3M fiberglass resin?

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I think my wording came out wrong. I was wondering who would sell it? you say home depot, is it by the gallon, quart or what? how much?
 
I think you will find that it is not clear. Probably has an amber tint. May work for colored blanks. You would be much better off to stick with poly resin refined and manufactured for casting. Just my opinion. Worth what you paid for it. $00.00
Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
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Mintman said:
It's definately a polyester and uses mekp catalyst
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Don has a point. But for the price at least if you try it out, you wont be out much if you arent happy with the results. Me and Don use a Polyester resin called Silmar 41, and we purchase it through US Composites. I have been using it since i started casting about 3 years ago.
 
It is definitely amber colored, and will change any color you add drastically. If you are working warm and/or opaque colors it's a good way to practice but you will find it doesn't behave like polyresin.
 
It is typical fiberglass resin, starts amber and tends to darken browner with age. Used it to water proof the wife's orchard table tray top. it is slowly darkening with age.
:clown:
 
I used some of the 3M stuff before investing in Silmar 41. It is definitely amber color and does interesting things with color dyes/powders.

The pics show it mixed with copper Pearl-ex and silver Pearl-ex. Looks okay to me but not what you would get with clear resin.

I believe I also tried using Alumilite dyes but that didn't come out so well and I didn't get any pictures. I believe this was more operator error than materials issues.:eek:
 

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if it is truly a "fiberglass" I'd be worried about the dust created by sanding it unless you had a top notch ventilation system.

Just saying.
 
I use it all the time for anything that is a darker color.

It has an amber tint and will alter anything of a lighter color (i.e. white comes out an interesting cream to ivory color not white).

You can vary the qualities of the cast from tough hard to brittle hard by using from 6 to 12 drops of catalyst (the catalyst comes with the product). I had a problem with tiny bubbles in the casting till I started vacuuming it before adding catalyst and then again for a short while after mixing the catalyst in (just the way I do it, the first vacuuming is probably not needed, or maybe the second one).

Cheap enough to use for anything not light colored and seems better to work with than Castin'Craft PU by far for me - to the extent that I don't want to use Castin'Craft any more..

Was in WalMart the other day and noticed they have the Bondo brand fiberglass resin in the auto section for a buck a quart cheaper, maybe I'll give that a try and see how it compares.
 
When using vacuum with polyester resins one must be careful to not exceed 27"Hg as the styrene solvent in PR will boil out of solution at 28"Hg. When using vacuum I stop at 26"Hg just to be safe.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

frank123 said:
I had a problem with tiny bubbles in the casting till I started vacuuming it before adding catalyst and then again for a short while after mixing the catalyst in (just the way I do it, the first vacuuming is probably not needed, or maybe the second one).
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I checked the local O'reilly and found the Bondo brand for $18.99 per qt. plus $4.69 for the hardener. But Wood-N_Whimsies has clear resin with hardener for $12.95 per qt.
 
Yes 3M Fiberglass resin works

Especially for Opaque colors

This was done with 3M fiberglass resin using acrylic paint for coloring.

Coffee bean blank on a chrome slimline stylus.

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Finish is CA to seal in the coffee beans.
 
I know this thread is over a month old, but I finally broke down and made a couple of blanks last night. I used blue PearlEX and silver PearlEX powders and had it all ready and laid out then poured my Fiberglass Resin into my cups and it was a yellowish-brown color (not what I was expecting). Anyways, I decided to move forward. I'll post a pic after lunch today, but the blue mixed with the resin color, turned to a teal color and the silver turned out ok. I popped them out this morning before I left for work and they don't look bad at all. I probably should have stuck a section of wire down into the tubes and gave a little swirling to mix up the two colors in the mold but they are definitely usuable and will make interesting pens for sure. I do think I'd rather have a clear PR instead of this, so I'll have to check Hobby Lobby and see what they have.
 
We used several fiber glass resins over the last years for fiberglass repair and all were yellow/amber colored. Not a big deal when you cover it with Gel coat. Pretty darn ugly when you just leave it.
 
