Where do you buy resin (cheaply)?

[Coldblackice]

Where do you guys buy your resin (any variations/kinds)?

I've been looking for some cheap places to buy. I've found that ebay has some cheap prices available, on what appears to be "generic" volume resin.

Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[NormanF]

The old saying, "you get what you paid for" comes to mind. Or is it "pay for"? Anyway, cheap resin is probably cheap for a reason. Just last week I had to pay about $85 for a gallon of resin from a SmoothOn distributor not too far from me only to find out my mold is bad. Decent resin is probably not going to be much less expensive, but I do not know for sure.

Sent from my Apple Newton

 

[Fuzzual]

I agree with NormanF, SmoothOn is great stuff, and the results are great quality.

 

[Matsuo]

You are in CA, so I'd look up jgreer.com

M

 

[RGPFX]

Smooth-on Tech support is aces too! I use their 320 or 300 resin and their mold-max 30 rubber compound and have for years.

Before that I used por-a-cast and hated it.

 

[MattMunson]

Cheap resin will lead to low quality castings, and usually stinky ones.

If you're on a budget, order one of the sample kits from smooth on.

And honestly, no offense intended, but if you can't afford a sample kit from smooth on, it may be time to re-evaluate your interest in this hobby at this time. It's not cheap!!!

 

[robstyle]

Like its been stated, resin is crap. Most places will call a product resin even if its a higher quality plastic. Price isnt always the final say so however. Word of mouth on materials is the same as finding a good auto mechanic. You want cheap resin:
BURMAN INDUSTRIES :: RESIN  ::  CASTING RESIN :: CASTING RESIN 1 GALLON

You want good stuff look up MPK:
Casting Resins, cast, resin, hobby  clear resin, hobby, professional, high quality resins
Ive worked with Mike over the years testing and developing materials. There are some silly smoke and mirrors with materials I cant talk about but rest assured, most of it all comes from only a handful of manufactures then is rebadged under a brand name. Only a few have a one off product.

 

[shenphong]

You can buy smooth-on starter packs at dickblick and they often have discount codes/coupons. They just had a 15% off code a day ago and if you have a blick store near you, they send out 15-40% coupons often. I just bought a starter pack of resin from them a month ago using a 40% off coupon I got in the mail.

 

[zorg]

i try and buy in bulk to keep the costs down, living in the north of scotland i get hit with high shipping prices so less orders mean less postage.


i have found prices vary wildly...

 

[DethBecomesYou]

I have purchased resin at Burman in Cali and online from dickblick. They seemed to just be resin made by other companies anyway and I had the bad luck to always get really old resin batches.

If you want inexpensive and have a Hobby Lobby near you, go there. They carry ALUMILITE resin and products. If you sign up for their weekly newsletter you get a 40% off coupon you can use for every visit. I end up getting the 28oz package for ~$16. It may not be the absolute best resin out there but it works great for me with all the small things I make. Hope this helped. Oh, Brick in the Yard has really good resin too, at competitive prices.

 

[Jaded Monk]

Living in Cali will help, but yeah, nothing good will come from buying cheap resin. There should be countless distributors in your area. Sample kit may run about $30 to $40.

I just spent about $180 on a gallon of silicone and two sample kits for different resins.