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Resin Info Needed

fortress

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Posts
5,178
Location
Astley
First Name
John
Hello,
Is the waterclear easy to use and can the bubbles be dealt with without the use of machines?
Also, do you cast with one pour or put down a bed first?
I have only cast once with epoxy easycast I could not get rid of the tiny bubbles.
I want to do my own thing with resin, but I didn't know what to use, I bought the stuff before I became a member here.
I just want something relatively cheap that will do the job.
Thank you please.
 

Jim

Grand Master
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Posts
15,617
You will be better starting out using Polyester Resin John, in the past i have made blanks with very little bubbles without using any pressure or vacuum .. As you progress you can then invest in more equipment if you feel it necessary ..
 

GSteer

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Apr 9, 2015
Posts
362
Location
Soaked Cumbria, UK
First Name
Greg
Interesting thread, sounds like I could cast without needing to degass or pressurize.

Jim - how good is the polyester resin at filling gaps without trapping air bubbles? I'm thinking along the lines of casting including plates of material that are around 1.5mm thick, if placed on edge vertically and 'stacked' horizontally around 2mm apart (with some sort of spacer to ensure evenness) do you think the polyester resin would fill the gaps ok?
 

brody2123

Fellow
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Posts
3,058
Location
redditch
First Name
Brody
Hello,
Is the waterclear easy to use and can the bubbles be dealt with without the use of machines?
Also, do you cast with one pour or put down a bed first?
I have only cast once with epoxy easycast I could not get rid of the tiny bubbles.
I want to do my own thing with resin, but I didn't know what to use, I bought the stuff before I became a member here.
I just want something relatively cheap that will do the job.
Thank you please.

Water clear is easy to use as long as you are accurate with the catalyst. It will bond to itself well if used in layers. :thumbs:
What you making?
 

brody2123

Fellow
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Posts
3,058
Location
redditch
First Name
Brody
Aha, thanks for the heads up Brody. As a longer term idea then... polyurethane under pressure would be the way to go ?

That's the badger. Polyurethane is the stuff. That's not to say that you can't use polyester for anything other than straight forward blanks but polyurethane gives more repeatable results imo.:thumbs:
 

fortress

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Posts
5,178
Location
Astley
First Name
John
Thanks to everybody, I've ordered some gear that Jim put me onto,
Water clear polyester resin.
 

sfurini

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2015
Posts
478
Location
United Kingdom
First Name
Stewart
I've seen this, anyone tried it?

http://www.mbfg.co.uk/polyurethane-casting-resin/easyflo_clear.html

"Since Parts A and B are super-low viscosity liquids, they are easy to mix, provide excellent detail penetration, and make bubble-free castings without vacuum degassing or pressure casting techniques."

I've used the Polycraft SG2000 Paintable Fast Cast Polyurethane Liquid Plastic Casting Resin from them - works well. I've just ordered some of this to see what it's like: Polytek EasyFlo 60 Polyurethane Liquid Plastic Casting Resin.

The SG2000 was used for this pen: http://www.penturners.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16314
 

sfurini

Graduate Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2015
Posts
478
Location
United Kingdom
First Name
Stewart
I made two silicone moulds (from bathroom silicone), no release agent and no pressure pot or degassing chamber. There's enough flex in the mould to just pop the blank out when it's cured. I started with the second smallest pack they did so it wasn't a huge outlay, but you might need some dyes as well. I had some alumilite dyes from metalclay.co.uk which work fine with the polyurethane.

My moulds:

91303898dd575ff3b106987fb7456e28.jpg
 

fortress

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Posts
5,178
Location
Astley
First Name
John
Thank you Stewart, I've got one of them Fred Wissen things with the white plugs from the USA.
 
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