Newbie at casting needs help!

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Brentda1

Member
Joined
May 12, 2010
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31
Location
West Liberty, KY
Hi guys...my son (age 12) wanted to try doing some casting. We followed a lot of the how to threads on here, bought some Castin Craft Resin and pigment.

Couple of problems need help with. Both sets of tubes we have done are odd in the fact that the very center has a powdery substance when we drill. One batch was only about an 1/8, the other about 1/4 inch. We succeeded in making a pen and key chain from it though.

Second batch, same powder but extremely brittle.

So, too much/little catlyst, pigment, too cold, too hot....what say you smart people.

Thanks for your help.
 
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Hello from Berea.......

My opinion would be:
Too much catalyst
Pigment not fully mixed in
Old resin
Cold resin (warm water bath helps it flow when cold out)
Socks matched (like working with CA glue, it's usually better if your socks don't match when casting:biggrin:)
 
what he said :biggrin:

I don't like to use that resin if I can help it. (but sometimes you have to
grab what is close instead of waiting for UPS!) You never know how long
that resin has been on the shelf and the employees at the stores that sell
it aren't familiar with it.. so they're not likely to know that is has a shelf
life. (so they don't worry about it) I've gotten resin from Michaels that
was pretty much cured when I opened it.

The Cast'n Craft tends to be more brittle than what many of us use.
(Silmar41, Alumilite) and the directions don't really give you a clear
idea about how to adjust catalyst amounts for thickness. It can get
really chippy.
But the powder? Is it powdered pigment? Mica? If it is just resin, then
is it possible you used waaaaay too much catalyst?
 
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