egnald
Member
My experience, for posterity more than anything.
I received my first order of Alumilite Clear Slow resin in August of 2023, 1 year and 6 months ago. Although the specified shelf life is only 3 months - unopened, It worked well right up to the end of the bottles (4-Feb-2025). I did keep it in my climate controlled workshop, in a closed cupboard (dark), so perhaps that helped extend the life.
In the final couple of pours, the part B was a little thicker than it was when it was fresh and it was starting to get some Jello consistency chunks floating around in it. I tried to keep from pouring them into my mixing cup, but a few got through and they must have mixed up in the part A while I was stirring as I haven't seen any negative consequences from them yet. Time will tell in a day or so when I turn one of today's blanks.
All in all, I wound up with about 58 blanks from the 8 lb. kit. All but about a dozen blanks were 5.5" inches long and 0.72 inches in diameter (schedule 80 PVC pipe molds). The other twelve were made up of a few longer blanks and a few shorter, clear, label cast blanks made using John Underhill's vertical casting system.
Considering that most were color casts, it would be surprising if I used more than $15 worth of powders and dies, so the cost per blank would have been somewhere in the $0.25 cents range. And with $100 of Alumilite, i estimate the cost per blank at $2.00 give or take a few pennies. Not too bad compared to commercially available Alumilite blanks -- although I continue to buy them -- you know the grass is always greener, or maybe I should say, the color combinations are always sweeter. I'm anxious to receive a few "Agusta Theater" blanks from Tim Crowe, Turnt Pen Company, that were shipped a day or so ago. I discovered them through a thread by Hippie3180 from more than a year ago.
My next order of Alumilite Clear Slow is somewhere between Wisconsin and Nebraska right now. I'm guessing that it will be gone far more quickly than my first batch was - this blank casting is really quite fun.
Dave
I received my first order of Alumilite Clear Slow resin in August of 2023, 1 year and 6 months ago. Although the specified shelf life is only 3 months - unopened, It worked well right up to the end of the bottles (4-Feb-2025). I did keep it in my climate controlled workshop, in a closed cupboard (dark), so perhaps that helped extend the life.
In the final couple of pours, the part B was a little thicker than it was when it was fresh and it was starting to get some Jello consistency chunks floating around in it. I tried to keep from pouring them into my mixing cup, but a few got through and they must have mixed up in the part A while I was stirring as I haven't seen any negative consequences from them yet. Time will tell in a day or so when I turn one of today's blanks.
All in all, I wound up with about 58 blanks from the 8 lb. kit. All but about a dozen blanks were 5.5" inches long and 0.72 inches in diameter (schedule 80 PVC pipe molds). The other twelve were made up of a few longer blanks and a few shorter, clear, label cast blanks made using John Underhill's vertical casting system.
Considering that most were color casts, it would be surprising if I used more than $15 worth of powders and dies, so the cost per blank would have been somewhere in the $0.25 cents range. And with $100 of Alumilite, i estimate the cost per blank at $2.00 give or take a few pennies. Not too bad compared to commercially available Alumilite blanks -- although I continue to buy them -- you know the grass is always greener, or maybe I should say, the color combinations are always sweeter. I'm anxious to receive a few "Agusta Theater" blanks from Tim Crowe, Turnt Pen Company, that were shipped a day or so ago. I discovered them through a thread by Hippie3180 from more than a year ago.
My next order of Alumilite Clear Slow is somewhere between Wisconsin and Nebraska right now. I'm guessing that it will be gone far more quickly than my first batch was - this blank casting is really quite fun.
Dave