I have used gallons of it and it works fine for darker colors,you just need to get the hardner amount correct.I use a syringe and use .9% mek to 99.1% resin and this gives you a nice turning blank not to brittle but brittle enough to get that super shine.I'm sure Silmar is better but we use what we have,and I would have to buy 5 gallons of silmar to get cost down enough with shipping to justify buying it.Hey $35 is worth a shot and you can make 50-70 blanks with a gallon of resin.Good luck and be safe(ventilation),Victor
 
healeydays said:
So, have you tried it yet and what were the results?
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I tried the PR for fiberglass on a handfull of blanks prior to turning. Once I finally turned one of the blue and silver ones I made I was pumped about how the final pen turned out (haven't taken pics yet). But as I started to turn a couple of others, I noticed small bubbles that would fill up with sanding dust. I then went back and inspected the blue and silver one and also noticed a handful of spots that I had overlooked previously. Picked up my pressure pot a couple of days ago and will trying a few more to see how they end up.
 
Just saw this thread. These 3 pens are made with fiberglass resin. I used a little less MEKP than they said to and they turned just fine. The resin is amber toned and when you mix color in it you will get whatever color amber and what you add is. The pen with the ship in it was colored with blue model paint. The smell is quite strong. When you buy the resin there is some catalyst under the plastic lid.
 

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Displaced Canadian said:
Just saw this thread. These 3 pens are made with fiberglass resin. I used a little less MEKP than they said to and they turned just fine. The resin is amber toned and when you mix color in it you will get whatever color amber and what you add is. The pen with the ship in it was colored with blue model paint. The smell is quite strong. When you buy the resin there is some catalyst under the plastic lid.
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Pens look good. Are you using a pressure pot to minimize bubbles?
 
I did the red one by just putting it on the tablesaw with the blade down and letting it run for about 5 min. There was still bubbles, small ones that became visible because the dust from finishing went in the holes and showed white. I let the dust dry, blew out the holes with an air compressor and filled with CA. Then I built a small pressure pot out of galvanized pipe, my air compressor has a regulator on it so I didn't have to but one. I just leave the whole thing hooked up so if there is a leak the compressor will turn back on.
 
This is my pressure pot. The grey thing is an inline water filter. When I use it I can only pressurize to a max of 90 lbs. because that is the max of the filter. I just clamp it to either the side or top of the table depending on what way I want to cast. I can put 3, 3/4 " pvc pipe molds in the large one or a 12" long mold made from a cutting board for a 7/8" square blank. I don't use the water filter when casting with PR or fiberglass resin.
 

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Displaced Canadian said:
This is my pressure pot. The grey thing is an inline water filter. When I use it I can only pressurize to a max of 90 lbs. because that is the max of the filter. I just clamp it to either the side or top of the table depending on what way I want to cast. I can put 3, 3/4 " pvc pipe molds in the large one or a 12" long mold made from a cutting board for a 7/8" square blank. I don't use the water filter when casting with PR or fiberglass resin.
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Very interesting pressure pot setup. I tried the "bandsaw vibration" thing and didn't notice much difference. I setup my HF pot last night and have already poured a couple of blanks. Pressured them to 50 psi and when I cut them to length I cannot see the bubbles I could previously see just cutting the blanks. Once I finish the current pen I'll be trying one of these out.
 
I picked up a gallon of this at lowes a couple weeks back and have made some blanks under pressure with it also. I used a titanium dioxide white from Dick Blick to make an opaque white blank, and even with the amber tint of the resin it came out really white. IIRC I used a little more powder than i normally would for a mix, but I put the powder in before really stirring it up just because I was worried it wouldn't get white enough. I used the resin to make up a white coffee bean blank. You can see a pic of the results here http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/handful-pens-few-firsts-108640/
FWIW I liked using this stuff on short notice as I'd run out of silmar 41. It's also about 20 bucks cheaper than the silmar (due to shipping) and I've seen it in a bunch of the local stores. I don't know how it will work out in the long run (darkens or something like that).
Joe
 
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