Anyone tried aqua-resin?

[mux213]

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick question. I'm just looking around for less toxic alternatives to polyester resin as I'm doing my build project with my daughter. If I can't find anything less toxic then epoxy I'll end up doing the resin and bondo stage by myself but if I could find a safer product its another thing we can do together.

Anyway, in my search I ran into this product: http://www.aquaresin.com/ and they seem to have a reseller here in OZ.

Anyone have any experience with it? Good, Bad, Ugly? Usable for our craft?

 

[strandedninja]

I've not tried Aqua-Resin but I have used Jesmonite. It's a polystone resin that you can use with fibreglass, it'd pretty hard wearing if you don't use fibreglass matting/tissue.

You don't need to be in a well ventilated area to use it either. (I was on the fourth floor so needed to use it indoor.

The only issue I had was that it sets very quickly so you need to work in small areas.

 

[mux213]

I've not tried Aqua-Resin but I have used Jesmonite. It's a polystone resin that you can use with fibreglass, it'd pretty hard wearing if you don't use fibreglass matting/tissue.

You don't need to be in a well ventilated area to use it either. (I was on the fourth floor so needed to use it indoor.

The only issue I had was that it sets very quickly so you need to work in small areas.

Hadn't heard about that one yet, I'll look into it aswell thanks!

 

[LoneLegionary]

Ive tried aqua resin when i had just started using pepakura. Ive found that it makes your work very soggy when you apply it making it collapse or deform. When it dries it also tends to form clumps. Thats just my experience though.

 

[mux213]

Ive tried aqua resin when i had just started using pepakura. Ive found that it makes your work very soggy when you apply it making it collapse or deform. When it dries it also tends to form clumps. Thats just my experience though.

Hmmm, I was worried about it being waterbased and making the paper soggy but surprised to hear about it forming clumps. Might ask them about that if they come back to me. Wonder if that could be depending on how well its mixed or how much water you use. Else its off the list of alternatives to try

 

[LoneLegionary]

Have you tried smooth-on products? I think they're not too bad in well ventilated areas. That's what I'm using currently at least. Although if you're doing this with your kids it might not be worth the risk


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[mux213]

Have you tried smooth-on products? I think they're not too bad in well ventilated areas. That's what I'm using currently at least. Although if you're doing this with your kids it might not be worth the risk

No, didn't know about that one, thanks, I'll look into it as well though as you say, my main reason for investigating alternatives to polyester/epoxy resin is to find something I can use without worrying about my kids health

 

[mux213]

Btw, I found some vids on Youtube from another 405er who has actually build suits with aqua-resin, looks like it works pretty well... Hope the supplier here in OZ comes back soon..

 

[Crimmson]

Carpathia has a thread here that he used aqua resin on some of the parts. it should be near the beginning of the thread

Here:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php?t=33640

 

[mux213]

Carpathia has a thread here that he used aqua resin on some of the parts. it should be near the beginning of the thread

Here:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php?t=33640

Whow that suit look awesome!! I'll have a read through thanks. I've found a few people so far who have been using it successfully. Its not something the search is very helpful with unfortunately...

 

[Reclaimer One]

smooth-cast products win my vote. Get a handpump attachment to get perfect amounts and those plastic shot glasses from the dollar store

 

[WandererTJ]

Some people have been skipping out on resin and going directly into just usimg Smooth On products.
Robotchicken did some research for his build, can't remember what exactly he is using but he mentions it towards the end of his build thread

 

[LoneLegionary]

Whow that suit look awesome!! I'll have a read through thanks. I've found a few people so far who have been using it successfully. Its not something the search is very helpful with unfortunately...

Im starting to think my experience was more of my fault than the products, but i still find smooth on to be better than aqua resin

 

[mux213]

Im starting to think my experience was more of my fault than the products, but i still find smooth on to be better than aqua resin

I'm sure everyone will have different experiences depending on what they like anyway. So far I've read opinions that are very far apart from each other. Some who think its a great alternative, some who absolutely hate it. No way to find out until I try it out. I haven't found a supplier for smooth-on here in OZ yet, I can get Jesmonite here it seems

 

[Reclaimer One]

you cant order it from a web based supplier in Australia?

 

[mux213]

you cant order it from a web based supplier in Australia?

I hadn't found one yet, looks like there is a distributor in Richmond but their site is down. I haven't really had time to look further then that.

 

[mux213]

I'm not having much luck anyway so far, the guys who sell aqua resin aren't getting back to me and the guys who sell Jesmonite here in Australia have a defunct email address...

 

[mux213]

Well i finally managed to google myself into the website for the smooth-on reseller but I'm a little overwelmed by their collection of products and not too sure which one I should be taking a closer look at.

I also got a response from the guys who sell Aqua Resin over here and ordered a trial set. I'll use it to resin the COD we're doing and see if I can make it work to my liking.

 

[LoneLegionary]

If you decide to try Smooth-on i would recommend either Smooth-on 300 or Epoxamite 101. In my opinion they're the easiest to work with, and tend to yield the best results. If you use them though you should work in an open garage or outside. So safety wise aqua-resin is probably still the way to go.

 

[mux213]

Alright everyone,

Seeing as someone with the same question as me may come back to this thread I figured I put some feedback in now that I've started working with Aquaresin.

First of, LoneLegionarys warning up top is valid. The resin does seem to weaken the paper a fair amount and what was even worse is that some of my glue lines let go. I'm not putting the blame fully in the aqua-resin corner, this is my first project and definately the glue letting go is mostly my own fault for not glueing it properly. I can't however compare with other types of resin and lets face it, this was my very first build.

Now that the resin is dry, and I've used the fiberglass veil stuff that came in the trial kit (that stuff is cool!) I am very happy with the end quality itself. Comparing that to using fiberglass and polyester resin which I've used for doing stuff on cars, the end result seems very solid.

The glue issue I can solve by glueing things better and simply strengthening with a bit of hot glue on the back of each join (I still find the craft glue easier to use for building the project, its just not strong enough).
The main issue to solve is the warping. If I can get that under control I think this stuff will do just good.

As for the lumpyness, I found mixing it in proper containers and mixing it until the resin is really smooth solves this. I'm still experimenting with the best ratio. With the minimum amount of powder v.s. liquid as suggested by the manufacturer the end result is a very smooth coat, almost gel like, but the warping gets far worse. When you go to the suggest 2:1 mix it tends to get on the tick side.

So as an intermediate results,
cons:
- more expensive
- it dries quick but it takes a full day to cure properly
- it tends to warp the paper badly

pros:
- definitely very usable indoors and I had no problems with letting my daughter have a go
- easy to add some color so you can see what you've done, a drop or two of any water based paint does the trick. I got $2 bottles of craft paint at the hot dollar shop and worked great
- together with fiberglass it gives a solid end result.

Even though my first project is too warped I'm going to continue with it to get more experience, then continue with some smaller and easier things to see if I can get the warping and glue problem under control. Suggestions are more then welcome. I'll probably revisit another helmet by the time i have some more experience under my belt.