<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:tahoma, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">Alan,</SPAN></div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma, new york, times, serif; RIGHT: auto; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-STYLE: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">When you were on you awesome world tour, did you see a Biber Class submarine.</SPAN></div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE: 16px; FONT-FAMILY: tahoma, new york, times, serif; RIGHT: auto; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-STYLE: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">Hank<VAR id=yui-ie-cursor></VAR></SPAN></div>
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<DIV class=hr style="FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-TOP: #ccc 1px solid; HEIGHT: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; MARGIN: 5px 0px; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; LINE-HEIGHT: 0; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px" readonly="true" contenteditable="false"></DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Alan <alanlindsayjames@yahoo.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> Personal Submersibles General Discussion <personal_submersibles@psubs.org> <BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Friday, October 11, 2013 11:26:39 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [PSUBS-MAILIST] Bruce Beasley Acrylic Casting<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=y_msg_container><BR>While in San Francisco I looked up Bruce Beasley's contact details.<BR>He is one of Americas pre- eminent sculptures & a pioneer in casting thick sectioned acrylic.<BR>I thought I was heading to his gallery but it ended up being his home & studio.<BR>For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Bruce was attracted to acrylic as a sculpting<BR>medium but no one had cast it more than two inches thick. He managed to cast a 4" thick <BR>model of a proposed 13ft x 4ft art work that he submitted for a competition for a State of California public sculpture. The judges awarded him the prize & finance to built it. Unbeknown<BR>to them the technology to make it didn't exist. <BR>Du Pont the acrylic manufacturer told Bruce they couldn't offer him technical assistance as he had already exceeded what their chemists could achieve, but would supply him the raw product free.<BR>He observed the formation of bubbles in the
polymerising acrylic through windows in an autoclave & discovered how to eliminate them & the cracking, that were the Achilles heel of the process. 2 castings later he created The 13ft x 4ft casting. He said if he hadn't have made it he could have been sued. <BR>It was at that point that Jerry Stachiw from the U.S. navy approached him to make thick acrylic spheres for deep diving submersibles. There were several failures before success & the price tag on these failures was the equivalent of a new VW.<BR> Anyway he ushered me in to his living room & chatted away. I have a background in art<BR>so we related well, & he ended up giving me a book which was a retrospective of his sculpture,<BR>including the story of his acrylic sculpture. I think he was quite impressed that someone from N.Z.<BR>knew his story & had tracked him down.<BR>He still has the secrets to manufacturing large castings if anyone wants to purchase the
technology.<BR>So again I've been totally spoilt.<BR>Alan<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Sent from my iPad<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Personal_Submersibles mailing list<BR><A href="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org" ymailto="mailto:Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org">Personal_Submersibles@psubs.org</A><BR><A href="http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles" target=_blank>http://www.psubs.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/personal_submersibles</A><BR><BR><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>