I have some questions on PR casting

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Hardwoods

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I have been doing a lot of research on this PR casting. And am trying to get up the nerv to start. All the post that I have read does not mention the price of the resin and how much that it would figure per casting. Also who might have the best prices and the best type of resin for a newbie to work with. Thanks for your help Don
 
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I get mine from Douglas and Sturgess ( www.artstuf.com ). Clear PR resin is $45 per gallon, and it comes with more than enough catalyst. They also carry pretty much any pigment, either dry or liquid, that you could wish for. They are reasonable on their shipping charges.
 
If your doing PR , I think most of us use US Composites (Silmar 41) . It's around $50 a gallon shipped . Some use Castin craft from Michaels which is much more expensive , it works out to be around $80 a gallon (it only comes in quarts) . There are a few other suppliers and most are around the same price .
a 3/4"X5" blank uses about 2 ounces and a 7/8"X5" blanks uses about 3 ounces in a standard rectangular mold so just do the math for a per blank price .
Alumilite is only available through their website and costs a bit more then the PR , I think around the same as the castin craft PR .
Which is better ? some like PR some like Alumilite . Try both and you decide .
That's the other , Artstuf . That price is plus shipping so slightly more then US Composites .
 
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I use Silmar 41 and purchase it from US Composites at http://www.uscomposites.com

There are several articles in the library. Look for one by Jay pickens, richard Greenwald and Anthony Turchetta. There are other articles but the authors escape me at the moment.

Quick calculation: I think I get about 4 pen blanks from 12 ounces of PR. I don't really keep track. I pour 12 ounces at a time and that does 8 sierras or 4 two tube pens with a little left over. anyway, one gallon is 128 ounces, so using 120 ounces I get roughly 10 pours per gallon. So, 10 pours at 4 full blanks each pour is 40 blanks per gallon. At $45 per gallon shipped to me makes the 40 blanks so the cost is $1.12 per blank. I probably get more blanks than 40 per gallon which lowers the per blank price. Someone else may have more accurate data.

Do a good turn daily!
Don


Hardwoods said:
I have been doing a lot of research on this PR casting. And am trying to get up the nerv to start. All the post that I have read does not mention the price of the resin and how much that it would figure per casting. Also who might have the best prices and the best type of resin for a newbie to work with. Thanks for your help Don
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That's the problem with coming up with exact numbers , we all have our own ways of doing it . I just figured it out and using the molds I use a 3/4"X5" blank works out to be $.84 a blank for me not including the pigment and mixing cups and stir sticks and the price of molds and ......

Oh and the last gallon I bought cost me $54 shipped (hey , I was close)
 
It seems that I have heard PR will have the glossier finish of the 2 (PR vs. alumilite) if that makes a difference in what you try...
 
For what it's worth, Michael's does have coupons on their website periodically, which you can print off, depends on when they drop and what value they are for, but the seem to be 40% off. One catch is, you can only get the discount on one item, per customer, per day...
The wonderful cashier I found this out from, says, just go out, and come right back in... So depending upon how much time you have to spend, you could get Castin Craft for about the same as US Composites....

Just my two newbie cents worth.

P.S. I only found this out when I began to investigate Polymer Clay....
 
Thanks for all of your replys to my casting questions. It seems like their is a lot of knowledge you need to know before geting into this part of pen making. I will be ordering new london 88 mold to start. Oh yea does this stuff have a shelf life? Thanks Don
 
Hardwoods said:
Thanks for all of your replys to my casting questions. It seems like their is a lot of knowledge you need to know before geting into this part of pen making. I will be ordering new london 88 mold to start. Oh yea does this stuff have a shelf life? Thanks Don
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Just remember the tutorials are just a guide , a starting point and should not be taken as the gospel . The most useful knowledge will be learned by doing . Experiment with it , try different things and see what works best for you . As in most other penmaking endeavors , there is no one RIGHT way to do things .
Yes it does have a shelf life . Once the can is opened it will last no more then a year in most cases , but that will depend on several factors like where you store it . Heat will cure resin even without catalyst so store it in a cool , dry place .
For your first attempts the castin craft from Michaels might be your best bet if you can get one of those 40% off coupons . This way if you find it's not for you , you won't be out allot of money . Also , as for molds , the resin saver molds are great and if you find you like doing it are a must have for certain types of casting but to start off you might want to just make your first mold . Curtis has a tutorial in the library on making your own mold from an inexpensive plastic cutting board , and Ron Adams has one for making a mold from silicone caulking that you can buy in Home Depot or Lowe's . There are a couple of other articles on using the silicone for making molds as well .
Have fun and good luck .
 
