Casting Resin Problems

[Insanemind]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and just getting into halo armor making.

I decided to try and start small and work my way, so my first idea was to try and make a dagger. I've made the dagger out of 110 lb paper using pepakura. I'm now at the casting resin phase. I mixed equal parts of the casting resins and poured it into the dagger.

Now it has taken a very long time to dry and is still not that great. It has seeped through the paper and deformed it slightly. Trying to decide next time if I should try putting a clear coat on before I put in the casting resin? Could you use some advice on preparation before the casting resin step. Any feed back would be great.

Picture is before the casting resin was poured.

 

[ventrue]

You need to paste the actual image URL between the IMG-tags, your URL leads to a web page. You can copy the right URL along with the tags on the left side of that page.

What resin did you use? How did you determine that you were really using equal amounts of the two parts? Are you sure that 1:1 is the correct ratio?

 

[Insanemind]

I'm using Alumilite casting resin. I used plastic cups, marked off equal amounts on the cups, filled them to the line, then mixed together.

I saw I posted the image wrong, copied and pasted the wrong url.

 

[AR sechs]

You should check if you used the right ratio of resin and curing agent. When in doupt, use more curing agent, but the best solution would be a scale.

 

[ventrue]

When in doupt, use more curing agent, but the best solution would be a scale.

You can't mix two-part resins in any other ratio than the one stated in the manual. The two parts chemically react with each other, and if you use more of one part, not all the molecules will find a partner to react with. What you're talking about is polyester resin, where the hardener is a catalyst and all th reaction takes place in the "main" part of it, the catalyst just speeds it up.

Scales are also tricky. 1:1 by weight can be different than 1:1 by volume, and since some Aluminite products specifically say "by weight", I'm assuming that they mean by volume everywhere else.

I would agree through that "still not that great" sounds like something was wrong with the ratio. Maybe you poured one part into the other and too much material was left in the first cup? Might also be that it wasn't mixed properly.

 

[Insanemind]

It seems that I mixed it correctly, because what was left over in the cup cured perfectly. Has anyone used this method before with casting resin? It just seems to seep right through the paper.

 

[Drgnfyre4]

All my parts are done with casting resin, and it works great. However I do use fiberglass resin on the outside of the parts FIRST to prevent anything from leaking out of seams that might not have been glued shut. ALso by sealing the outsie first, it prevents the casting resin from leeching some of itself thru the cardstock. Make sure that you properly agitate your part A and part B before mixing because they can chemicaly seperate in thier respective containers if left sitting too long. I recommend not pouring large batches of resin into a pep piece, but rather do it a bit at a time so you can control thickness you build up.