A PR caster looks at Alumalite Crystal Clear.

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1. Make sure you measure accurately to mix 1:1 by weight. Has a huge affect if you are not accurate.

2. Casting in extremely small amounts is very difficult because of the weight accuracy.

3. Work rapidly. Especially if you are used to casting PR. This stuff cures faster than a PR caster could imagine....

4. Mix it well after you combine the two sections. If not mixed completely, it won't cure...

Just a few pointers. I am sure others will have more. I am fairly new to Alumilite. Only a 16oz pack almost gone...
 
Thanks! I found out the hard way that you don't wait around for it to start gelling like you do with PR. This stuff went from "soup" to "stone" in less than 3 minutes. I won't make that mistake again!
 
Lee, feel free to call as well if you want. That goes for anyone else who is just getting started with Alumilite. I am their unofficial penturning technical adviser so if you were to call them and they could not answer your question on pen blank casting, they will just send you to me anyway!
 
Thanks Curtis! Leestorsund and I got together yesterday and did some casting. We produced the outstanding PR blanks and decided that we would try out the new Alumalite Crystal Clear.

We got out our pots, degassed the resins, mixed the colors in the resins nicely and things were going along just swimmingly.

Being a very experienced PR caster, I was goofing around waiting for the Alumalite to start a soft "gel" like PR does. This stuff went from the consistency of water to the consistency of concrete in less than 3 minutes! Does it always cure this fast or did we mis-measure something?

We had no scales, so we mixed the Alumalite by volume, not by weight.

I felt so badly about our botched cast that I felt compelled to give Lee one of the Clear Texas Prickly Pear blanks that I got somewhere:). Now, that guy knows how to pour Alumalite!
 
When they say to mix it by weight....they are not joking. This stuff sets up and hardens in less than 3 minutes. The alumilite that I have purchased comes with the WHIMIS docs and all the other good reading information and they straight up tell you about the mixing by weight and not by volume.

My first cast was a success, but I think a call to MesquiteMan one evening is still on my list of things to do. My problem was the PearlEx wanting to start coming out of solution while it set up to harden. Actually the PeralEx started to come out of solution when I stopped stirring it. The dyes worked well and this is an important part that you need to record in your casting log book. If you have not started a Cast Log Book......shame on you!!!!

MesquiteMan is it ok if I also give you a call one evening?

Dave
 
ABSOLUTELY, Dave! Same goes for anyone else that want to chat about casting with Alumilite. I have helped a BUNCH of people here on IAP over the phone.
 
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