How do you.... DIY acrylic blank and label casting?

[I_wanna_Shed]

Hi Turners,

One thing that's intriguing me at the moment, and I can't find info on here, is how do you make your own acrylic blanks? And also, how do you do this label casting stuff?

I see folk getting very good results in both of these areas, but can't find info on here about it.

Thanks for your help!

Nathan.

[dj_pnevans]

Maybe some one should do a tutorial on this, not one to point fingers Russell.
David

[SawDustSniffer]

i would love to know as well , Ive cast my own with "diggers " casting resin ,oxides , objects and had some amaturish results , Bubbles etc
the secret seems to be the brands and types of resins
i would love some one to publish the Australian suppliers and tips on use
but to ask some one for the trade secrets that have taken them years to accomplish is a big ask

[dj_pnevans]

SDS i have used diggers a few times now without a problem. If you can wait a few days I will pm you on how I do it with pic's. By no means I am no expert but I am willing to pass on what I have learnt.
David

[shazzkim]

I would be interested in that PM as well if its not rude to ask. If it is to rude then just ignore this.
Kim

[Resination]

Any resin should be fine, although casting resin is for thick casts rather than thin layers like a layup resin. The brand only makes a slight difference and if mixed per the companies directions, will cure. The factors that do affect it are temp., humidity, colorants added, mold material, mixing proceedure, thickness poured, etc.
I've developed a way to pour PR without a pressure pot and they are cured, ready to turn in 1 hour. I very seldom have bubbles, most are just surface and are turned off.
I just did some casting yesterday in 23* temps. with 40 mph winds and it wasn't a problem at all with my forced air heat chamber that I've been using for 2 years.

[wheelinround]

Nathan e-mail on way PDF attached

I have a good instructional PDF can't post it here 800kb

pm me if you'd like a copy

Ray

[SawDustSniffer]

Ive also found casting resin go's foggy , might be the high humidity 70% + in Darwin
and 33c , could also be a Stael tin , jelly in it ?
might have to go bye a new tin , but I'm sure the one's on the shelf are the same batch i bought 6 month ago

[BoomerangInfo]

Maybe some one should do a tutorial on this, not one to point fingers Russell.
David

Haha, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I probably couldn't do much better than what's already been posted elsewhere. The basic procedure is pretty easy, but for the end result, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Different things work for different folks, so it really takes experimenting.

I assume when you say "Acrylic", you mean casting resin, which is usually either Polyurethane or Polyester. Actual acrylic is not something easy to do for a home user.

Here's sort of how I progressed

1. Go read all the articles in the IAP library (http://www.penturners.org)
2. Go search Youtube for "casting resin"
3. Get some Diggers casting resin (Polyester) & MEKP(catalyst) from Bunnings (an extremely expensive, but easiest to obtain way of giving it a go)
4. Use something basic for a mould - icecream container, disposable food storage container, PVC pipe (if you want to try a vertical cast) etc
5. Buy a pack of paddlepop sticks (Crazy clarks etc $2)
6. Buy a pack of 250ml party cups (Crazy Clarks etc $2)
7. Buy lots of disposable gloves and paper towels - you're gonna need em
8. Get something that measures 0.5ml up to 3ml - eye droppers, syringes etc
8. Mark 50ml measurements on you "master" cup
9. Put on a gas mask/work in a well ventilated are
10. Measure out enough resin to fill your mould to the appropriate height. test this by filling with water first off. make sure it's dry before putting resin in. Resin & water don't mix.
11. Mix in something to give it colour (glitter, non-watery paint, mustard seeds etc)
12. Add catalyst as per manufacturers instructions - 1-2%, I'd recommend 2%
13. Let it sit somewhere covered for 24 hours.
14. Remove/destroy mould to get your shiny new blank out
15. Drill, glue, turn, sand, polish and check result.

Alright, so look at your result. Do you see any airbubbles, or did you turn through some? If not, you're good to go. If you do have bubbles, apart from whatever secret formulas people have for removing them, the general consensus is

1. Just before pour, vibrate the life out of the container by methods such as sticking it on a running scrollsaw/grind. er/sander or whatever you have the shakes a lot. tapping the container may be enough. Polyester resin at least degasses fairly well if you've been careful with the stirring to minimise introducing bubbles. Warming the resin beforehand also helps, but curing will start quicker too, so time is critical.

2. Invest in a paint pressure pot. Curing the resin under pressure squishes any airbubbles into non existance. Read some of the thread and articles here and on IAP about that, it's a bit of an involved process.

2a. For the ultimate in bubble removal, add a vacuum system to your pressure pot, then vacuum first to suck the air out, then pressurise to squish what remains.

OK, so you've tried the technique, figured out how to get rid of bubbles, now how do you step up production?

