IV's research into Bax/Chaz Pads

Recently, I decided it was high time I tried my hand at making these things. Here's a little walkthrough as to how I've been doing them.::

Ingredients::

-Plastidip(any color)
-Naptha
-A Mason Jar with lid
-A large sheet of wax paper
-3M adhesive spray
-a semi-thick large ziplock bag to keep the stickers on
-A long stirring spoon
-Masking Tape
-Cutting Board
-Scissors
-A hole punch or an x-acto knife.
-A spare friction sticker

Step 1 - Open the can of Plastidip... the major downside to this stuff is that you can't re-seal the can after you open it, this is where the mason jar comes in to play. Take a spoon, preferably a large one that's made for stirring and stir the plastidip up to make it consistent inside the can, then pour it into the mason jar, close the lid, now label it.

Step 2 - Get two sheets of wax paper out, cut one so that it will fit to the cutting board and adhere it to the board using the masking tape(this is very important, I'll explain later.

Step 3 - Re-open your mason jar filled with plastidip. Now comes the hard part-

Finding the right ratio of plastidip to naptha::

This is really the most important part of the entire recipe, finding the sweet spot. I've yet to quite figure it out but I'm pretty close. The next can of plastidip I get, I plan on measuring a consistency that sits at .015"(The width of a standard size friction sticker) when poured without smoothing using some graduated cylanders, so that it doesn't have to be smoothed out with a putty knife. It can sit level and be completely flat just by pouring it. The good news is that I'm close to it, very close. I just have no idea what my ratio is, It's somewhere around 3/4 plastidip and 1/3 naptha, possibly more.

-You're going to have to pour some of the plastidip out as the mason jar fills with naptha, don't use your sink, this stuff clogs; go outside and find a bucket or something. Whatever is left in whatever you pour it in, scrape it out and toss it in the trash, don't flush this stuff or pour it down the drain.

-Get out your spare wax paper, and the friction sticker. Put the friction sticker on the paper and begin to pour the naptha into the plastidip little by little and test the thickness on the wax paper by putting little dabs of the mixture onto it as you mix, from thickest to thinnest until you get to the thickness of a friction sticker, or close to it. When you find your sweet spot, keep that consistency and pour it out bit by bit onto the wax paper with the cutting board and masking tape. The masking tape on the edges will help keep it from running over and you should end up with a nice, flat, even surface. Put it somewhere that nothing will fall or touch it and set it to harden overnight.

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The next Morning

Step 4 - Good morning, dude! Go check your cutting board. Ok, you should have a nice, fine sheet of rubbery flat friction surface to begin cutting pads on. Take an x-acto knife and trim the edges of the cured plastidip off so that you have a sheet of just plastidip with wax paper adhered.

You can either::

Tear off the wax paper now
or
cut the pads, then tear off the wax paper then.

Cut them any way you think is adequate using the old friction sticker you used to test the thickness with. For me, I have a hole punch that can do the inner diameter of the pads nicely, but I have to cut the outer diameter by hand.

Take a large sheet of thick-ish plastic like a thick ziplock bag and spray it down lightly with the adhesive spray, lay out your finished pads and cover them with another layer of plastic. let it dry a bit, cut them out.

Ta... freaking Dahhh, ready to be peeled and stuck. Good luck, guys. This is the product of my research, happy hunting.