Oozing Resin?

[hez1]

Not come across this before, and Smooth On were no help at all. My casts have for some reason started oozing after I've pulled them from the mold, which is causing difficulties painting. I've tried scrubbing with hot soapy water, no difference. Even when I do get a good coat of paint, certain spots will stay tacky. I'm not using mold release, so that's not it.

It can be slightly cold in my shop, could that be causing it? I can see it affecting cure time, but I haven't heard of it causing oozing before. Is it a bad batch of resin? It's the same smooth on 320 that I've always used. There's no pigment or filler involved either.

 

[troggs]

Perhaps warming the mould and the resin up to room temperature first might help?
I know foams are very sensitive to temperature, I didn't know if resin was the same, maybe the cold is affecting the chemical reaction - just a thought.
I've used easyflo 120 and have had had the same tackiness, but I can't remember if the problem ones were cast in a warm room or not.

 

[Kithunter]

over the years i've had this problem on a few bios that were given to me ...the root of the problem, i was told was the resin was not being casted correctly or in a unclean environment with lots of dust.

it's a pain in the ass to deal with especially if you give the bio a nice paint up, it jacks it up.

 

[biohunter76]

Hey Paul, there are several things that can cause what you are experiencing. The temperature in your shop is a huge factor. Most resins need to be stored at room temperature. The resin that you are using says on the label "Store and use at 73F/23C". Shaking your resin before pouring is important. The age of your resin is also a factor and weather or not you use the gas blanket spray to eliminate the air in the resin container. Mix ratio is also something that can cause it. Are you using a scale or eye balling it? Lastly once the A and B are poured, not mixing it well enough will cause this too. Hope this helps bud, let us know if you sort this out. Good luck!

 

[Mannowar]

Paul, I've ran into this specifically with Task 14 from Smooth-on and it happened A LOT. While Smooth-on couldn't help, Reynolds Advanced was able to get me straightened out as far as a solution goes, though we never did figure out the cause... the solution in my case was to mix the components, then dump all into a second container and continue mixing... don't scrape anything out of the first container, just let what drains out quickly drain, then continue mixing... Then... be sure to brush in a layer before pouring in your resin. I've had the ooze problems in such a wide variety of environments that I personally don't think it's temp related... I've also found most of the Smooth-on stuff pretty forgiving as far as mix ratio goes, since the majority of their stuff is by volume and not weight... but for whatever reason, at least with the Task 14, the method above always works without problem. Give it a try and let me know, as I'm curious if it also works for you.

 

[predator666]

I've had the same problem but mine was more in small patches. It happened to me once when I was casting up the teeth for the berserker bio and still to this day the teeth havent cured and are soft

 

[xdmray]

never had this problem with monstermakers resin. i did get a bio that has tackiness in spots where i painted. luckily it just hangs on the wall so i never worried much about it.

 

[hez1]

Thanks guys, I'll give those a try. Since the only thing that has changed is my location, I'm tempted to think that it could be the cold temperatures overnight that could be affecting the resin somehow, but I'll try pouring the mixture into another cup before pouring as well. As far as mix ratio goes, yes, it's by volume, and I'm doing it exactly the same as I've always done, so I'm not convinced that could be causing it either.

It's happening in both large batches (i.e. casting helmets) and to small parts too. The small parts just tend to get poured, and it manifests itself as droplets seemingly from nowhere, popping through the paint. On slush casts, it tends to appear as a continuous patch where the paint will remain tacky. Not large patches, but any patch is too much.

 

[Eaglewood]

The ONLY time I ever had any problem with Smooth on stuff was cause i screwed up-- I use it by the 5 gallon buckets also. A lot of the issues have been addressed and need to be carefully monitored--
Is the mold a compatible material? Are you using too much mold release or do you even need it?
Temperature, humidity, very important
Finally mixing and correct measuring-- very important-- and mixing correctly will make or break it.
Age of the product-- has it reached its shelf life and are you storing it with the gas vapor barrier as mentioned above?
If you watch out for all of these you should be golden.

 

[hez1]

Well, I think I can rule out a reaction against the silicone. I poured an open cast, and tried painting the exposed resin that had never touched silicone as it cured. Same problem.

I also tried your trick of pouring into a different cup Scott, didn't make any difference.

So right now, I'm left with two options. Resin is either A) past it's best, but this has been an ongoing problem since the resin was new, or B) too cold. I guess I'm going to try leaving the heat on overnight and see what happens. Hopefully it won't have ruined the resin permanently if this does turn out to be the problem.

 

[Effects Guy]

If you are using a polyurethane resin, that would explain it. All urethanes are oily, but some really leach a lot of oil. What you want to do is let them leach for a few days, and then soak them in acetone or at least scrub them really well with acetone. Then dry them and use a resin primer before painting.

 

[hez1]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Any idea why this would only just have started happening? I've been using this resin for 3 years without any issues.

 

[Effects Guy]

Well, it could be you just got lucky, or it could be a change in formulation. Many manufacturers are constantly tweaking their product, sometimes even when it is not necessary.