1. Look for some more economical resin. Note Polyester resin (PE) is the cheapest and works well. Polyurethane resin(PU) has some advantages over PE, but is also 2 - 4x the price. I'd suggest making sure you're comfortable with PE first before trying PU'

- http://barnes.com.au - best product line, prices generally good, deliver Australia wide.
- Local suppliers - save on postage. Check your yellow pages for fibreglass suppliers, boat makers, smash repairers, paint shops. Chances are one of them supplies casting resin. Note *CLEAR CASTING RESIN*. Normal fibreglass resin will not do. It's generally not clear (tinted or could be opaque even) and some of it has wax in. MEKP is MEKP is MEKP, doesn't matter who or where you get it from, it's all the same. Get the cheapest you can (and that is NOT from bunnings). I can get 4Kg of PE from FGI in Brisbane for asbout $5 - $10 less than Barnes, but save another $15 by picking it up locally instead of getting it posted. Note getting MEKP delivered can provide some potential problems as it is considered a hazardous substance, but Barnes managed to deliver it OK.
- other online retailers. Check, you may find a better deal. Google "casting resin" but to date Barnes are the safest bet for the couple of dollars you may save elsewhere.

2. Get some proper pigments
- http://barnes.com.au - once again, easiest and most suitable. Unless you can get the same stuff locally (and I had trouble finding it anywhere else) just get it here.

3. Get some proper moulds
- lots of places to get resin moulds. Getting them the esact size is the problem, and you want to be economical and not waste more resin than you need to. Costs do add up. Barnes once again, most art & larger craft stores etc etc. Or you can make your own out of Silicone - a whiole different topic. I've made one this way. Pretty basic, but not cheap. Making your own master is the hard part.

From there, the world is your oyster, crack it open.

After you are happy with your coloured casting, move onto embedding - anything - herbs, spices, beads etc etc. Watch the bubbles. They stick to anything you embed. This is the real test of whether you can get the bubbles out. The colours was easy.

Finally move on to label casting. Did I say embedding was the real test of bubbles? I lied, label casting is. Paper is a bubble magnet. You'll have a lovely silvery shine over your label if you get it wrong. Too jmuch to go into here, follow Newlondon88's posts on his trials and tribulations.

And there you go, then 10 second tour recapping my accumulated knowledge, but I can't give you the experience which is really where you find out what works & what doesn't, in your particular environment. A couple of final points.

1. Everything within a 1m radius of your work area will end up covered in sticky resin
2. The smell will kill ya eventually :)
3. Acetone is a great allpurpose sticky-stuff remover.
4. The costs never stop going up

Hope this helps.
Russell.

[BoomerangInfo]

Ive also found casting resin go's foggy , might be the high humidity 70% + in Darwin
and 33c , could also be a Stael tin , jelly in it ?
might have to go bye a new tin , but I'm sure the one's on the shelf are the same batch i bought 6 month ago

If you've got the right resin, quite likely the humidity. PE hates water, and will cause fogging. Resin does eventually go off, but I think it just hardens in the can, not change colour. Not sure on that one. I've been lucky so far.

Russell.

[I_wanna_Shed]

Haha, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I probably couldn't do much better than what's already been posted elsewhere. The basic procedure is pretty easy, but for the end result, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Different things work for different folks, so it really takes experimenting.

I assume when you say "Acrylic", you mean casting resin, which is usually either Polyurethane or Polyester. Actual acrylic is not something easy to do for a home user.

Here's sort of how I progressed

1. Go read all the articles in the IAP library (http://www.penturners.org)
2. Go search Youtube for "casting resin"
3. Get some Diggers casting resin (Polyester) & MEKP(catalyst) from Bunnings (an extremely expensive, but easiest to obtain way of giving it a go)
4. Use something basic for a mould - icecream container, disposable food storage container, PVC pipe (if you want to try a vertical cast) etc
5. Buy a pack of paddlepop sticks (Crazy clarks etc $2)
6. Buy a pack of 250ml party cups (Crazy Clarks etc $2)
7. Buy lots of disposable gloves and paper towels - you're gonna need em
8. Get something that measures 0.5ml up to 3ml - eye droppers, syringes etc
8. Mark 50ml measurements on you "master" cup
9. Put on a gas mask/work in a well ventilated are
10. Measure out enough resin to fill your mould to the appropriate height. test this by filling with water first off. make sure it's dry before putting resin in. Resin & water don't mix.
11. Mix in something to give it colour (glitter, non-watery paint, mustard seeds etc)
12. Add catalyst as per manufacturers instructions - 1-2%, I'd recommend 2%
13. Let it sit somewhere covered for 24 hours.
14. Remove/destroy mould to get your shiny new blank out
15. Drill, glue, turn, sand, polish and check result.

Alright, so look at your result. Do you see any airbubbles, or did you turn through some? If not, you're good to go. If you do have bubbles, apart from whatever secret formulas people have for removing them, the general consensus is

1. Just before pour, vibrate the life out of the container by methods such as sticking it on a running scrollsaw/grind. er/sander or whatever you have the shakes a lot. tapping the container may be enough. Polyester resin at least degasses fairly well if you've been careful with the stirring to minimise introducing bubbles. Warming the resin beforehand also helps, but curing will start quicker too, so time is critical.

2. Invest in a paint pressure pot. Curing the resin under pressure squishes any airbubbles into non existance. Read some of the thread and articles here and on IAP about that, it's a bit of an involved process.

