Problems casting painted blanks

[gingerwood]

I'm having some big problems clear-casting painted blanks, I tried 6 different blanks,

All had a base layer of spray paint black acrylic
Painting was done with acrylic and oil
All dried for a minimum of 2 weeks, most more.
All had a top coat of clear fingernail polish (used to good effect when casting labels)

1 came out perfect
1 had hide-able defects
3 came out looking like the paint had a crackle-like effect done to it
1 was utterly ruined (my favorite, of coarse)

The ruined one and the slightly damaged one were done in the same casting.
I started out with five drops mek per oz, then dropped to 3 after the first casting failure.

What did I do wrong? I'm really rather scared to try again.

 

[seamus7227]

Hey Mickie, the first thing i would want to know is, did you post cure your blanks in the toaster oven? Secondly, there could be several reasons you had failures. When i cast, i powder coat my tubes, use 3 drops of catalyst, and I put a coat of CA over the labels i cast. Now, im not sure if CA will work over your painted tubes, but it cant hurt to try. I would also start to question if the use of acrylic paint may be a cause of failure.

 

[joefyffe]

Hey Mickie, the first thing i would want to know is, did you post cure your blanks in the toaster oven? Secondly, there could be several reasons you had failures. When i cast, i powder coat my tubes, use 3 drops of catalyst, and I put a coat of CA over the labels i cast. Now, im not sure if CA will work over your painted tubes, but it cant hurt to try. I would also start to question if the use of acrylic paint may be a cause of failure.

Seamus: Do you post cure in the toaster oven? AND, if so What temp for How long? Once or Twice?

 

[gingerwood]

No I don't use a toaster oven at all, I just set them out in the sun after a couple of days to get rid of the tackiness.

 

[seamus7227]

No I don't use a toaster oven at all. I had more failures when I did use it for post curing. Now, that's not to say that you can't use them, its just that you will ruin some blanks in the learning process before you get the right time and temp settings down. Mickie, I would first start with your paint process, then run a test cast and see how your results turn out

Sent from my Epic using Forum Runner

 

[seamus7227]

Seamus: Do you post cure in the toaster oven? AND, if so What temp for How long? Once or Twice?

Joe, If you use the toaster oven, i would recommend a temp in the range of 130-150. But as with all things, these temps may vary based on what climate region you live in.

I will be anxious to see if Mickie's problems are from her paint.