its_virgil said:
Quick calculation: I think I get about 4 pen blanks from 12 ounces of PR. I don't really keep track. I pour 12 ounces at a time and that does 8 sierras or 4 two tube pens with a little left over. anyway, one gallon is 128 ounces, so using 120 ounces I get roughly 10 pours per gallon. So, 10 pours at 4 full blanks each pour is 40 blanks per gallon. At $45 per gallon shipped to me makes the 40 blanks so the cost is $1.12 per blank. I probably get more blanks than 40 per gallon which lowers the per blank price. Someone else may have more accurate data.

Do a good turn daily!
Don
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Way too scientific for us short bus riders! Don's calculations (as usual) are spot on.

But... He forgot the "short bus" factor that MUST be included at my place. For instance, when the phone rings right after the resin has been catalysed and the call lasts 40 minutes.

Or...When I used the wrong plastic cup and ultrasound and heat resin in a cup that doesn't hold up to the resin.

So... Here we use the S.W.A. G. method of calculation. S.W.A.G. stands for stupid wild a$$ guess.

And using the S.W.A.G. method we figure the "window licker on the short bus" can make a blank for "around $2 or well less"...depending on the time of day...and NOT INCLUDING THE COST OF STUPIDITY:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
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On a serious note. Both Silmar 41 and Cast-in-Craft do have a shelf life. The last time I looked at my Silmar41 container I think it indicated unopened can shelf life of six months (It could be 12 months unoperned, 6 months -opened???). IF THIS IS INACCURATE, SOMEONE PLEASE JUMP IN HERE AS I AM CURRENTLY OUT OF RESIN.

I have used unopened SM41 that I HAD OWNED for six months with no ill effects. I may have just been lucky, or since I buy from U.S. Composites (the Mfg), the stuff on my shelf could have been very fresh when I recieved it.
 
PenMan1 said:
On a serious note. Both Silmar 41 and Cast-in-Craft do have a shelf life. The last time I looked at my Silmar41 container I think it indicated unopened can shelf life of six months (It could be 12 months unoperned, 6 months -opened???). IF THIS IS INACCURATE, SOMEONE PLEASE JUMP IN HERE AS I AM CURRENTLY OUT OF RESIN.

I have used unopened SM41 that I HAD OWNED for six months with no ill effects. I may have just been lucky, or since I buy from U.S. Composites (the Mfg), the stuff on my shelf could have been very fresh when I recieved it.
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I'm sitting here looking at a gallon can of Silmar 41 from US Composites and it has no statement of shelf life on it . As I said above PR will last a year or longer depending on how it is stored . I have a can of General purpose PR resin that is over two years old and is still fine . Heat is the big determination of how long your resin will last . One of our members had a whole unopened gallon can harden in the can over just a few months because he stored it in a hot shed .
 
No , in fact it's not quite as good as silmar 41 . The main difference is it is more brittle so harder to turn , especially for a newbie with little experience in turning acrylic .
 
Butch is exactly right. The tech data sheet for Sm41 does not list a shelf life.

I had SM 41 confused with another U.S. Composites product that we use here SM 404(fiberglass boat hulls) which lists the shelf life as minimum of 3 months.

I have used unopened after 6 months with no ill effects, but I do store it in a cool, dry place.

SM41 will actually harden without MEKP if the temp is hot enough. DAMHIKT

Here is a good link on PR and where to buy it and the different names it is manufactured under AND SOME GOOD FORMULAS:
http://www.jaxturners.org/tech/casting_with_polyester_resin.pdf
 
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