First attempt at PR Casting

[Draken]

Here's the results of my first time casting PR. All in all, I think they came out looking pretty good. Now I just need to turn them to see how they look on the inside.

The four colors top left and the two bottom left and the two in the middle are made from liquid dye and PearlEx. The last three colors on the bottom row are all just PearlEx. The rest of the ones on the upper row are a hodgepodge of left over PR after a pour, didn't want to waste any of it. They are odd enough color combinations so I may end up not using them. I'm most pleased with how the mixed blue and green ones turned out. Hope that mix continues to the center so it comes out when turned. Here is the procedure I used:

1. Pour out PR in unwaxed, heavy bond paper cups.
2. Mix in any dyes, making sure it is well blended (30-60 seconds).
3. Mix in PearlEx, making sure it is well blended (30-60 seconds).
4. Add catalyst, 7 drops per ounce (first few pours) or 18 drops per 2 1/2 ounces (majority of the pours).
5. Mix well, two minutes minimum.
6. Create funnel/crease in side of cup, and pour PR into the ice cube tray that JimGo pioneered. I needed two trays for this, which used up my entire quart of PR.

Note to any one using the ice cube trays, do not use the center most hole. It is not cut through on the bottom like the rest of the holes are, getting the hardened PR out of that hole was a major pain. The other 26 tubes in the tray work just fine.

Oh, and no, I didn't write down the ingredients to make up each color. In hind sight, I probably should have. [B)]

Questions/comments, I'd love to hear them!
Draken

 

[wdcav1952]

They look ducky DRAKEn. []

 

[swm6500]

Draken, it looks like they will turn out fine.

 

[TheHoneymooners]

NIce first job!! much better than our first! We've found that 4-5 drops per ounce works best in our area of the country (humid south) as the recommended amount resulted in too-brittle acrylics that broke or blew out too easily.

Also---to save on resin, Mike marked the outside of the ice cube tray tube at the highest mark for the pen blank---that way, we dont waste too much. If we find we don't have enough for a whole pen, we'll pour some up to the top, then about 1" or so and make a perfume pen out of that piece. Your 'mix jobs' might work great for perfume pens or key chains!!!

Have fun!! We've had a blast, on top of losing some much-needed brain cells when pouring our resins!!! )

Connie

 

[TheHoneymooners]

oh....and one more thing. We've found that some home brews can be rather transculent when turned, so we paint most of our tubes prior to gluing (well, how else would you do it? LOL) I think Alice/ELody has mentioned that she paints the inside of the blanks, which would work too. Just a matter of preference I suppose!

 

[JimGo]

They look pretty great; congrats! You'll be amazed at how nice even the blander-looking blanks come out when turne.

 

[DWK5150]

Nice work!!! I like the bottom row red ones on the end. Hey if you need help turning any of those Ill give you a hand with that. hinthint.

 

[Geo in Winnipeg]

Draken, where do you get ice cube trays that will make round castings? I've only seen trays that make square ice cubes.

 

[fitzman163]

Very nice! If you could mix dark blue and the gold on the top left I would be interested in buying some.Let me know.[]

 

[Draken]

Geo, the round ice cube trays are from Walmart, thanks to JimGo for the pointer on those. They can also be found in places such as Linens N Things, or on the web at http://www.icetubes.com/.

Fitzman, now that I look back at the photo, my description has two sets reversed. The gold ones you like are pure PearlEx, and the pink colored ones on the bottom row are 2 1/2 oz of PR, with PearlEx and only a single drop of red dye. I didn't try blue with gold, just with silver, so perhaps I'll have to take a shot at that combination. I don't plan on casting any more PR until next spring as it is starting to get too cool to do this outside, and it stinks way too much to attempt to do inside. If I like how these look once turned, I'll cast more next spring, and could probably even be persuaded to sell some.

TheHoneymooners, what color do you paint your tubes, or does it depend on the color of the PR? Also, do you use standard spray paint or something else? I plan on checking for translucense once drilled, before glueing.

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments! Looking forward to getting my lathe so I can turn them.

Cheers,
Draken

 

[epson]

Draken, Do you coat the tubes with anything to make the PR come out?

 

[JimGo]

Jac,
There's no need to coat the ice cube trays, although the PR does OCCASIONALLY stick. When that happens, I've found that a few hits with a transfer punch and hammer usually does the trick. When that fails (only happened on three out of about 30 blanks so far) I drizzle a little Acetone on top of the stubborn blank and hit it a few more times. The acetone helps get rid of the last vestages of the "tacky" feeling that PR can sometimes have, and the PR no longer sticks to the tube (hitting the blank helps the acetone work its way down to where the blank is stuck).

