Novice Trial of Liquid Diamonds

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
MRDucks2

MRDucks2

Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
3,284
Location
Bristow, IN
A first experience with liquid diamonds from the novice perspective.

Chuck (Dalecamino) and I tried our hand using Liquid Diamonds for the first time, pouring 8 Sierra tube in printed label blanks he made.
IMG_0498.JPG
Poured and put under pressure at 10:30 Friday morning and let them sit in two different pots at 55-60psi until 1:30 on Saturday. Used silicone molds from PTownSubbie, two of the dark blue and two of the pink ones all sprayed with stoner mold release.

180 grams of mixed resin is ideal for the 8 cavities with tubes in. We had a little extra that I poured in some candy molds I keep around for such purposes (kids love 'em, they taste like plastic but last forever[emoji846]). Most of these were thin brown silicon with 1 pvc type mold. All of the molds Types I have also used with Alumilite Clear. These were left on the bench to cure.

I demolded a small heart before Chuck arrivedIMG_0497.JPG
The transparency is great, I would say the same as Alumilite. There are fine details in this mold and an air pocket which neverrose to the surface was trapped in most of the small dots in the mold, as you can see. You are actually looking through the surface of the heart onto a frosted background with the detail.

We will leave the blanks and pieces alone for another 24 hours and see how they are. After the 24 hours under pressure they were still quite pliable out of the mold.
IMG_0496.JPG
You can easily leave an imprint with a thumbnail in them, however, at this state the "dent" is self healing to the point that after a few minutes you cannot tell where the mark was. As the day went one the effort required to dent it with my nail increased and it healed more quickly.

You can see the small tear forming. Hour by hour the tear became more prevalent with the increased force to bend the heart. This would be expected as the resin continues to cure. The tear is not self healing.

The cast in the thin PVC sucker mold will not release. It was also not sprayed before the pour.

I'll leave these alone, including some pieces hanging over and edge to see if they deform any, and update tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
Last edited:
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
This is very interesting.

I seem to remember a recent thread which stated that pressure was not required during the curing process after casting .... was that thread referring to Liquid Diamonds or to a different casting resin ? . If anyone can provide a link to that thread, I would appreciate it .... thanks.
 
Nice write up. I use liquid diamond occasionally when casting certain blanks. I leave it in the mold and in the tank for at least 24 hours. After than I remove from pressure and let sit another 24 hours. After that they are usually ready to come out of the mold and not flexible. I probably wouldn't turn them until they are at least 4-5 days out of the tank. Just my experience.
 
We are following the general info we have read from Ernie Borraga and John Underhill here on IAP. Pressure for 24 hours then no pressure for 24. Guess we missed leaving them in the pot or mold for the second 24 after removing pressure, but they did come out of the mold fine.

I have read that no pressure is needed, also, which is why I cast the few pieces with no pressure. The air/bubbles were in the details at the bottom of the mold. They were trapped by the resin pour and stayed there. Had they been in a mold for a pen body, they would have stayed on the outside and be turned off when rounding.

I did have bubbles in the mixing cup, but no bubbles actually "inside" of anything once it set up.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
48 hour update. After 48 hours, 24 under pressure in the pot and 24 hours out of the molds on the bench.

The Liquid Diamonds pieces are getting tougher and more firm. The original heart above can no be folded into with 2 fingers. By the end of yesterday I had gotten the small tear to go about halfway down the face of the heart, but not all of the way through.

Today I have to squeeze the piece with fingers from both hands to get it to bend any and could not readily fold it into like that. During this trial, the tear did not grow, either. By applying substantial force with fingers from both hands pushing against the bench, I did get it to fold into and the tear grew to 3/4 of the length with it finally going through at the top but the piece neither tore completely or broke into. I would think this would offer a good durability for a pen body.

The pieces I had not begun to torture yesterday are quite firm and cannot be readily deformed though they will a thumbnail mark with enough force. The dent left heals in under a minute and you can not longer detect where the thumbnail was within about 3 minutes (surface mark gone). I find this to also be an interesting trait that could be called durable.

Compared to Alumilite Clear and the way I have mixed each, my Alumilite comes out harder than the Liquid Diamonds even though LD lists a durometer of 78 and Alumilite Clear lists 78-80. Evidently you can get a similar hardness in Alumilite Clear, but I have never achieved that always being hard and usable or sticky and unusable.

If I see any real change in the Liquid Diamond pieces this week I will update. Otherwise we wait and see what Chuck says about how they turn.

I may do a few side by sides with Alumilite for a shop review of direct comparison in the future. At this time I would be happy with either product.

