Has Anyone ever cast an inlay kit

[tdibiasio]

I had a thought the other day about clear casting a stars and stripes inlay kit and wondered if anyone has ever done this with success. My intention for wanting to do this is to ensure that I get a nice shiny finish. Now I have a CA process that works for me that I have honed over the years, but every CA finish I do I have a worry that something is going to go wrong along the way and given the cost of these kits I dont want mess one up on the finishing stages.

My thought was to assemble the kit as normal and sand down to the bushings, remove the bushings and sand the kit lower and then cast in a resin saver mold. My only concern is that I have been struggling lately with bubbles in my clear label casting and I dont know if air will escape through the stars or stripes - I dont think it will but just thought I would ask if anyone has done it before?

TomD

 

[Richard Gibson]

Just from what you have said here Tom, it seems you are simply trading one worry (CA finish) for another (air bubbles). If your CA finish technique is good and has served you well, I would just stick with that.

 

[BRobbins629]

While very feasible, the risks appear the same. I would go with CA. If something goes wrong, you can always sand sown the CA to the wood and start over. Nothing lost.

 

[Buzzzz4]

I you've assembled the laser kit right and didn't ruin any parts, I would stick with the CA. If you're like me and break the little pieces, I like to cast portions of the kit. A little off topic from what you had, but you can cast these like the wood/resin blanks. Still have to do a CA finish though.

 

[Phunky_2003]

While I havent casted a lazer kit. I have turned wood blanks down below bushing size and casted.

With you stating using a resin saver mold I would use these steps.

Turn blanks below bushing size.
Seal wood with CA.
Cast blanks

To get a good casting with wood in a resin saver mold the resin will need something to bind to. That would be the reason for the CA. I wouldn't recommend using pressure doing this while possible if you add too much it will force resin into the tubes and your lazer kits will be toast.

 

[NewLondon88]

it will work fine as long as you don't have voids holding air. A coat of thin
CA should stop that anyway.
And if you need to take the resin off again for some reason, throw it in
a container of acetone overnight. The resin turns into a slushy gritty thing
that will come right off. (but probably seal that blank very well!)
I just sent out a pen that was a wood tube cast in resin. not an inlay, but
even more porous. I did have to re-do that one because i was impatient.
(didn't let my clear coat cure long enough) but it came out fine. I had to
soak that one and recover the blank but it worked great.
I'd show pics, but he hasn't gotten the pen yet.

ps .. often recommendations get expanded over time and repeating.
(sort of like playing telephone) and while many consider Alumilite to
be better for casting wood, somehow that has gotten turned into
"PR is no good for casting wood" or "PR won't stick to wood".
Neither is true, I do it all the time.

 

[pensbydesign]

never tried casting a completed inlay kit, i did cast some left over pieces i had problems with air bubbles getting trapped on the bottom side of the blank.

 

[NewLondon88]

I cast some of the leftovers too. Kinda fun! I had some release on the
stoppers of the mold, so I could just turn the blank while it was
partially submerged. Didn't have any bubble problems. But I always
warm the resin, so bubbles aren't normally a problem unless I do
something dumb like cast 20 minutes after applying CA.. :redface:

 

[sbell111]

While I havent casted a lazer kit. I have turned wood blanks down below bushing size and casted.

With you stating using a resin saver mold I would use these steps.

Turn blanks below bushing size.
Seal wood with CA.
Cast blanks

To get a good casting with wood in a resin saver mold the resin will need something to bind to. That would be the reason for the CA. I wouldn't recommend using pressure doing this while possible if you add too much it will force resin into the tubes and your lazer kits will be toast.

While I certainly don't recommend over pressurizing these items, resin getting forced into the tubes is not necessarily a game ender. I've accidently had this happen to me a few times. Each time, I merely topped off the mold and put it back under pressure. Once the resin has cured, I simply drilled an undersized hole through the center of the tube. The resin in the tube came right out and I was in business. Once the pen was finished, you would never know that it was double-cast and that I had to clear the resin out of the tube.

 

[NewLondon88]

While I certainly don't recommend over pressurizing these items, resin getting forced into the tubes is not necessarily a game ender. I've accidently had this happen to me a few times. Each time, I merely topped off the mold and put it back under pressure. Once the resin has cured, I simply drilled an undersized hole through the center of the tube. The resin in the tube came right out and I was in business. Once the pen was finished, you would never know that it was double-cast and that I had to clear the resin out of the tube.

a Q-tip and some Vaseline on the inside of the tube before casting is
a good preventative too