Alumilite white failure

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akingkubo

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I have been having luck casting my first blanks with alumilite clear and Alumilite white. As I venture more, I experiment. That's what I did. I tried to cast some acorns with Alumilite white and planned to add this Americana blue pearlescent color. I usually put a timer on 5 minute since the white has a 7-10 min time. I mixed 4 oz A & B per mixed really well until it's clear and no cloudy swirls. Barely less than a minute, I mixed the color then and I noticed that it's not mixing the color well. Anyway, less than 3 minutes, I slowly poured the mixture in my mold and it started to foam and I did not use half of my mixture when it's started overflowing and foaming!!!:eek::eek:
Long story short, it's a classic failure! I stopped the timer at 3:45 min and I just stared and look at it.
What happened? Why did I fail? Is it my color that maybe reacted to Alumilite? That's all I could think of. It seems like the color speed up the casting time? :confused:
Help!!!
Maria~
 
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Can you tell us more about the Americana blue color? what type of pigment is it? Do you have a link to show us?

Alumilite white only has a 3min work time though. Not 7-10.
 
Brooks803 said:
Can you tell us more about the Americana blue color? what type of pigment is it? Do you have a link to show us?

Alumilite white only has a 3min work time though. Not 7-10.
Click to expand...

Alumilite AlumiRes white "liquid to solid in just 7 minutes"

And correction, it's not Americana. It's Delta Ceramcoat glitter blue
 

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Alumilite's White provides users with an extremely user friendly rigid urethane that has good overall physical and cosmetic properties. The low viscosity along with the white appearance makes this material ideal for users who are looking for perfect cosmetics in their castings. The material has a mixed viscosity less than 100 cps and a mix ratio of 1:1 by weight or by volume. The material features a 3 minute work time with a color change in the cure to let the user know when his/her pot life is up. Demold time typically ranges from 5 to 15 minutes depending on the mold temperature and the mass of the material being cast. We always recommend warming the mold before casting to achieve a more consistent and thorough cure.

Direct from alumilite's website. I'm not trying to be argumentative. Just informative. The 7mins it states is how long before you can demold it.

The paint is your problem. It's water based and water and alumilite do not work at all. It will create that foam you're talking about.
 
akingkubo said:
Alumilite AlumiRes white "liquid to solid in just 7 minutes"

And correction, it's not Americana. It's Delta Ceramcoat glitter blue
Click to expand...

That is liquid to solid in 7 minutes which is a LOT different than working time or pot life. The working time for Alumilite White is indeed 3 minutes as Jonathan correctly mentioned. After 3 minutes, you are done working with it as it is beginning to set up.

Also, as Sylvanite said, Delta Ceramcoat is an acrylic paint and is water based. Even if it was Americana, you can not use it either as it is also acrylic. YOU CAN NOT put any water in Alumilite. It will foam. Stick with Alumilite dyes as they are made to cross link with Alumilite and will not cause the problem you are getting.
 
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What I do is put the color in part B before I mix it all together. After I mix it then I will pour it into a mold and it does harden in a few minutes or so and after it is cool then I take the blanks out. I have not tried adding things like acorns or pine cones. I saw a video of a cherry pit pen but they didn't show how the pits were put in. It was an interesting pen. I have a few small pine cones here but not quite long enough for pen blanks and then tried to break them up to put in the mix and then changed my mind. I let them dry sitting on an old dish. I have seen a video on turning pine cone pens but have not fond any larger pine cones. So will keep an eye out for some to try. Good luck next time you try the acorns and hopefully your blanks will turn out nice... Oh a funny thing happened the last time I casted a blank. I had poured the mixture in the mold and then decided to put some thing in it and bent down pretty much under the table to get the stuff and when I got back up, the blank was hard and I could not add any thing to it.. I got a little bit of a laugh out of that one so some times you have to be quick or have every thing ready before you start pouring. I just thought that was cute. Bend down to get the stuff and back up and it was hard. almost like going in soft and smooth and comes out firm and hard. LOL! Fay
 
Water based & Alumilite a No-No together. Got it!
I live, I learn, I will try again!

Thanks so much everybody for your advice.

Brooks803, I don't think you're argumentative, you are very informative and I understand my mistake now.

Eric, you just confirmed my fears that it was the color that caused the failure. I am just such an idiot on not reading the ingredients closely.

Curtis,
For a novice like me, trying to understand instructions in a box can be misleading and oftentimes be interpreted differently like I have. Liquid to solid in 7 minutes I thought is working time so I gave myself 4-5 minutes. So thanks for clearing my confusion.
I will stick to just Alumilite colors.

Thank you again everybody for the advice and I apologize for my ignorance.

Maria~
 
Fay Prozora said:
What I do is put the color in part B before I mix it all together. After I mix it then I will pour it into a mold and it does harden in a few minutes or so and after it is cool then I take the blanks out. I have not tried adding things like acorns or pine cones. I saw a video of a cherry pit pen but they didn't show how the pits were put in. It was an interesting pen. I have a few small pine cones here but not quite long enough for pen blanks and then tried to break them up to put in the mix and then changed my mind. I let them dry sitting on an old dish. I have seen a video on turning pine cone pens but have not fond any larger pine cones. So will keep an eye out for some to try. Good luck next time you try the acorns and hopefully your blanks will turn out nice... Oh a funny thing happened the last time I casted a blank. I had poured the mixture in the mold and then decided to put some thing in it and bent down pretty much under the table to get the stuff and when I got back up, the blank was hard and I could not add any thing to it.. I got a little bit of a laugh out of that one so some times you have to be quick or have every thing ready before you start pouring. I just thought that was cute. Bend down to get the stuff and back up and it was hard. almost like going in soft and smooth and comes out firm and hard. LOL! Fay
Click to expand...

LOL Fay! That happened to me too!:biggrin: thanks! :)
Maria~
 
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