Alumilite problem

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BarrierBob

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
164
Location
5591 Summerland Drive, Marysville CA
Hello Everyone,
I have been having some problems with Alumilite resin. I got my first resin saver mold from Charlie, and wanted to try it out. I tried a couple labels, on cigar pen tubes. I weighed and combined the part "A" & "B" as I have done many times before. Each time the cast comes out white. I'm using crystal clear. Never had a problem before, but now ---white. I thought that I caused it the first go-round by over pressurizing my pot to about 45 psi, but the second was only to 20psi. Need some inputs. I really like the resin saver mold but can't get the pour to come out clear. ????????
 
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Is it white or cloudy? I'm sure there are others that would be of more help than me, but if its cloudy, your getting moisture from something. What are you casting? By that I mean, can you be more specific.......

James
 
If you are pressurizing the pot, it's possible that lots of moisture from your compressor is being pushed into the pot. Make sure you have one of those water removal filters. You may also have oil from the compressor but that would require an oiled design, which is not unheard of these days as they do last a very long time and have become cheaper.
 
I don't have any facts, but believe the small volume of the resin saver mold keeps the alumilite from catalyzing properly (not enough heat). I had this problem 20% of the time. I'm now preheating the mold, but have not made enough casts to validate.

Also, due to the small volume, accurate 50/50 measurement is much harder to accomplish. I've never had the problem when pouring 200 or so grams. This could also contribute to the volume related heating helping the reaction along too.

I'm sure Curtis (MesquiteMan) will offer advise. Go with it!

Tom
 
Thanks for all the input. I'll check all those issues. Is it possible that the Alumilite has drawn moisture, just sitting? The bottles have been stored opened( but closed cap) for a few months. Are there any indicators that this may have happened? ( I mean prior to mixing and pouring.
 
I don't the amount has any thing to do with it, I have been using Charlies mold for a couple of months now and I have used a 32oz kit and have not had a problem with any fogging. I have switched to weighing in grams instead of oz's and I have better and faster set-up of the alumilite. I have used the mold with the Pressure pot and with out. I have not had any fogging at all.
 
When you said white, the first thing that came to mind was 'what kind of plastic' the
mixing cup is made from.

When I first started doing small mixes, I had some trouble with white casts. It turned
out that I was using a different mixing cup, since the amount was so small. I think
the plastic of the cup was melting into the resin mix and causing a reaction that
'fogged' the mix. I think it was the small, white bathroom sized cups.

When I went back to the hard, clear cups I'd been using all along, the problem went
away, BUT I also changed other things at the same time.. so I can't say for sure that
this was the culprit. I had a lot of moisture problems at the same time. (humidity)
and so I also started warming the molds and resin, as well as de-gassing the Alumilite.
It could be that the 'white' part is very small.. tiny bubbles so close together that it
looks like solid white. Or could it be melted pastic?
 
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