Is the ultra sonic cleaner used on urethane resins??

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LandfillLumber

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I bought the heated ultra sonic cleaner and have resins on the way(both urethane and polyester),I was wondering if you guys use the cleaner on the urethane resins(alumilite).Also do you use the heater with the urethane's?Thank you,Victor
 
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LandfillLumber said:
I bought the heated ultra sonic cleaner and have resins on the way(both urethane and polyester),I was wondering if you guys use the cleaner on the urethane resins(alumilite).Also do you use the heater with the urethane's?Thank you,Victor
Click to expand...

You can use the ultrasonic, but I'd be careful using the heater. Most would
want to chill the resin to give you more open time, heating it would shorten
the open time.

I'm picturing the resin setting up in a flash during mid-pour :eek:
 
I think no. I don't see how there's enough time to use an ultrasonic because it sets up so fast, even if you chill part B you only have 7-8 minutes. The whole idea with the alumilite is that you don't need to worry about bubbles because they are crushed into oblivion by the pressure in the pot.
 
So why do the bubbles not get crushed in the PR under pressure?If you keep the part A and part B separate and run it through the cleaner to get the bubbles out,will this work?Just want to get it as right as I can from the get go to avoid costly mistakes.Thank You,Victor
 
Yes, using the ultrasonic to de-gas before combining them will work.
I'm not so sure that pressure gets rid of any bubbles at all, but it does
help them not to form.
So even after the ultrasonic, you need to be careful mixing and pouring.
Tapping the poured mold will also help dislodge bubbles and hopefully
bring them to the surface
 
NewLondon88 said:
I'm not so sure that pressure gets rid of any bubbles at all, but it does
help them not to form.
Click to expand...

You are quite right , the pressure does not get rid of the bubbles that are in there from mixing . The pressure keeps any air in suspension and prevents it from forming into bubbles . It's like the CO2 in a bottle of soda , when the cap is on the CO2 is in suspension and you see no bubbles then when you release the cap the bubbles form as the pressure escapes and allows the CO2 to come out of suspension .
 
Thanks for the info. guys,good example using the soda can explanation.I have used my drill press to vibrate but it does not do a good enough job.I had an old scroll saw that would have been perfect but I trashed it,Oh well.Thank,Victor
 
I personally see no point in the ultrasonic for alumlite. So you take the bubbles out of A and B separately, fine..But now you pour the two together and once that happens you need to stir things together thoroughly and quickly so you can get it poured before it sets. You need everything to be set up and ready to go when using alumilite...there's no searching for the forgotten item, or adding more mix in a cup. Once the two parts are in the cup, you better get it mixed really good and poured pronto! Then immediately get the pressure on it. The bubbles are not gone by the pressure, they are just crushed to become so small that they are invisible. Can't speak for PR and bubbles. Alumilite is a lot thinner in consistancy than PR, I do know that.

If you do not have a pot, you might still get the results you want using the ultrasonic. You do have maybe 2 minutes for it to sit in there before it gels right up. You won't have time for a pressure pot and ultrasonic on a mixed batch at the same time. So no pot..go ultrasonic, but your results may not be as good and definitely less consistent I'm sure.
 
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As someone who just got an ultrasonic cleaner and used it, I'll say I can see a great use
for the ultrasonic cleaner with alumilite.

Mixing the pigment.

I was doing a black pen. About 3 oz of part A, 1/4 tsp of iron oxide black.
Stir for 30-60 seconds. Enough that it looked good and you'd think the pigment
was mixed in. Check the stir stick. Yeah, it's black, but it's not totally opaque and
in the thin shell against the stick you can see there's basically tiny lumps of pigment.

30 seconds in the ultrasonic cleaner while stirring later:
The smoothest, jet black color. Even the thin layer on the popsicle stick was
totally opaque. No sign of lumps, just a great, even black.

I also tried using it to ensure good mixing of the 2 parts. Tossed the first blank
as 90 seconds was too long. 2nd blank which I stirred/vibrated for 40 seconds
seems to be OK- I'll know in the morning.
 
Rough turned a lower barrel of the pen today. It was good- no major
voids or other issues. No sticky resin anywhere (unlike my 1st worthless
wood "success" - which is fine, but has a tacky surface)

The blank was black resin over stainless steel brillo pad. Which is what
doomed the 1st attempt- too many places for air bubbles if the
resin was thick. But with the thinner resin, it worked great.

Of course, then my neighbor (who ordered the pen) decided she preferred
one w/ more silver so I ended up making another one.
 
So Jason was your first attempt made with PR that's why it was thicker or did you warm the Alumilite in the cleaner to get it thinner?I know you said it helped a ton with the pigments.Thanks for the feedback,Victor
 
They were both done w/ alumilite, less than 30 minutes apart.
(I did the 2nd one as soon as I got the 1st out of the mold)

The 2nd batch was thinner because after mixing I only let it
stir/vibrate for 40 seconds, while I stirred/vibrated the 1st
for 90 seconds. Basically the 1st was almost gelled as I poured
it.

So in addition to getting great color by vibrating before
adding part B, I got a very good mix by dunking the cup into the
water and vibrating it while I stirred. Just be quick.

Today I did 2 more pours, both were swirls
of the black and a Pearl-Ex silver. Used the same procedure on both-
vibrate in the pigment to part A, then vibrate while stirring (but for
under 30 seconds). Both pours went perfectly.
 
I got the $72 one from HF.

They do have a smaller ?$39 one, but it's not heated and I'm not sure
how big of a mold you can put in it. But so far it'd have handled everything
I used mine for. (I was using a 12" double length mold that wouldn't fit in
the cleaner)

As for the cost, I held off for the same reason. Now I'm wondering what I was
smoking. I can be faster, more consistent, and with better quality (no worries
about losing a pen to a lump of pigment or poor mixing).
Those things pay off real fast.

Borrow one. Find someone whose wife has a jewelry cleaner one.
You'll be hooked.
 
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