New Casting Urethane Available for Pre-Order

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McKenzie Penworks

McKenzie Penworks

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Joined
Mar 11, 2012
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Location
Fuquay Varina, NC
Wow, I blink and several months have gone by. We've been crazy busy in the shop as we work to keep the new products in stock. Thank you for supporting our small business and helping us keep American made products like our pen kits alive!

As part of bringing back the M3 Material, and converting it to Urethane, we worked closely with Thermoset Solutions who developed 2 new resin products specifically for our needs. The first of those was a specialized resin for M3, but the 2nd one was similar to another urethane we used, with a few improvements. We asked them if we could get a few things:

1. Slightly longer open time
2. Better UV Resistance
3. Same hardness and price

They delivered... and in a big way. We've poured about 1,000lbs of this resin so far. In fact, if you've bought from us in the past several months you probably turned this resin. We like it so much we're going to do something I never thought we'd do... Sell casting resin to other makers.

Now through March 15th we'll be taking pre-orders for the CSD2078 casting resin. There will be a 5% discount on the preorders. It's not a huge discount, but we're already aggressively priced compared to the comparable product. This urethane is still a 1:1 by weight product, has full technical details available on our website, and has been THOROUGHLY tested by ourselves and others. We expect to ship the resin the week of the 17th.

Link here: https://www.mckenziepenworks.com/collections/thermoset-urethane-clear-casting-resin

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have! I've attached the datasheet to this post and it's on our website as well.
 

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Ok thanks. I notice the specs mention heating the mold to 150F - is that just for speedier demold? You can demold in 2-4 hours at room temp?:

Also the specs mention de-airing the resin (I assume that means vacuum) before pouring into the mold. I only have a pressure pot. Do I also need a vacuum chamber?

Lastly, the resin requires 60PSI - that's quite a bit higher than the 40-45PSI I have been using with Clear Slow. Is the 60PSI a firm requirement?
 
For pen blanks etc there's no need to preheat the molds. That's really more for when you're looking for sharp edges and filling out details. No need to degas, it works fine with just pressure. 40psi is fine... No worries there.
 
Got a few questions so added this to the listing...

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does it require a pressure pot? - Yes, like any urethane you'll want to use a pressure pot.

2. What's the shelf life? - 6 months, but will vary based on storage conditions

3. Do I have to vacuum degas? - No, you do not have to vacuum degas. We case our rods under 60psi of pressure with no prior degassing.

4. Do I have to preheat my molds? - No, for most applications there's no need. Pre-heating molds is primarily for designs where you want to ensure you get clean edges, it's not needed for blanks.

5. Does it smell? - Like most urethane resins, there is very little odor with this. Even if you can't smell it, all resins should be used in a well ventilated area for safety.
 
Here's a (fairly long) video of me demoing the resin. For this demo I poured at a very low temp of 86F, just to give you an idea how well the colors stay separated, even if you pour early and maximize your time. Not our usual method of pouring but was just playing around.


And the finished blanks from the pour
20240224_003443.jpg
 
McKenzie Penworks said:
Now through March 15th we'll be taking pre-orders for the CSD2078 casting resin. There will be a 5% discount on the preorders. It's not a huge discount, but we're already aggressively priced compared to the comparable product. This urethane is still a 1:1 by weight product, has full technical details available on our website, and has been THOROUGHLY tested by ourselves and others. We expect to ship the resin the week of the 17th.

Link here: https://www.mckenziepenworks.com/collections/thermoset-urethane-clear-casting-resin

Please feel free to ask any questions you might have! I've attached the datasheet to this post and it's on our website as well.
Click to expand...
Tim,
I'm having foaming problems with my CSD2078. A tray of pine cone foamed and were ruined under pressure. I blamed moisture, though I used the same methods as successful Alumilite pours.

So I ran a test with blue alumilite paste, green alcohol dye, and pink mica powder. I should have done some clear. All foamed (bottom). The identical alumilite (top) did not foam.
IMG_1119.jpeg

These were out of the pressure pot. I also poured tubes if the same under pressure. Obviously the pressure samples will show smaller bubbles. I'll be turning the rods tomorrow to view the interior.

Any suggestions?
 
Definitely would want to see the ones that went under pressure... I'd expect the above results from this urethane when not under pressure. Combination of picking up humidity and no pressure will do that every time even if you just poured it clear.

Alcohol dye is a no go in urethane... Are you using that in alumilite clear slow or their epoxy? I'm not familiar with a paste product... we do use their dyes in all our stuff with no issues. Mica... can absorb enough moisture if it's been open long enough but that depends on your environment. If it's been open in a garage all summer, entirely possible it picked up enough moisture to foam a bit.

Another thing that I think is overlooked is simply the moisture in the air line... If you don't have a filter with desiccant beads, at least spend a little on that. They're like $18 on Amazon. It's a good idea with ANY urethane but especially the ones that are more UV resistant, etc as they tend to be more sensitive to moisture.

Your pine cones... if they weren't COMPLETELY dry.. I'd expect some foaming for sure. Epoxy is really the only way around that as I had similar results with clear slow back when I started casting and didn't know that I should dry my stuff first. It was less dramatic I think but still resulted in an unusable blank. Shoot me a message on the website and we can chat through it. It may not be as easy to use in some cases, but we've obviously had great results with this one.

Hybrids cast with the Clearset:
20240917_085505.jpg
 
I appreciate the quick reply!

I thought about it and decided to pour a clear rod. This will eliminate the other variables and I'll be able to see any bubbles, if there are any. This will test my basic methodology.

I turned my pressure up from 45 to 50 psi. The pot is rated for 60, but I've never wanted to push it to max. I'll need to get one of those filters.

The alumilite I've been using is another urethane, clear slow (shown in photo). The "paste" is ordinary Alumilite dye. I called it paste because it is thick. Clear slow tolerates alcohol dyes pretty well, as seen in photo.

Tomorrow I'll post the clear rod. And in the future, take super precautions against humidity.
 
Meanwhile, I'll put a plug in for McKenzie DiamondCast blanks. These are made using actual diamonds, and the sparkle like none other!

Are these blanks made with the CSD2078?


 
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