old, going back to
the 1930's or so. There might have been newer materials one can use
that are cheaper, safer and easier to work with and still have excellent
photoelastic properties. I mostly left glass out of my comments because
I'm told it actually has inferior photoelastic properties to cellulose
and bakelite and is a lot harder to work with.

In case you haven't guessed, I want to make models and look at them
between crossed polars.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler


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* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
* Intelligence Lab. My actions and comments do not reflect *
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In article , says...


In case you haven't guessed, I want to make models and look at them
between crossed polars.

If these are not to be "permanent" then why
not use what the claymation animators use?
Modeling clay, soft wax or even "play dough."

Cellulose is highly flammable and potentially explosive.

"Allan Adler" wrote in message
...

Is there a book that explains how to make miniature models with cellulose,
bakelite (or other photoelastic materials) safely and cheaply? All I know
is that cellulose is supposed to come in sheets that one can glue together
seamlessly using solvents, which makes me wonder about toxicity risks.
For bakelite, I have no idea. I'm also told one can sometimes use gelatin,
but I doubt that it can be done so as to model anything like a rigid beam
or an airplane wing. (All I found for gelatin using google was K-12
activities making cells out of gelatin and nuts and jelly beans and also
making volcanoes). I also have no idea about the costs of working with
cellulose or bakelite. If one machines bakelite, maybe one has to also
worry about inhaling particles.

My source for all the information I do have is pretty old, going back to
the 1930's or so. There might have been newer materials one can use
that are cheaper, safer and easier to work with and still have excellent
photoelastic properties. I mostly left glass out of my comments because
I'm told it actually has inferior photoelastic properties to cellulose
and bakelite and is a lot harder to work with.

In case you haven't guessed, I want to make models and look at them
between crossed polars.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler



************************************************** **************************
*
*
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial
*
* Intelligence Lab. My actions and comments do not reflect
*
* in any way on MIT. Moreover, I am nowhere near the Boston
*
* metropolitan area.
*
*
*

************************************************** **************************

Thanks for the replies to my original posting. I checked my original
source and discovered that he was talking about celluloid, not cellulose.

In my original posting, I also asked about other photoelastic materials.
I've since read the book Plastics for the Craftsman, by Jay and Lee Newman.
It has a lot of information about working with acrylics and a search of
the web indicates that acrylics are indeed photoelastic (however, I don't
know whether ALL acrylics one is likely to purchase are photoelastic). So
that might be a way to go. Some of the sources they cite for supplies are
still in business but the book is somewhat dated in that respect (1972).

I'm not too sure how much to expect to pay for blocks of transparent,
colorless acrylic of various sizes and thicknesses. I've looked at some
places on the web but I have no idea what is actually a reasonable price.
Some of the pieces I'd need might be a few inches thick. With heating, one
can combine blocks but it would be better if that were unnecessary.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler


************************************************** **************************
* *
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
* Intelligence Lab. My actions and comments do not reflect *
* in any way on MIT. Moreover, I am nowhere near the Boston *
* metropolitan area. *
* *
************************************************** **************************