Stabilizing - Dye options

[Skewer]

Working with Cactus Juice - has anyone experimented with different dyes or is the alumilite dye the only game in town? I've been reading around and i see people trying to use ink from ink jet cartridges - CSUSA has some different dyes but not sure how they would work in this application. I've tried 'searching' but not having much luck, so forgive me if i've overlooked a previous post.

 

[Monty]

If you are referring to the Stickfast dyes, they are a powder (that's what it says in the description), not sure how well they work unless they dissolve in the stabilizing solution.
Not sure, but it sounds like the Stickfast solution is the same as CJ. Curtis should know for sure.

 

[MesquiteMan]

For stabilizing, you need a dye that is rich enough to impart good color in the wood while not messing up the chemistry of the resin. You also need something that can actually get into the wood.

There are powder dyes out there that can do a good job. The Stickfast dyes are a powdered aniline dye and can do a descent job. The issue, though, is they will not completely dissolve in the resin. This leaves a sludge in the bottom of your dyed resin container. I tested the dyes that they are selling long before they ever came to market and they did not fit with what I wanted to offer my customers.
Alumilite dyes are a reactive dye that actually chemically cross links with the resin as it cures and becomes part of the resin molecule chain rather than just sitting in suspension like a powdered dye does. This makes things more colorfast among other things.

Compared to other liquid based dyes, Alumilite dyes will not affect the chemistry of the resin no matter what concentration you use. Some liquid dyes will completely mess up the chemistry at high enough concentrations to get good color in the blanks and cause the resin to cure rubbery. Alumilite dyes are also very concentrated so you don't have to use a lot to begin with like you would with something such as Transtint dyes.

Not sure, but it sounds like the Stickfast solution is the same as CJ. Curtis should know for sure.

Stickfast resin came out a year and a half after Cactus Juice came to market. They are one of the copycat companies that like to take ideas from us smaller guys and try to capitalize on them. I can not say for sure what their blend of methacrylate esters is but I would guess they are similar if not the same.

 

[Skewer]

Thanks Curtis - I ended up getting some of the alumilite dye from hobby lobby - it was actually the cheapest place i could find it.