Advice for a resin casting beginner please!

[darylcav]

Hi everyone. I have been inspired by many of the people here and would like to try my hand at resin casting. As I have never tried it before I would like to make as small an investment as possible in case I can't do it. I will need practice and was wondering if a small kit I found would be enough to learn the process. This kit costs about $30 and contains these supplies:

8 oz. Kit Alumilite Regular, 1/4 lb. QuickSet RTV Silicone Rubber, 1/4 lb. Alumilite Synthetic Modeling Clay

There's also measuring cups, stirring sticks, a how-to-book, etc. I would like to know if anyone with experience thinks this is enough to really learn this hobby or should I get more? I am not worried about value at the moment just the total dollar amount. There is also a larger kit for about $70 that contains 4 times the amounts listed above. Thank you!

[rayar]

I got the same kit a couple of months ago for the same purpose, but still haven't used it yet. From the amount of materials included it doesn't seem like you can make a decent size mold and you have to make sure all materials are measured properly. Try casting a robot fist or something close to flat like a short sword so you can test your skills. My local hobby shop doesn't carry the larger kit, but for four times the material I would have gladly paid twice the price.

[acturus]

Only advise a can give you is this.
1- Make sure you do this in a welll ventilated area make sure the windows are all opened you dont want to inhale the fumes.

2- Read the how to book!

3- prepare all your stuff before.

4- i would get the bigger kit the first one seems too small.

5- read all the info you can on casting on the net its free and youl often find some neat tricks to help with casting resin and prevent air bubbles from ruining your cast.

heres is a link : www.paint-sculpt.com/tutorials/mold-making-tutorial/mold-making-tutorial-overview.html

[maximuz26]

Hi guys! hope you understand my poor english.. i just need help if where i can buy materials for rubber/silicon molding & casting here in the manila philippines?.. is there any exclusive stores here or exact place?. i hope you can help me guys.. thank you! GOD bless

[magengar]

Welcome to this aspect of the hobby, guys!
As Acturus said, make sure you're in a well-ventilated area.
Crack a window open and have a fan ready to circulate
fresh air in the room so you don't breath the fumes.

As for Beginner's practice, you wanna use as little of the
material as possible, since the Beginner's kit doesn't provide
enough material to make a decent sized casting/mold.

For starters, try casting something very simple, like a spike.
This is to get you used to observing the resin hardening inside
the mold and watching out for stuff like airbubbles and particles.
Use clay as the mold.
Here's how...

Roll or cut out a palm-sized chunk of modeling clay onto a flat
tabletop surface...

...then, use a hard-cover book or flat object to press the clay
flat just a little bit... press the clay so a flat top forms on top
of it, leaving the clay about two or three inches deep...

...Now, grab a spike or cone-shaped object (a plastic rocket
nose cone from the hobby store works fine), and gently
push the sharp pointy end downwards into the clay,
keep the nose cone Vertical and straight as you push it into
the clay...

...Now, GENTLY remove the nose cone from the clay until
it is completely out of the clay...
...you should now have a "mold" to cast a "Spike"...

...Follow the instructions in the Alumilite booklet to mix
your resin. It should be a 1:1 ratio mixture
(1 part resin, to 1 part hardener)... use the included measuring
cup to measure your ratio mix.
Then stir the mixture, counting to yourself out loud as
"1thousandONE... 1thousandTWO... 1thousandTHREE..." until
you get to 1thousandFORTY".......... it takes 40 seconds to stir
the mixture... then pour it into the clay Spike mold until it reaches
the top of the mold.

The mixture will start to harden in about 7 seconds, you'll see it
turning white. DO NOT gaze at it at close range, or else the fumes
will knock you right the fk out and damage your eyes!
The mixture is hardening from the HEAT it generates to form the
resin plastic...

...Wait about a minute or two, and then remove the new cast
"Spike" from the clay mold. Don't worry about deforming the clay
mold, since it's Clay you can always make it as a new mold for
another spike or any other simple object pressed half-way into it.

Now you have a resin Spike which you can use as an accessory
to go on a robot part (imagine the mechabeast Doublas-M2 with
his leg and forearm spikes).

That was simple. Wanna try a more sophisticated object?
Try casting a small Halloween skull pressed Face-down half-way
into the clay to make yourself a "Skull door plaque".

This is how I started learning how to cast stuff.

