Coloring Alumilite

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efrulla

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Oct 15, 2014
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Location
Warrensburg, NY USA
Did my first casting today. Had all sorts of issues but that is to be expected. I was working in Alumilite White and was hoping to make a swirl pattern. Stuff kept setting up before I could do the pour. I will figure this out. It will take time and money.

I wanted to make a Green blank. Nothing fancy to start with just a plain old green blank with some gold dust in it. I put 2 drops of green into 3 oz. of A&B and I got a very lovely turquoise. At least I know the formula for turquoise.

Is there any guidance on the web or from one of the members that helps you determine how much dye to place in a particular volume to get a certain color.

Would hate to think that I need to burn through a gallon or two of this stuff to learn the formulas.
 
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You have to remember that you're using alumilite WHITE. So anything you mix in it will be like mixing in white pigment. So your green and the white created turquoise. So you'll need to mix in much more green pigment to get closer to the color you want. The clear version is very close if not the same in cost so for colored blanks like this you'd be better off using it. Plus you'll get more working time. Closer to 5 minutes. With the white as soon as you mix A & B together you have (If I remember right) 90 seconds before it turns solid.

I'm glad to see you have the right mindset that it's going to take experimenting and lots of resin to get the hang of it! Keep it going!
 
Just FYI for Jonathan anyone else intersted...Alumilite Clear has a working time of 7 minutes and Alumilite White is 3 minutes.

As for your blank, use Alumilite Clear as suggested by Jonathan. For one thing, if you are wanting the gold metallic, you will have to use Alumilite Clear. Alumilite White, even if you get the color right, will never show the gold dust. It will become a complete opaque green blanks. When you see blanks with metallics in them, the base resin is clear which allows you to see into the resin some and allows light to penetrate and reflect off the metallic powder making it show up. Since white is completely opaque, you will not get any of this at all and will have just wasted your metallic powder!
 
The white Alumilite is not what I'd recommend for first-timers. There's no time for dawdling, guessing, or fumbling. You need a couple levels of experience before tackling that stuff if you want good results.

You can cheat a bit by adding the dye to the A side before mixing A & B together. The downside of doing it that way is you can't see the mixture turning clear to indicate when it's fully stirred...

Mixing a batch of just white so you get an idea of how much stirring to do will help.

Curtis has a video up showing that there's time to mix the white, split it into 3 parts, add color to 2 of those, and pour it all together before it sets, but he's definitely got a few levels of experience under his belt. :biggrin:

Once I know how much dye I want for a particular target color, I'll add the drops of dye to an empty cup (one cup for each target color), mix the A&B together, then pour the target amount into each waiting cup with dye..start stirring quickly.

The downside is you can't really measure how much A&B-mix is going into the cups with the dye, but do you really need to be super precise in the ration of how much gets one of your colors vs. how much gets the other? If so, you can pre-mark the cups for a target volume (to go with the added dye) and use that as a reasonable guide while pouring in the freshly mixed A&B.

Some of the colors of Alumilite dye seem to be pretty strong (blue for example) while others seem to take quite a bit more. It could just be the ones I have (my blue is a bit thicker than some of the other colors even though all were bought together). So, suggesting that you'd want X drops per ounce of white really needs to be broken out by which color of dye we're talking about and how dark you want your final color to be...

I make a point of writing down number of drops and ounces of A&B for every batch once it's in the pressure pot and the pressure's been applied. I also add a note after it comes out of the pressure pot that describes the resulting color vs. what I was trying to achieve.

It's helped quite a bit with dialing in color combinations I'm working towards. For now, I've been using the clear and getting much more predictable results. I know when I go back to white, I'll need to boost the amount of dye to overcome the white's lightening effect. How much I'll have to add will depend a bit on which color we're talking about (as mentioned earlier, some dye colors seem noticeably stronger than others).
 
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When I pour my Alumilite white it starts turning white right at 1 min 40 seconds and its completly hard at 3 minutes. Im using equal measurements of weight. I use a scale that i used in the jewlery business that will go down to .01 accuracy. Could the age of the Alumilite or heat be a problem?
 
Heat will definitely be a factor. The reaction between Part A and Part B generates heat which should speed up the process. The warmer it is to start with, the faster the mix will set.

Alumilite's FAQ page says you can extend the set time by cooling Part B in a fridge for 3-5 hours.

Two caveats listed with that FAQ:
- you'll only get an extra 30-60 seconds
- you should pour the mixed A&B into a pre-heated mold to compensate for using cold Part B

For full details, you can go to their FAQ, click on the "Casting" tab, and search for the question that reads, "Q: Can the set time be increased?" Here's a link to their FAQ:

FAQs
 
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