One thing Chuck did just remind me is that we did not heat the molds for the LD as we normally do for Alumilite. There were no issues with the resin pulling away from the corners like you may see with a cool mold using Alumilite, though it was 80F in the shop.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
Very intriguing. I leave under pressure for 12 hours and then set on bench for a day or so. I think ld shines better than pr. But I'll let you decide
 
That will be a key for me. Alumilite, as you know, does not produce the glossiest finish on its own. If the Liquid Diamonds shines up better, that will be a plus. I started off with Inlace Acrylester as my first resin blanks so for an easy and beautiful finish, that is a pretty high bar.


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
Ive stuck to pr for colored blanks and liquid diamonds for watch parts and label blanks
 
Yesterday, Chuck reported that he tried turning one and it wasn't ready, soft and gummy halfway to the tube.

I tried turning one the morning. And it did pretty well at first.

Here is the surface as I rounded with a gouge:
IMG_0505.JPG

Here with carbide (Magic Skew):
IMG_0506.JPG

And finally with a skew:
IMG_0507.JPG

As I got close to the tube it became a little softer and a tad gummy on one end. This affected my ability to polish it up, though overall it was going pretty well.

At this point I am concerned we may not have had the mix quite perfect. Based on feedback above from Ernie and Francisco. If so Liquid Diamonds is pretty unforgiving.

I am going to do another trial under a new post. This will be my last update unless there are questions. We will see how Chuck's other blanks turn out later in the week.



Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
Thanks for the write up. Ive used a couple gallons of it. In my experience it takes about a week to cure fully. I'm no chemist but believe that the set time and cure time are related. Slow set = slow cure. I do like using it.
 
Sorry. Had a busy day today. So I turned this one blank, and polished it. It appears JohnU was correct in his experience. The LD just didn't polish to a usual shine. Which tells me it was still too soft. So, it has now been 5 days since we poured the blanks.

I'll try more polishing on this one, and turn another blank as well tomorrow.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180904_172222138.jpg
    IMG_20180904_172222138.jpg
    300.8 KB · Views: 210
I would expect it to be cured by now, but may take a week. Chuck, did you notice the difference in smell while turning? I think it smells way different than pr or alumilite
 
I didn't get time to work with the blank yesterday. But I did give the others on my desk the thumbnail test. Still able to make a dent in the surface. I'm not very impressed right now.
 
I was wondering what mix ratio you used. I found these instructions online that had this in the instructions from a company called Aldax Enterprises(Aldax Molds). Not sure if same product, bottles have no company name on them, but the basic mix is 2:1.

Maximum bubble release–
This product can be mixed at a ratio of 65% hardener. This will create a super clear
bubble free finish. Mixing by weight (100:65 resin/hardener). Your pieces will cure faster, harder, and have less
bubbles than the 2
-1 mixture. This mixing procedure
is not recommended on large pieces above 2".
 
smik said:
I was wondering what mix ratio you used. I found these instructions online that had this in the instructions from a company called Aldax Enterprises(Aldax Molds). Not sure if same product, bottles have no company name on them, but the basic mix is 2:1.

Maximum bubble release–
This product can be mixed at a ratio of 65% hardener. This will create a super clear
bubble free finish. Mixing by weight (100:65 resin/hardener). Your pieces will cure faster, harder, and have less
bubbles than the 2
-1 mixture. This mixing procedure
is not recommended on large pieces above 2".
Click to expand...
This makes sense. Although, it seems you would end up not using all of the product.
 
Update on the Liquid Diamonds stuck in the poly sucker mold that was not sprayed with mold release: freezing the mold with the resin stuck in it allowed removal of the piece without damage to the mold.
IMG_0565.JPG
 
Last edited:
I think Mike is working on using different ratios of the LD we have now. It has been suggested that I contact my supplier about this. I hesitate to do that at this point. Pending Mike's report. It seems to me, based on Stans information, perhaps the LD makers, should make an adjustment in the amount of hardener we purchase. By my standards, this stuff isn't cheap. Waste...doesn't appeal to me at all. So, I will wait for Mike's results.
 
Here are a few of the blanks we cast on the 1st of Sept. I think the Liquid Diamonds looks pretty nice. These are some Labels I printed, using waterproof paper from Online Labels.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180911_114644548.jpg
    IMG_20180911_114644548.jpg
    77.2 KB · Views: 200
  • IMG_20180911_114810486.jpg
    IMG_20180911_114810486.jpg
    80.9 KB · Views: 185
  • IMG_20180911_114839680.jpg
    IMG_20180911_114839680.jpg
    83.9 KB · Views: 193
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom