Water vs. Crystal Clear

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A

Alumilite

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2006
Messages
43
Location
Kalamazoo, MI, USA.
Many of you have been wondering about the recent release of the Crystal Clear resin from Alumilite. Well, I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you the evolution of the product and how it differs from the Water Clear.

The original Water Clear was created to meet the demand of rapid prototyping and automotive restoration applications many years ago and then snowballed into many different applications such as medical, taxidermy, hobby, penturning, rotational molding and much more. Although the product was not specifically designed with some of these secondary applications in mind ... such as penturning, it works extremely well and has become a goto resin for many.

After having many lengthy conversations with Curtis last year, and him explaing to me how he loved the Water Clear for all of his casting, he helped me understand that there were a couple distinct areas in which he thought the Water Clear could still be improved for penturning even though he said it is absolutely the best thing going as far as he was concerned. First was the polishability. Second was the work time.

I thought these were both realistic goals in developing a new system althouh I was a little concerned with the demold time extending much further out and was also worried about the material becoming more "brittle" if we tried to alter the polishability. Our urethanes have very good elongation and traditionally are much tougher than many other chemistries of resins however when we start talking polishability we are really concerned with hardness and hard segments. We don't have a problem making urethanes absolutely rock hard but then we do, its possible to lose some of our impact strength which brings us down closer to the performance of other chemistries.

So to make a long story short ... after developing and sampling a number of different batches of a new clear to Curtis as well as a couple people from other industries we developed the Crystal Clear resin. The material not only kept the same great low odor, beautiful clarity, easy to use (1:1 mix ratio), fast demold time, and UV stablilty but also gives the user a couple more minutes of open time (more user friendly catalyst) while keeping a relatively similar demold time. The other big advantage is that we have improved the polishability by increasing the hard segments while not giving away the farm in toughness. It machines/turns differently which Curtis may comment on but overall seems to be a solid option for those looking for a couple more minutes of work time and better polishing out of their resin.

So to curve all further rumors ... yes, the Crystal Clear was specifically developed with the penturner in mind. A special thanks to Curtis as well as Larry Dahlberg for their time, input and evaluation of the numerous test batches.

Mike
Alumilite
800 447-9344
 
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Thanks for the info Mike. Isn't it a hoot too that Alumilite is made in Kalamazoo, MI ...Kelogg's is the next town over, Battle Creek, MI, and many people here have showed that Milk isn't the only thing that can go with cereal. Go Michigan!
 
One thing Mike left out...the Crystal Clear actually has less odor than Water Clear. With Water Clear, if you put your nose up to your mixing cup, you do smell a slight chemical smell. Water Clear smells to me like dish soap! Any odor that is there is not unpleasant at all.

The turning is a little different too. When first starting a square blank, you tend to get more little chips. As you get it round, the resin is actually easier to turn and the ribbons don't tend to wrap around the blanks/mandrel nearly as bad.

It also sands differently. When dry sanding, you actually get a good quantity of sanding dust. I think it sands better. Wet sanding will still give the best polish.

I did some tests comparing water clear to crystal clear to PR on polishability. I cast 1 blank in WC and one in CC. I had a PR blank that I got from someone. All were black blanks which are always the hardest for me to get the best results from. I actually cut each blank into segments 1 1/4" long and glued one piece of each together to make a blank. I then turned this piece as one blanks and sanded it as one blank so I would be sure I got exactly the same sanding routine. When done, compared each segment. The Water Clear segment had noticeably less gloss. The PR and Crystal Clear segment looked identical to me.

I then asked 3 other people to tell me which segment they though was the shiniest. All 3 said they did not see a difference between the PR and CC but did see less shine with the WC segment.

I also cast 2 full blanks of WC and CC. I then turned them and sanded them through 12k micromesh using the same sanding and polishing routine. I also did a PR blank of similar color. I labeled each with a code so only I would know which was which and asked 6 different people which one they thought had better gloss. 2 of the people I asked were penturners. 4 of the 6 said they did not see a difference between the CC and PR blanks and one of the other 2 choose the CC and 1 chose the PR blank. Both of the 2 said they really did not see a difference.

I will not say that everyone will have the same impression that I had but I do think that Crystal Clear is a great improvement to an already great resin. It also de-molds better than the water clear and seems to set hard quicker than WC.
 
Mike, thank you so very much for your willingness to create a new compound aimed at penturners and for all your and your teams' hard work in creating the new Crystal Clear resin.

Curtis, thank you for instigating this and all your work in making sure it would perform as we need it.

GK
 
Great Job, Mike and Curtis! Thanks for undertaking this effort.

And I assure you, more than just pen turners will appreciate the higher gloss of the CC Alumilite. It's time for me to start experimenting!
 
I'm definitely going to look into this CC. I JUST purchased the 2 gallon kit of WC, which I'm using for casting worthless woods. I have to do a CA on them anyway, so the shine thing's not a big deal, but for doing straight resin blanks, I'm definitely looking into the CC. I think a lot of other people are in the same boat (stocked up during the Birthday Bash), but if this stuff is as good as it sounds then I don't see why everyone would start using it over PR and WC. Thanks for developing this!!!!:biggrin:
 
Can this be used as a fill for small channels like Inlace or epoxy? Does it need pressure while curing to avoid bubbles?
 
Yes, it is highly recommended to use pressure. However you can vacuum the resin and simply pour it but in order to impregnate it into porous materials, pressure is definitely the best way to go.

Mike
Alumilite
800 447-9344
 
I wonder how the new crystal clear will work for making snake skin blanks? Will it be better than the water clear in sticking to the skins? What about other embedded materials such as computer labels? Has anyone tried this new mix on snake skins or labels or other embedded materials?

Not a convert (yet), Curtis....just seeking information. ;-)
Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
its_virgil said:
I wonder how the new crystal clear will work for making snake skin blanks? Will it be better than the water clear in sticking to the skins? What about other embedded materials such as computer labels? Has anyone tried this new mix on snake skins or labels or other embedded materials?

Not a convert (yet), Curtis....just seeking information. ;-)
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Click to expand...

I've done it with labels. I even did it with labels of snake skins. :tongue:


So far it has been fine, although I tried spraying some of the labels to
seal them before casting. The acrylic enamel spray looked fine when
I de-molded, but after a day it turned white. I'm still plotting out which
combinations are good/bad, but I've only started. And I also need to
figure in temp and humidity.. it was 93 yesterday and 38 this morning so
variables are all over the place.
So far I like it better than the water clear, but many other variables in
my 'routine' are changing, so I can't say whether recent successes are
due to the new resin or changing procedures. No question that it finishes
much better, though.
 
I have been playing with the Crystal Clear and it really does give a great shine. I have also been using it with the white Alumilite in one blank and have really been impressed with the results.
 
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