Silmar Questions

[PTownSubbie]

Hey all, I am new to casting but am very interested in doing more of it. I am searching for a local distributor for the Silmar product. I have found one but they have Silmar40. The Silmar40 is a water clear casting resin.

Does anyone know how this differs from the Silmar41 that you see most people using?

Thanks for the info!

 

[kirkfranks]

See Here
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?p=815818&highlight=Silmar+40#post815818

 

[Glass Scratcher]

Hey all, I am new to casting but am very interested in doing more of it. I am searching for a local distributor for the Silmar product. I have found one but they have Silmar40. The Silmar40 is a water clear casting resin.

Does anyone know how this differs from the Silmar41 that you see most people using?

Thanks for the info!

Where did you find the S40, and do they sell it in 5 gal pails? What was the price they quoted you? How long have they had it sitting in stock? Do they ship? What is their contact information?

If the stock has sat longer than 6 months you don't want it, as it ambers and accelerates the longer it sits. S41/40/5x are pre-promoted and will self-accelerate and form a solid block. You should only buy resin in the amount you can use up in a 6 month period. It is not that the resin is going bad, it is designed to do this. What company wants to liable for a chemical fire, or poisoning because some yahoo left liquid resin next to the hot wall in their garage for 2 years...

S40 is a clear casting resin. It is in the same family of casting/lam resins as S41. It has a higher kick-off temp and final temp. It also has a higher deformation temp 170F, so you don't have to worry as much about the problem some of us in the south have with hot cars and people leaving pens in them.

The problem most people have had with it is that for large castings 3" or greater you have to either reduce your catalyst for a slower cure or make a water jacket for your mold to absorb the heat to keep it from overheating and cracking. Larger (greater than 3" cross section) castings should be cast in S41 due to its lower exotherm.

If you are looking for a local distributor you may want to start with Interplastics distributor network.
http://www.interplastic.com/distributor_TR.asp?country=&state=&btnShowAll=Show+All+Distributors

Remember that the resin designation for S41 is SiL95BA-41

 

[PTownSubbie]

Where did you find the S40, and do they sell it in 5 gal pails? What was the price they quoted you? How long have they had it sitting in stock? Do they ship? What is their contact information?

If you are looking for a local distributor you may want to start with Interplastics distributor network.
http://www.interplastic.com/distributor_TR.asp?country=&state=&btnShowAll=Show+All+Distributors

Remember that the resin designation for S41 is SiL95BA-41

I may have mislead you by saying I was looking for a distributor. I am really just looking for a company that sold it locally. I started calling plastics places from the yellow pages. After about 3 calls, one of the places gave me a good lead to a seller. I don't believe they are a true reseller because he said something about not knowing if his prices were competitive because he was not a Silmar distributor. There are no real distributors in VA.

I will check with them when I go to purchase to answer many of your questions about age, shipping, ect.

Catalyst included: They have everything from 1 quart to 55 gal drums.
1 gal: $31.69
5 gal: $150.55
I think the prices are fairly competitive. Do you agree?

 

[Glass Scratcher]

I may have mislead you by saying I was looking for a distributor. I am really just looking for a company that sold it locally. I started calling plastics places from the yellow pages. After about 3 calls, one of the places gave me a good lead to a seller. I don't believe they are a true reseller because he said something about not knowing if his prices were competitive because he was not a Silmar distributor. There are no real distributors in VA.

I will check with them when I go to purchase to answer many of your questions about age, shipping, ect.

Catalyst included: They have everything from 1 quart to 55 gal drums.
1 gal: $31.69
5 gal: $150.55
I think the prices are fairly competitive. Do you agree?

Your lead is the first I have heard that is willing to sell anything under 55gal drums. The one gal price is less than S41. The 5 gal price is $5 more than USComposites price for S41 and quite a bit more than Composites One, But it is tangerines to clementines in pricing. But he is including catalyst as well.

Beggars for S40 really can't be choosers at this point.

Let me/us know how you do, I am interrested in the S40.