OK... Here they are, success!

[Firefyter-emt]

Well this morning I pulled the block o' blanks out of my tank and other than the top being a littly tacky (normal, right?) the blanks look pretty good. I may have to "press" them more because I have one end on 2 blanks that is not as "full" as I want. However, the bubbles are pretty much nil from what I can see. I managed to get 4 blanks a hair over 3/4" from the container. The nice part is that I saved the "end chunks" so I can reuse them the next time to fill the block!

Well, here we go guys!

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Its great when things turn out well, nice job.

 

[LEAP]

looks good, now lets see a pen with those powder coated tubes in it!

 

[neon007]

Congrats....Looks like thay turned out just fine. Try adding some more catalyst. Should help the tacky feeling on top. What happens is there is nothing on the surface to hold in the heat for the cure. So it stays tacky on top. I use alot of cata. so it gets super hot, and the top doesnt get tacky. Unless I use a ton of color. Anyway great job. Is that louffa or cacti???

 

[karlkuehn]

Nice looking blanks! I've been sawing and screwing and sawing and screwing on my cutting board material to make molds, but they work really well (the HDPE white stuff), but if you can get away with Tupperware stuff, that's great, too! The ones I have all have rounded corners, and I got tired of all the waste, hence the square molds.

 

[stevers]

Thats cactus Keith.
Nice job Lee. Mine are always tacky on top and it hurts nothing. I just trim it away.
Cant wait to see some pens with the PCed tubes. Lets see some colors too.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Karl, I found these rectangle ones that were a hair over 4" wide and 7.5" long. After my first pour, I will just reuse the end filler blanks and my waste will be almost nill. I bought the cheapest junk at the Dollar Store I could get to test this. I let them sit and they popped right out of the container as nice as could be. I do have one of Gadgets molds as well and I think one that is a solid 4" x 6.5" might be awesome (hint, hint)

Keith, that is real cactus from AZ, it was cleaned in my dishwasher.

Phil, I will PC these tubes but it's not really needed because the inside of the blank is painted. I am leary of just using a PC coated tube because you will see the glue and what not. I will use it with cast tubes down the road.

The nice thing is that the 2 blanks that did not "fill" with cactus are perfect for a Serria kit. However, the blanks are also long enough to make two Serrias if it was nice all the way. I think the black tubes / paint with the normal black Serria is going to be a great match.

 

[Glass Scratcher]

Originally posted by neon007

Congrats....Looks like thay turned out just fine. Try adding some more catalyst. Should help the tacky feeling on top. What happens is there is nothing on the surface to hold in the heat for the cure. So it stays tacky on top. I use alot of cata. so it gets super hot, and the top doesnt get tacky. Unless I use a ton of color. Anyway great job. Is that louffa or cacti???

Not according to the techs at US Composites. Silmar 41 is shipped without styrene surfacing wax. If you want the outside surface to not be tacky you need to get and add the surfacing wax. It is tacky so that it will bind if you add more resin to your mix/pour. But if your are going to turn through the surface why spend the extra for the addition.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Cool, thank's Charles... That's great info and now I even know WHY it does that now. I just wiped some sawdust on it so it was not sticky.

Personaly, from my field in auto repair, adding more than the proper hardner is a recipe for disaster. Might be brittle, might have problems with color down the road, either way I like to stay within the guide-lines and not worry if it will fail.

 

[karlkuehn]

Speaking of shopping cheap at the dollar store, wait till ya'll see what I picked up there to cast the other day. heh

No hints, hopefully it'll work, but for a buck, it was worth the risk, right?

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Ok... Round 2.

I was looking at that fancy new mold and thought, geesh... Why don't I just slice the cactus on my band saw into 3/4" strips! Man did that work nice, I just sliced up some, cut filler blocks to take up the room and mixed 8oz of resin. I mixed 16oz yesterday and poured one spare blank in the mold. I have at least 2oz getting the air vacuumed out of it now and it has been tinted with black powdercoat. I had to whip up a 3/4" PVC pipe mold by drilling a 1" hole into a block of wood. I did have to grind the pipe down a hair, but I am out of duct tape to seal the pipe! So not only did I just cut my resin in HALF but I need even less! I think 6oz would of done it. These will come out nicer because they will not have voids where the curved cactus did not allow it to sit flat.

EDIT: After a mad dash, I had enough left over to pour two 6" round molds!! Man, did I waste resin yesterday!! We shall see how the black powdercoat powder works. I used a Matt black, because I am not pleased with how the Harbor Freight powders work.

 

[neon007]

I use silmar 41 and all I do is add more catalyst. None of my castings are left with a tacky surface.