Adding Dye to Liquid Diamonds

[rjmarc]

So these are my first attempts. Liquid Diamond without a pressure pot seemed like it would work for me from watching youtube stuff. Any way my first blank came out well from the standpoint of being solid and good color without bubbles. But what happened was that after mixing some purple and white from separate cups into a blue base, even though I barely mixed them the colors blended together into almost one color though not what I hoped as attractive as it was. So I viewed more you tubes and found one that said LD should have dyed resin added to base at 120F degrees. Having an infrared thermometer, it seemed like a no brainer. So I mixed the dyes like the first time. One cup of two ounces blue, one cup of 1/2 oz purple and 1/2 oz white then waited. After about 40 minutes went back and larger cup temp had raced up to 140 and the smaller ones were still at 94. Well I poured them into the mold at that point not being sure I should wait any longer given the temp of the main component. It seems have come out better than the first try but still seems to have blended a lot even with minimal shapint with a stick. Does anyone know why the larger portion heated up so quickly. I mixed the original clear batch all together. Then divided and waited before taking temps. So it was puzzling that the reacted at different rates. Any suggestions for adding dye without their blending together excessively would be appreciated.

 

[RobS]

Shooting from the hip, the larger portion would have greater heat generation, because the curing process generates heat. So more resin more heat.

It would likely be easier on you to do equal portions (1 oz of each)

Additionally you will want to weigh the amount of dye you add. So that the densities of the 3 colors are the same.

 

[rjmarc]

Shooting from the hip, the larger portion would have greater heat generation, because the curing process generates heat. So more resin more heat.

It would likely be easier on you to do equal portions (1 oz of each)

Additionally you will want to weigh the amount of dye you add. So that the densities of the 3 colors are the same.

So I get the different amount generating more heat in the larger and the notion of using equal portions seems pretty sensible. As far as weighing the dye added, I am not sure how that would work since I was adding drops of dye until I got the level of opacity I wanted. I suppose I could use the same number of drops in each as well. Thanks for the response.

 

[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska. I have not started doing my own casting yet but have done a lot of research. It is the increased viscosity of partially cured resin that permits color separation when pouring different colors. The temperature is simply a correlation between the partially cured viscosity of a specific resin. Almost all of the temperature/viscosity data out on the internet is in reference to Alumilite.

The same reason that Liquid Diamonds works OK without a pressure pot is the reason that makes it problematic to achieve good color separation. Liquid Diamonds is classified as a low viscosity epoxy with an extended working time.

Regards,
Dave

 

[RobS]

So I get the different amount generating more heat in the larger and the notion of using equal portions seems pretty sensible. As far as weighing the dye added, I am not sure how that would work since I was adding drops of dye until I got the level of opacity I wanted. I suppose I could use the same number of drops in each as well. Thanks for the response.

If one color needs 5 drops, one needs 6 and one needs 7, not that big a deal. But if one needs 5, one needs 20 then it could be an issue. This is usually more critical when added colored mica powders. I just figured I'd through that out now.

 

[its_virgil]

If one color needs 5 drops, one needs 6 and one needs 7, not that big a deal. But if one needs 5, one needs 20 then it could be an issue. This is usually more critical when added colored mica powders. I just figured I'd through that out now.

The original poster is using Liquid Diamonds which is an epoxy resin with two parts. No drops involved. Liquid diamonds is mixed in ratio 2:1 (resin:hardner) by weight and measuring in grams is better. Smaller castings need more accurate measurements.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[eharri446]

try to let your resin mixture come up to the desired temperature before splitting into the two separate parts. That way the resin in both parts will be the same. Then you should be able to add your dye and then combine the two resin mixtures.