As heavy as a rock!

[rein]

I could use some basic help…I am looking to make a simply designed, solid horse product out of a dense plastic. It must be economical as the final product will be low priced and it must be heavy and tough, as a horse may try to chew it. Phenolic resin seems very dense, but the process looks very involved. I see billiard balls are also made from Partek resin, is that process any less complicated? Do you have some suggestions for me? My other thought was to plastic coat another material to get the needed weight, but that seems like an extra step. Thanks ~ obviously I am not technically inclined & I will appreciate any info ~ Marcy

[Louis]

The specific gravity of most unfilled plastics may be too low to get the weight per volume that you are shooting for. You might want to consider a tough plastic that can be filled with a heavy material. Years ago I could have gotten hold of 100,000 pounds of 75% tungsten filled Polyurethane. Something like that may work, but the price of the filler and virgin resin, be it nylon or a urethane would probably put it out of range.

Making a tough plastic container filled with something heavy may be your best option, especially if that something heavy is a by [product of another process where it is normally scrapped.

Hope that helps.

~lou

[Will Call]

At my last employer we made a plastic weight out of Barium (If I recall correctly), filled PP. This, although a little lighter than lead, replaced a weight to retract a hose.

[DwightDixon]

Horses will eat about anything including wood fences, if they are bored. If you aready have filed a patent application for it (to protect yourself), give us an idea what size and weight it has to be and maybe we can help you with the design. Virgin plastics cost close to $1 per pound plus the price of processing, which can cost your $40 - $100 per machine hour. Those are the parameters you can use to see if it is cost effective. The idea of using a reprocessed scrap to make a light weight container and filled with sand or concrete makes an effective anchor or horse playtoy.

[rein]

Thanks for the feedback, I will think about those angles. I don't have an a patent application pending...I will also work on that. This is such a simple idea - a little professional help would most likely go a long way.Thanks again for your thoughts and I will be be in touch.

[PDF]

If you're looking to fill a hollow part with something heavy as lou suggests, you'll be hard pressed to find a filler that is cheaper and easier to come by than water. That way it's also light to ship and can be filled on site by anyone with a hose. All depends on where the center of gravity is compared to the horse though...

Try lifting a full 10 gallon fish tank and call me from your chiropractor's office.

It's hard to recommend a material without the application and method of manufacture. If it's a big hollow part (as above) you'd probably rotomold it - so maybe you'll end up with a PVC resin... or something friendly to that process.

Also, don't confuse hardness with toughness - you may want to look more at the latter in your application. Glass for example is hard, but not very tough. So if your product is going to be kicked and bitten by horses, you want something though that can take some impact without hurting the horse. A phenolic would probably chip away pretty quickly.

good luck, let us know how your project goes. We're always interested in follow up stories.
-PDF

[Mikey]

You may want to check out an indoor shot, as in Track & Field Shot Put. Used in high school to practice before the outdoor season. They are hollow/filled tough, heavy & take a beating. It may give you a good practical look at something that may send you in the right direction.

[rein]

I have an innovation, it seems, as the idea has been around but not manufactured or marketed - most likely for a good reason - but anyways, there is no patent issue.

The most important properties of the product are a heavy weight, smooth edges and a tough exterior. Toughness would be more favorable than a hard exterior, as PDF has pointed out. The size is not big; it would fit in a 4x4x7 inch box.

I keep going back to phenolics, but chipping would not be acceptable. Don’t billiard & bocce balls hold up to a lot of abuse though?? Besides the weight, I like the phenolics because of the great variety of colors. The majority of horse owners are women & girls the nice look of phenolics would be helpful for marketing.

The idea of the consumer filling the item with water, would be a great idea, but most likely wouldn’t work at this small size -right?
Are there any more ideas for me? Thanks for your responses as always!

[PDF]

When you mentioned horses knocking them over, I envisioned something the size of a Jersey Barrier; not a small loaf of bread -

I suppose you could fill it with sand, but your best design might be a stone / brick part. Marble (if you want to go high end). Plastics are good for a lot of things, but more often used to lighten a part than to replace it's weight.

Consider prototyping in fiberglass.

Prototype early and often,
-PDF

[Skip]

How about a small heavy walled HDPE or PP jug or bottle with locking screw cap (like a small pint-sized gasoline container)----filled with lead buckshot! Then see if the damn horse can kick it around!

[DwightDixon]

Have you bought any lead shot lately. It is out of sight. Plus the EPA will tell you it is toxic and will not allow you to sell it with out some plans on how to recyle it. If they can bite thourgh it or rupture it any way, the EPA and the customer will not be happy. Concrete is a lot heavier than water but sand may be heavy enough to meet the need. The basic Specific gravity of (stone) Cal carb is 2.8 which is almost three times as heavy as water. Off hand, I can not remember the bulk density of sand but it should be around twice as dense as water. You should be able to Goggle it.

[Len]

"Heavy Valox"
We made "stoneware" beer mugs out of this stuff in the 80's. It's a barium sulfate or barium titanate filled "thermal plastic" as Dwight is quick to point out.

Len :0)

[DwightDixon]

There is a cheaper barium sulfate that does not have very good color but is nice and dense. I have not priced it lately but it will be a considerable upcharge over just sand or limestone. Nice thing about Barium is it is radio opaque so you can see where it is, if the horse eats it. We had to add barium to some of our toy compounds so the doctors could x-ray for it, if the kids swallowed or inhaled them.

[Louis]

There is a cheaper barium sulfate that does not have very good color but is nice and dense. I have not priced it lately but it will be a considerable upcharge over just sand or limestone. Nice thing about Barium is it is radio opaque so you can see where it is, if the horse eats it. We had to add barium to some of our toy compounds so the doctors could x-ray for it, if the kids swallowed or inhaled them.

Hey Dwight, they added barium to my drink so the CT Scan would show up. Um GOOD! At a Specific Gravity of 4.5 I filled up quick and felt like I had eaten a full meal. Of course the taste is nothing to write home about.

Then there is Tungsten at 19.25 S.G, it's a tad bit denser. But can you get off grade Tungsten and would it still be black

[Skip]

Dwight, you're right about the cost of lead shot-----my shotgun ammo has jumped up a fair amount!

"Heavy as a rock"??? How about a real rock---dipped into an FDA sanctioned PVC Plastisol formulation to form an eighth to quarter inch coating, which is quite tough!