There are lots of tutorials on how to cast and make molds
here in the FanArt/Custom threads.
Also, I have a thread on a project I'm working on here...
robotjapan.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=fancustom&thread=18307&post=222327
Showing the process Step-by-Step.

...Speakin of which, I will resume that project later in the week.
I'm still working on a current urgent project deadlined for
early next month.

Hope this helps. Any questions, please ask, we'll try our best to help.

zozo-mag

[TheMazingerZ]

When it comes to resin casting, magengar is GOD!

}D

[xiombarg]

From my experience you'll use a lot more silicone than you will resin, when trying to learn.

What you'll be able to do with this starter kit will depend on what you are trying to cast, and how big these objects are. Somethings are very easy to cast, like round, symmetrical objects, and then others can be hard to cast, such as asymmetrical objects with complex geometry.

The best starter kit I've come across is the kit sold at www.micromark.com that comes with the CR600 resin. But it costs around $100.

Here's a couple of extra pointers:

-Jump in. Don't be intimidated by it. Even if after trying one failed experiment, you'll learn a lot very quickly.

- Be sure that everything cures in a warm room. This is especially true with silicone. If your room is cool, everything will take longer to cure, and silicone might feel sticky. If you live in cooler conditions and your silicone molds seem to remain sticky, set your oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit and put your mold in there for only as long as it takes for the oven to warm up, and that should fix it.

- Mix your silicone well.

- Watch youtube videos. There are a lot of videos on casting, and don't worry about what brand of products they are using because using resin and silicone all works the same basic way. The differences from one brand to another will be how strong or flexible it is, and how fast the stuff sets up.

-Here's a tip that no company will tell you about: You can re-use your junked silicone molds. Just chop these up like chunks of cheese and then use these chunks to fill in the spaces around your object before pouring in the new silicone. You can save a lot of money this way.

[xiombarg]

Here is the micromark kit I was talking about:

www.micromark.com/Complete-Resin-Casting-Starter-Set,8174.html

This was the first kit I started with about four years ago, so I can answer any questions you might have about it.

[TheMazingerZ]

I'm thinking about ordering that kit. How good is the silicone for items with deep undercuts, like a Mazinger head for example? And how about the resin? Is it as good as Alumilite's? Any first hand info is appreciated.

}D

[xiombarg]

The silicone is very flexible, which is what you want for deep undercuts.

The CR600 resin is made by Smooth-on (it's the same as the Smooth-Cast 305 resin) and possibly the most widely used resin in the hobby because it's good for just about anything. It's a 2 part 1:1 ratio so you don't have to weigh it out (just measure it), it pours like water, it's fairly flexible, and it cures fast, but not too fast. I would stay away from any resin that cures in less than 30 minutes, because it can start to harden before you pour it. Another thing that makes this resin ideal is that it also has a decent amount of flexibility at 8%, which is not bad.

[TheMazingerZ]

Thanks man! Yeah, fast curing resin sucks! Unfortunately I'm stuck with a couple bottles of Alumilite's resin which cures in about 2 to 3 minutes from the moment the two parts come in contact with each other. I've wated a lot of resin because it started to cure and gel before I could finish the pour. I will definitely buy the CR600 from now on!

}D

[xiombarg]

With really fast curing resin, you also have a much higher chance of getting air bubble holes on the surface of your cast because it gets so thick so fast that the bubbles don't pop, or don't have time to move their way to where the vent hole is. Even some 30 minute resins thicken up too quickly, but from my experience the CR600 (or Smoothcast 305) isn't one of them, as it seems to thicken at a consistent speed.

If you still want to try and use your Alumilite fast cure and slow down the set up time, pop it in the fridge for fifteen or twenty minutes before using it. This should give you at least a couple of extra minutes of pot life ("pot life" is the term for how long it can sit before turning un-pourable. "Demold time" is the minimum amount of time you should wait before taking the resin out of the mold after it's been poured).

[magengar]

Xiombarg, your tip about using old silicone chunks is GOLDEN! Thanks!

zozo-mag

[xiombarg]

Dec 11, 2011 17:59:16 GMT -5 magengar said:

Xiombarg, your tip about using old silicone chunks is GOLDEN! Thanks!

zozo-mag

Thanks!
I learned that tip from a book by Tim Bruckner, the action figure designer extraordinaire.

[magengar]

Thanks... Looks like I'll have to web-search Tim Bruckner's book...
...it can serve as a "bible" for this creative aspect of the hobby.

zozo-mag