 

[Draken]

As JimGo indicated, there isn't a need to coat the tray. Most of my slid out pretty easily with just a firm push by my thumb on either the top or the bottom. The only one which was a true pain was that center tube. It has four small openings at the bottom instead of one large opening, and the PR went through them and hardened. I had to chip the PR below the tube away to get it to release. You can see the bottom of the one blank in the photo. It is the center one of the three copper colored ones in the bottom row.

Draken

 

[mick]

Draken I'll answer for Connie since she is at work...BTW I'm the other half of thehoneymooners...lol I usually paint the tubes according to the color of the blanks which is sometimes a pain since most all our casting are done like your green and blue one. White is always a good choice although on slimline pens it can tend to lighten up the colors considerabley.I have used colors to actually change the resin color,one set of blanks I cast were red and green. I turned a set and they were pretty translucent. I painted the tubes blue and ended up with a very pretty teal and dark red pen. Changed the color completely! So choice of color is pretty much up to you and what you're trying to end up with. Don't be afraid to experiment I figured it out once, I buy my resin by the gallon and larger sizes of pearlex online so I have about .25 in each blank. So .50 in a pen you don't like the way it looks, part it off the tubes and glue up another....lol. Have fun and feel free to ask any questions that come to mind, although I'm sure Jim is more familar with the ins and outs of resins that we are. Pssst Jim I'll be watching the mail box for that check []

 

[TheHoneymooners]

ya'll might laugh, but i beat the crap outta my tubes to get 'em all out LOL I take an old wooden spoon handle, i push it in and out, between all the tubes to loosen it up some, then I smack 'em a few times on each side. Doing that seems to loosen them up, when I'm more ready to see how they turned out than they are! LOL Even that doesn't always work, so I just leave those in and by the next day, they'll pop out. I use the same wooden spoon handle and a hammer to push/hammer them out.

Once you break that center piece to smithereens, its no longer a problem.

Who needs anger management when you've got resins to fix?

)

 

[wayneis]

What I have found that works best for me when I paint the tubes is Rust Oliem spray paint. Sometimes when I am in a hurry I'll use markers but I prefer paint. I also use a hairdryer most times to speed dry time and help so I don't end up having a drip. I have found that I like the flat or satin paint, not gloss because then the glue bubbles really can show through. On the tubes that I want black I have found some grill paint that dries with a ruff surface and it really works well. I use a coat hanger to hang the tube and hold it in frount of a cardboard box so that I don't get spray all over the place.

The other thing that I have found is that these blanks can fool you as far as tranlucency goes. To many times I thought that a blank wound not need paint after I drilled but after I got to turning I found that I was wrong and then its to late. Personally I really don't like to see the brass tube so I now paint almost all of my acrylics.

Wayne

 

[cozee]

Hmmmmmm, I guess with the light translucency of some of the resins and with many painting the tubes, has any one ever tried machine finishing the tubes for a graphic effect? One of my other hobbies which was my profession at one time is custom painting/airbrushing. It is getting more and more popular to airbrush on metal panels that have various machined surfaces so as to allow the machining to show through as part of the background. Machined surfaces such as but not limited to:

Swirls like you may find on street rod dashes.
Grinder marks.
Sanding marks.
Polished surfaces.
Sandblasted surfaces.

Is it possible to even change tube material? I mean instead of the typical brass I've noticed in about every kit I have looked at, can one use aluminum? Or copper? Stainless? Ooh, swirled copper or polished stainless!! I can see a lot of creative posibilties in this hobby!! Now, besides blank, I gotta round up some casting resins!

 

[justdawn]

What great infomation. thank you to everyone who is responding. I went out today and bought my round ice trays at Walmart. And tonight I hope to mix up some and see what happens

Dawn

 

[JimGo]

I think brass is used because it is fairly inexpensive, and the tubes are already being manufactured for other purposes (like ammunition casings). Other materials can probably be used, but you'd either have to make an adapter to fit the standard tube sizes for those materials or make your own tubes.

 

[cozee]

but you'd either have to make an adapter to fit the standard tube sizes for those materials or make your own tubes.

Typically, no matter the material, tubing sizes are standard, save for custom sized projects. Aluminum though may not be available in a thin enough wall. Time to drag out the McMaster-Carr catalog and do csome checking!