Texatdurango
Member
We're always looking for the best material to make our blanks from and comparing polyester resins to Alumilite's polyurethane resins.
While I totally agree that Alumilite is the hands down choice for which resin to use, in a recent thread I was a little vocal about my displeasure with the black die that Alumilite offers for use with their clear resins. The die comes to you pretty thick, almost like a paste and they recommend to thin it with part "A" of whichever resin you are using but I found that even after thinning and mixing the resin well, I still wound up with very tiny blobs of uncured dye in my blanks which ruined the blank and caused me to trash quite a few blanks.
I got some "Regular" black resin in from them this week to try out and I am tickled with the results so thought I'd share my thoughts.
If you need some material to make your black finials and fountain pen sections or just want a stunning solid black pen, there is nothing better than the "regular" black Alumilite! For starters, at $116 for a two gallon kit, it's cheaper than using the clear at $160 for a two gallon kit then dealing with the thick black die.
I cast a few blanks without pressure and found that they had very tiny air pin holes so I believe the "regular" resin needs to be cast under pressure just like the clear. I cast half a dozen blanks under pressure, demolded them after 20 minutes then waited a day before turning, sanding and polishing and found that not only does the solid black polish as well as the black tinted clear, I believe it polishes up a lot shiner and gives a deep black gloss. I would not hesitate putting these up against the best polyester blanks around for a shine comparison!
I would seriously recommend anyone making their own "Kitless" designs needing glossy black finials and grip sections to give this material a try. They sell 28 oz kits for $36, which doesn't sound like much but is probably enough resin to make several dozen blanks.
Another side benefit of using the Alumilite is that it turns, drills and threads like a dream resulting in some very nice, smooth threads, especially those tiny internal section threads!
While I totally agree that Alumilite is the hands down choice for which resin to use, in a recent thread I was a little vocal about my displeasure with the black die that Alumilite offers for use with their clear resins. The die comes to you pretty thick, almost like a paste and they recommend to thin it with part "A" of whichever resin you are using but I found that even after thinning and mixing the resin well, I still wound up with very tiny blobs of uncured dye in my blanks which ruined the blank and caused me to trash quite a few blanks.
I got some "Regular" black resin in from them this week to try out and I am tickled with the results so thought I'd share my thoughts.
If you need some material to make your black finials and fountain pen sections or just want a stunning solid black pen, there is nothing better than the "regular" black Alumilite! For starters, at $116 for a two gallon kit, it's cheaper than using the clear at $160 for a two gallon kit then dealing with the thick black die.
I cast a few blanks without pressure and found that they had very tiny air pin holes so I believe the "regular" resin needs to be cast under pressure just like the clear. I cast half a dozen blanks under pressure, demolded them after 20 minutes then waited a day before turning, sanding and polishing and found that not only does the solid black polish as well as the black tinted clear, I believe it polishes up a lot shiner and gives a deep black gloss. I would not hesitate putting these up against the best polyester blanks around for a shine comparison!
I would seriously recommend anyone making their own "Kitless" designs needing glossy black finials and grip sections to give this material a try. They sell 28 oz kits for $36, which doesn't sound like much but is probably enough resin to make several dozen blanks.
Another side benefit of using the Alumilite is that it turns, drills and threads like a dream resulting in some very nice, smooth threads, especially those tiny internal section threads!
