Having some resin troubles

[Djinn]

In another thread I said I was crafting some resin Green Lantern rings, but since I am very new to the whole resin casting thing I'm having some trouble. My current project is making some clear rings for LED shown here

The first two I made took about three more days after demolding to fully cure and harden, but any I make after that never really harden. They just stay soft and rubbery, not good enough for a LED. I have been using Castin' Craft clear resin and mixing 1:1 like the instructions say but I was wondering if I could do something else to harden them a little more.

This resin if anyone dosen't know

Or should I just try a different type of resin all together?

I have alst tried this stuff

but it never fully cures in my molds, it will in anything else just not in the mold....

 

[Rhett J Martin]

Save yourself a whole lotta trouble a use Smooth On or Aluminite.
With the look you have going there, I'd use SO's 300. It comes in a nice pint size that would get you about 15 rings.
They're much more . . .umm. . 'predictable' than the craft stuff. Best of luck though, I'ts a cool project that I'm following!

Are you gonna do others, like Rayner's and Stewart's?

 

[Djinn]

I use Allumilite for my regular resin rings, it's just the clear ones that I can't seem to copy anymore. Although I still have a bubbling problem with those too. I guess I'm just using crappy cheap resin and need to upgrade

I never liked the look of John Stewart's ring symbol so I never thought I would make it. A friend of mine gave me a pewter recast of Kyle's ring a couple years ago and I had thought of recasting it myself. (how ethical is recasting a recast of a commercial released ring anyway?)

Right now I'm carving this, can you guess what it is?

 

[exoray]

Save yourself a whole lotta trouble a use Smooth On or Aluminite.

Second that those are the only 2 clear resins I have found that are worth the money... Everything else I tried was pure garbage...

 

[Knightjar]

I wonder if the dye is spoiling your mix? Have you tried a plain clear one to test?

 

[ArtisanProps]

a million things can go wrong with resin..

1. if the mold is Silicone try heating it up with a dryer, because Silicone has
a tendency to absorb the much needed heat that the resin needs to fully cure

2. if the resin bottles feel cold then place them in some warm water before using it, but don't overheat it, just luke warm for about 10-15 minutes..

3. sometimes when a product says 1:1 by Volume it may not be 1:1 by weight
so this means if you use a scale and the product is 1:1 by volume only, Your
measurements will be wrong.. safest way to make sure is to use measuring cups
and pour out equal amounts and then mix thoroughly with plastic, not wood
(wood can be a moisture problem)..

4. Make sure your not over adding the dye

Man the list can go on and on, but these are a couple of things some people
don't realize about casting.. Hope this helps

 

[Djinn]

Thanks for the info guys,
I always use measuring cups for my casting so I never thought there was a problem there. I think I might be adding a little too much dye to the mix since my first couple ring were lighter. I thought they were too light so I made these darker, I did not know it would damage the resin. And I never thought about heating the mold with a resin cast, I did that when I played around with pewter casting a while ago. I just did not know you had to heat a mold to cast resin. I wonder if that would solve some of my problems with the opaque resin rings having too many bubbles on them.

 

[ArtisanProps]

I would only heat the mold on your first cast of the day, just to make sure it's
still not too cool from sitting overnight.. Every cast afterwards should be fine.

The cheaper Resins are notorious for having far more problems then the more
expensive stuff..

Also I remember reading somewhere that some clear plastic resins can bubble
if the material is too cold/cool before mixing so get yourself some warm water
and soak the container.. It's better to be safe, and rule out these potential problems,

Also, Yes too much dye/colorant can make the cast stay soft.. Is there a mix
ratio for the dye according to the Data sheet or directions?

 

[AnsonJames]

Have you tried Platinum cure silicone rubber?

Some regular silicones prevent clear cast resins going off properly - don't know why though. Smooth on clearcast is pretty good but only use it if you've got a vac or pressure chamber though.

Good luck -

Anson

 

[Reactor drone]

If the resin is working fine in other places it's probably the type of silicone that's inhibiting the cure.

Other than that you could try post curing the parts(put them in a low oven for a few hours before demoulding,or leave them in the car on a hot day :lol)

 

[spidermanc]

Those look cool!

 

[BrundelFly]

Smooth on CRYSTAL CLEAR.

Then hit it with a HEAT GUN Lightly after you it comes out of mold.

Make sure its supported...incase it gets too hot.

 

[Djinn]

So, I have indeed skipped a few steps in my casting. As well as use really crappy resin to begin with. Good to know.
As I have shown in this thread
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=42542
I am working on casting some opaque rings also and have had a few problem there too, mostly bubbling. Moreso than the clear rings. I get a lot of tiny little bubbles all over the back of the ring almost every time. Sometimes there is one large bubble formed on the face of the ring. Should I heat the mold first before I pour the resin? or should I just give that up and upgrade to a better quality resin alltogether?

 

[ArtisanProps]

Yeah, try heating the mold. You've got nothing to lose at this point..

Just remember if you decide to go with the smooth-on clear resin. You
will definately need to either vacuume degass it, or pressure cast it like mentioned
or else your sure to get bubbles..

 

[exoray]

I get a lot of tiny little bubbles all over the back of the ring almost every time. Sometimes there is one large bubble formed on the face of the ring. Should I heat the mold first before I pour the resin? or should I just give that up and upgrade to a better quality resin alltogether?

Better resin is really the answer, but short of that you can powder the mold with talcum powder before you cast and poor slower...

 

[Reactor drone]

I'm using easycast clear for some transparent parts I'm doing at the moment and by adding the retarder it gives you a lot more working time to slowly mix the resin and avoid air bubbles.

 

[Alan Cross]

That ring you're carving... is it the Hercules ring from the old italian cartoon series?

 

[Djinn]

It's actually the ring of the newly created red lantern corps

But while I'm here I might as well ask,
Has anyone here used the micromark prodicts? They sell their own types of mold rubber and resin and I was wondering if their products were any good, I'm mostly asking about the high strength resin
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82659
and the CR-600 since it has a longer pot life than the allumilite resin I am using now.
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82057

And is their ten to one high strength mold rubber any different from the Allumilite high strength?
http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82663

 

[Djinn]

Whoooo....there are 6 different types of smooth on crystal clear. Although the demold times are muuuuuuch better than the 24 hour wait for castin' craft, which type is good for a ring? It has to be something fairly durable.

 

[Reactor drone]

Whoooo....there are 6 different types of smooth on crystal clear. Although the demold times are muuuuuuch better than the 24 hour wait for castin' craft, which type is good for a ring? It has to be something fairly durable.

Higher tensile strength would probably be good with a thinnish piece that gets stretching forces applied when it's on your finger so 220 or 221 would be the ones,they're also slightly more rigid with a shore 85D hardness rather than 80D.