Introduction: Build the Indian Flag
This Instructables is all about patriotism. Whenever I saw American people I saw that they have a lot of respect towards their country and there army fellow men's. That thing always inspires me to do the same with my country. Frankly said I could not stop my self by doing that. I must have to say that flag is a thing when it stays near, you feel its power honour and pride. It reminds you about the people who fought for their country freedom only then we are able to get this flag. To show some respect whatever I can do at my level I decided to make a flag. The good thing about this build is that the process is the way to easy and you definitely can't regret that. No matter how different your flag is with this method you can easily able to make that. If you pay a little more attention then I don't think that you have to do any extra work like sanding or other extra work. I think the construction is the same as the resin. The good thing about cement is that as it starts setting you can make ridges to show some 3d texture. I bet that you definitely like that texture. Other than that I think everything is all about hit and try. There might be a chance some idea which I didn't think you have that in your mind. So try different things and techniques and cast something different. If you like this build and have some questions and suggestions then leave them in the comment section, I would extremely happy to answer you and suggestion used for my upcoming builds.
Supplies
Material Used
The Material Is purchased from a local vendor and hopefully, it wasn't difficult for you to find it out because all of them are commonly available items.
- White Portland cement
- Wire mesh
- 1/2" X 1/4" thick brass bar
- Stone colour powder (pigmented dies can also be used but water-soluble die)
- Plywood strips
- PVC board
- Epoxy resin
- Golden pearl powder
- Plywood board 1/2" thick
Equipment's Used
Step 1: Building the Frame
So the first thing to do is to build the frame because this thing going to donate the dimensions of your flag. For my build, I chose 3:2 (3ft X 2ft). For that, I use old pieces of plywood and use them to make the boundary of the flag so that I can pour the cement into that. For the bottom surface, I am using a PVC piece which is extremely plain, so that the cement will be easily removed. One thing has to be taken care that makes sure that the plywood pieces and the bottom you are using are smooth because otherwise the cement got caught into those rough surface then it would be extremely difficult to remove.
Step 2: Pouring the First Layer
For the flag as they have different colours, I decided not to pour them individually from the bottom because once it prepared only the top portion is going to be visible so I decided to pour the cement layer over the entire layer up to 10mm thickness. Then to reinforce the cement I add 2 mm wire mesh which will provide strength to the base. The consistency is kept lite curd, hopefully, you can easily find it out when you mixed them. Good to add little water check and the further proceeding. Mistakes happened if held the good to add more cement to maintain good consistency. Since this build includes only cement that's why there might be a chance of shrinkage cracks. So good consistency is the key to avoid those cracks.
Step 3: Pouring the Second Layer
This is the layer which contains all the three colours and The Ashok Chakra. For the pouring process, I divided the flag into three equal parts and between each part, I decided to put a brass bar that will use to highlight the partition. To keep the brass piece at its place I use a piece of scrap plywood strip and glued it to provide a barrier until the cement mix cured. This Portland cement cured at quite faster rate although the final curing fully obtained after 24 hours. The pouring starts with a green colour and then I pour the orange colour. For the colour, I use stone colour powder. For the white colour, I didn't choose any colour because the cement itself white in colour but before doing the pouring process I need to think something about the chakra and for that, I made a print onto a paper and then transfer it onto PVC piece with the help of acetone. The thickness of the PVC sheet I am using is 6 mm but it's easy to cut with a sharp knife. Once the chakra cut down I do a little bit of sanding Around the periphery of the chakra so that it would be easy to remove the PVC once the casting is done. So the overall plan was to make a negative inside the white colour so that it will be filled with the blue colour cement. The only reason for choosing white Portland cement is because it's easy to give it any colour I want. After pouring the white colour cement I sprinkle oil onto the chakra pattern and the stuck them into the cement I poured recently. Then gently centred them. The reason for putting oil is to make it easy to remove once the negative impression made into the white colour. Next day when the cement cures I tried to remove the pattern but it's not able to come out easily so I came up with an idea of burning the PVC pattern and it works like a miracle without leaving any damage to the surface instead of blackening the surface. Then I filled that negative space with blue colour cement and to avoid bubble formation I kept on vibrating the casting once it's poured for each colour. After that I allowed it to cure for at least 24 hours.
Step 4: Grinding
Once the cement cured and all the layers are completely hardened I start the grinding process of the surface. The first grinding is done with 30 grit diamond wheel and it removes most of the uneven surface. Although if you pay some attention to the pouring process and try to keep it clean during the casting you definitely don't need to do too much sanding work. Then I start increasing the grit size and ended up to 2000 grit. It's extremely important to use water while using the diamond grinding disc. It increases the life of your tools and also eliminates flying dust. But after the grinding, the flag seems to be way too impressive to me. When I saw this after grinding, that was the proud moment for me. Then I kept it's an open environment for about two days so that moisture can be evaporated from the casting. The temperature was hot enough to make it dry, but I think leaving it for too much time is also not a good idea because its the property of cement when you drying it rapidly small shrinkage cracks appears because of the rapid evaporation of water. So my advice is to keep it in a shady area.
Step 5: Backing and Boundary
The last step was to cover the top of the flag but I also need to figure out how to Mount this heavy piece onto the wall. So I decided to have a backing of ½” thick ply and I am going to keep that ply larger in size so that I am able to make the outer boundaries for that. Then I place it onto the plywood sheet and kept it equidistant from all the four sides. After that, I made a boundary with scrap laminate so that it would be easy to remove. Then I mixed two-part epoxy and add golden pearl powder and pour around the flag. Once it cured with the help of router and moulding bit made a moulding around that periphery. Once it's done I sealed everything with a clear coat of epoxy. The main reason for the moulding and the plywood backing is to provide enough room for the screw to make a grip into the material so that it would be easy for the bracket to bear that load. To hang this onto the wall I use some heavy duty brackets.
Step 6: Admire Your Work
After making this flag and hang it onto the wall the felling is much different then usually I have after completing my any other build and I think that's the real power of a flag. The flag is achieved by giving many sacrifices by the freedom fighters who fight day nigh for the freedom of our country.