Bubbles / Foam

[andrewlamberson]

I would suggest you heat up some plastic without the stabilizer and see if you still get the bubbles.

Moisture is coming from somewhere.

We have had a VERY hot and humid summer  and those pesky microbubbles are back for me also. What I do is (I think it was CTom who posted this suggestion)...
1. Completely wipe out my cup before each session.
2. Heat the cup in the micro for about 15 seconds to drive off any additional moisture. Wipe again (I use paper towels to make sure the towels are dry!)
3. I then run the micro for 30 seconds with NOTHING in it, to help dry that air out.

The thing I noticed was that I often get micro bubbles at the beginning of a work session and they seem to lessen or go away after I work for awhile which indicates to me that my microwave was the source of the bubbles. I have often wondered if the fan air is humid enough to cause the bubbles. To test that theory I heated up some plastic  in dry cups on a burner...and guess what....no microbubbles. The ONLY variable was the microwave! I really think the  humid air being blown into the microwave by the fan is the problem.

Also make sure you don't leave any bottles ....of anything open any longer than you have to. I have a bad habit of leaving the cap off which could be allowing humid air into the colorant, stabilizer etc.

The other thing I have been doing is running the dehumidifier at full tilt for an hour or so before I work. That seems to make a BIG difference.

FYI...I live in Minnesota and during the winter...when the gas furnace is running all the time...our humidity in the house goes very...very low! And guess what....no microbubbles!

[412BaitCo]

I'm in Pittsburgh PA and to put it into perspective we will be in the 70's for humidity so I'm sure that's a huge part of the issue. I will try those few tricks and work through it with this sticky weather. Thanks as always for the support. It really makes a new hobby easier to grasp with such great help.

[ghostbaits]

I wash and dry all my cups every single night. Stinks doing all 20 of them but it completely takes the issue of the cup being part of the problem out of the equation. Having a science background and spending hundreds of hours in the laboratory, clean glassware is a must to me.

I would get in the habit of scrubbing them well before use so you know that is not influencing your process. With the rain every night (100% humidity) and the 95+ degree temps every day, humidity is a force to be dealt with in South GA.

I HATE BUBBLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         

Jim