PR not curing properly

[grz5]

Hello,
I attempted my first cast last night with simlar 41 and as to be expected it didn't turn out the way i would have liked.

I tried to use 2 colors (1oz of each color) yielding a 2 oz blank.

I added I scoop of mica to each (about a pinky nail size)

I added 5 drops of catalyst to each one and that's when I started noticing things weren't going properly.

1) It took more than 30 minutes for the PR to become thick.
2) when I demolded the piece after allowing it to cure for 12 hours the blank was bendable and not rigid.

Any ideas as to what I could be doing wrong?

The temp in my garage last night was around 60-70 degrees.

 

[truckfixr]

It sounds like you're not doing anything wrong really. The PR just isn't warm enough. PR takes a lot longer to gel and cure as the temp starts getting below 80 or so degrees. I use an old food dehydrator to warm the blanks while they cure during cooler weather. Put you blank in a warm place and give it a bit more time. It will cure nicely.

 

[mredburn]

Try putting it in sunlight.

 

[Craftdiggity]

Your blank will be fine. Like the other said, just warm it up a little and give it some more time. In the future, you can add another drop or two of catalyst to speed things up. Just don't add too much as it could make the blank brittle. The best thing you can do to speed up the process is to heat the resin up prior to adding catalyst. This will cause the resin to react quicker with the catalyst. If you plan on doing a lot of casting, you might consider getting a cheap toaster oven so that you can cure the blanks faster.

 

[grz5]

Got it to cure fully after I used my girlfriends hairdrier and a carboard box as a makeshift oven. . Also just made a 2nd blank using white and blue with heated water (2 mins in microwave so water was steaming) with 5 drops of MEPK and WOW the white set in about 7 minutes...I actually had to make a new batch before the blue cured because the white was too thick to pour into the mold.

Has anyone ever done a test to see which colors cure faster? Also what is a good way or pouring in a vertical mold to get nice swirls?

 

[renowb]

I put a heat lamp on mine sometimes. It will take a while sometimes when the temp & humidity is not cooperating.

 

[Ruby pen turning]

I did some in my garage at around 10:00am. I put a light over it with a cheezy newspaper tent over it and it was still VERY soft at 9:30ish last night.
Cooler temps and it takes forever to harden.