2024-06-02 - mylar balloon

recently i've played around with making a custom balloon. why? well – in a (very?) long run i was thinking about some RC airship (blimp most likely). but for now – 1st impressions.

so i used a contact cement (in PL better known as butapren glue) to glue together a piece of mylar sheet (you can get these at scale as “safety blankets”). i did 2 seems and gave in >24h to fully cure. as a in/out vent a top piece of tiny (1ml) syringe was used (w/o needle, in case you wonder ;)).

btw: if you check out the internet, ppl recommend using soldering iron to cut out pieces of material. no need. sharp scissors are perfectly fine. just be gentle with it.

after inflating the balloon and closing its vent, i left it for a couple of days, to see how it holds up. then i loaded it with ~100g for another week or so. after about 2 weeks w/o any noticeable leaks, i decided it's good enough.

it was then time for a destructive test, to check how much load it can really hold. that was where i got very positively surprised. after trying to crush it by pressing more and more aggressively i eventually ended up on a balcony, pushing my full-body weight against it. while i was applying more and more pressure, you could hear that glue is not holding everywhere, but it still refused to leak any air – only at around 80kg it finally… started silently venting air on the side – when i was already standing on it! no sudden rapture, not big-bang end. just slowly venting air. after the test i just opened the vent and let it all out.

i'd never expect that this thing can be so strong. both the glued and the material. apparently it's a perfect combo for the job, indeed.