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Old 2006-08-09, 11:50am
debco debco is offline
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Join Date: Oct 29, 2005
Posts: 31
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Hi Judith,

Try heating the bead release father from the flame...and slowly! The point of heating the bead release is to remove the moisture...so if you heat it too fast and don"t rotate your mandral there is too discrepancy in the moisture content....too much moisture in parts, and is too dry in others, hence, the cracking. scrub new mandrals as everyone else suggests...the mandrals should not have oil or grease on them (which is used to keep the welding rods from rusting if they get too damp before they are sold) and need to be "roughed up" so there is "tooth" on them for the release to stick to. Don't worry about roughing them up too much. That is why older mandrals often are easier to use at first! Just make sure there is no rust on your older mandrals. Humidity does effect bead release. If it is ever too thin, just leave the jar open so some of the moisture can evaporate. It is like pancake batter...in time you will get the "feel" for the right consistancy. If all else fails...pull stringers for a while, then come back to it!!!

Deborah
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