Reeveseye
Member
I'm having a resin casting problem I'm hoping that some of the more experienced members here can help solve. I've been pen turning for about nine months now, and have begun casting my own resin. I really like the wood/resin hybrid look, but I keep running across little cloudy spots and flecks in my blanks.
If you look at the attached photo, you can see them indicated by the red arrows. They tend to pop up near the spots where wood meets resin. The blanks always look good when I pull them out of the mold. I never see the cloudy flecks on the outside. They always seem to be on the inside, showing up only when I do the turning. And there aren't a lot of them - usually just one or two. Most of the resin looks great once turned, but there always seems to be just a little cloudy spot somewhere. This has happened on almost every one of my hybrid blank attempts, but hardly ever when I just cast all-resin blanks. So I'm assuming the wood has something to do with it. I'm new enough at this that I figure it must be user error, but I can't figure out why.
I'll describe my process in as much detail as possible. The wood is brown malee burl, stabilized. I'm using Alumilite Clear Slow resin - the kind that gives you 10 or 12 minutes of working time. I'm using a silicone mold, sprayed with the Stoner anti-sticking spray. The mold is heated slightly in a microwave, to lukewarm but never hot. I fix the wood pieces in place within the mold using hot glue. I thoroughly mix the Alumilte for at least three minutes, carefully scraping the sides and bottom of the container to make sure there are no unmixed pockets. Then I wait until the temperature is around 100 degrees before separating, mixing in the colors, and pouring the colored resin into the molds. Then it all goes into the pressure pot at 60 PSI until cured.
Could it be the type of resin I'm using? I really like the Alumilite, especially the speed at which it cures. Nice to be able to pop blanks out of the mold only a few hours after pouring. But if more patience is required, I can switch to Liquid Diamonds or any other slower-curing brand the more experienced casters might suggest. Or am I making some other mistake to cause these unsightly pockets of annoyance? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If you look at the attached photo, you can see them indicated by the red arrows. They tend to pop up near the spots where wood meets resin. The blanks always look good when I pull them out of the mold. I never see the cloudy flecks on the outside. They always seem to be on the inside, showing up only when I do the turning. And there aren't a lot of them - usually just one or two. Most of the resin looks great once turned, but there always seems to be just a little cloudy spot somewhere. This has happened on almost every one of my hybrid blank attempts, but hardly ever when I just cast all-resin blanks. So I'm assuming the wood has something to do with it. I'm new enough at this that I figure it must be user error, but I can't figure out why.
I'll describe my process in as much detail as possible. The wood is brown malee burl, stabilized. I'm using Alumilite Clear Slow resin - the kind that gives you 10 or 12 minutes of working time. I'm using a silicone mold, sprayed with the Stoner anti-sticking spray. The mold is heated slightly in a microwave, to lukewarm but never hot. I fix the wood pieces in place within the mold using hot glue. I thoroughly mix the Alumilte for at least three minutes, carefully scraping the sides and bottom of the container to make sure there are no unmixed pockets. Then I wait until the temperature is around 100 degrees before separating, mixing in the colors, and pouring the colored resin into the molds. Then it all goes into the pressure pot at 60 PSI until cured.
Could it be the type of resin I'm using? I really like the Alumilite, especially the speed at which it cures. Nice to be able to pop blanks out of the mold only a few hours after pouring. But if more patience is required, I can switch to Liquid Diamonds or any other slower-curing brand the more experienced casters might suggest. Or am I making some other mistake to cause these unsightly pockets of annoyance? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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