2a. For the ultimate in bubble removal, add a vacuum system to your pressure pot, then vacuum first to suck the air out, then pressurise to squish what remains.

OK, so you've tried the technique, figured out how to get rid of bubbles, now how do you step up production?

1. Look for some more economical resin. Note Polyester resin (PE) is the cheapest and works well. Polyurethane resin(PU) has some advantages over PE, but is also 2 - 4x the price. I'd suggest making sure you're comfortable with PE first before trying PU'

- http://barnes.com.au - best product line, prices generally good, deliver Australia wide.
- Local suppliers - save on postage. Check your yellow pages for fibreglass suppliers, boat makers, smash repairers, paint shops. Chances are one of them supplies casting resin. Note *CLEAR CASTING RESIN*. Normal fibreglass resin will not do. It's generally not clear (tinted or could be opaque even) and some of it has wax in. MEKP is MEKP is MEKP, doesn't matter who or where you get it from, it's all the same. Get the cheapest you can (and that is NOT from bunnings). I can get 4Kg of PE from FGI in Brisbane for asbout $5 - $10 less than Barnes, but save another $15 by picking it up locally instead of getting it posted. Note getting MEKP delivered can provide some potential problems as it is considered a hazardous substance, but Barnes managed to deliver it OK.
- other online retailers. Check, you may find a better deal. Google "casting resin" but to date Barnes are the safest bet for the couple of dollars you may save elsewhere.

2. Get some proper pigments
- http://barnes.com.au - once again, easiest and most suitable. Unless you can get the same stuff locally (and I had trouble finding it anywhere else) just get it here.

3. Get some proper moulds
- lots of places to get resin moulds. Getting them the esact size is the problem, and you want to be economical and not waste more resin than you need to. Costs do add up. Barnes once again, most art & larger craft stores etc etc. Or you can make your own out of Silicone - a whiole different topic. I've made one this way. Pretty basic, but not cheap. Making your own master is the hard part.

From there, the world is your oyster, crack it open.

After you are happy with your coloured casting, move onto embedding - anything - herbs, spices, beads etc etc. Watch the bubbles. They stick to anything you embed. This is the real test of whether you can get the bubbles out. The colours was easy.

Finally move on to label casting. Did I say embedding was the real test of bubbles? I lied, label casting is. Paper is a bubble magnet. You'll have a lovely silvery shine over your label if you get it wrong. Too jmuch to go into here, follow Newlondon88's posts on his trials and tribulations.

And there you go, then 10 second tour recapping my accumulated knowledge, but I can't give you the experience which is really where you find out what works & what doesn't, in your particular environment. A couple of final points.

1. Everything within a 1m radius of your work area will end up covered in sticky resin
2. The smell will kill ya eventually :)
3. Acetone is a great allpurpose sticky-stuff remover.
4. The costs never stop going up

Hope this helps.
Russell.

Thanks for that detailed info Russell, thanks for your time on that one. Although I don't want to say you've nearly put me off it, I'll give it a go! I knew a decent amount of work would be involved, but it really is in-depth!

I have a new respect for that guys that nail this, especially the label casting! :2tsup:

Thanks again to all of those above.
Nathan.

[BoomerangInfo]

Oh I didn't mean to put you off. But the costs do add up if you are short on cash, so I'd hate to see you jump in and be disappointed half way through. It is fun creating new colours & designs, and frustrating when you get it wrong, just like making a pen :)

Russell.

[SawDustSniffer]

- http://barnes.com.au - best product line, prices generally good, deliver Australia wide.
Hope this helps.
Russell.

cheers for that , I'm ordering off the web site , (whats you employee Salesmen number ) lol you should get commission :2tsup:
have most of it
a pressure pot i don't have , but i have a vacuum and normal compressor so ill just have to look around for a vessel ( old spray paint gun might work , the paint holder )

I'm just after some new resin and some pigments

thanks for the time and effort you put into this thread

[NewLondon88]

Finally move on to label casting. Did I say embedding was the real test of bubbles? I lied, label casting is. Paper is a bubble magnet. You'll have a lovely silvery shine over your label if you get it wrong. Too jmuch to go into here, follow Newlondon88's posts on his trials and tribulations.

LOL .. not like I've completely solved them, either. :(
But I did find that dusting the mold surface with baby powder, talc (I've been using
finely powdered marble only because I have it) helps to break the surface tension on
the mold surface, and that keeps the bubbles down. And I find that labels done on an
inkjet contain lots of air and water. As you said, resins don't like water.. especially
Alumilite. BUT .. the dry ink printer that I thought would solve all of my problems will
make great looking labels. (beats an inkjet hands down) The problem is that the dry
ink tends to get pulled off where the label overlaps.. at least if you lay down a solid
color. So the label unravels where you overlap. It doesn't do this until 10 seconds
AFTER you pour the resin.

But .. when it works, it looks good. Here's a couple of pics.
The nice thing about labels... anything you can scan, you can make into a label.

[Resination]

I haven't had any problems with the inkjet, although the ink in mine is waterproof. I used to apply the label then coat it with either CA or clear. I have since moved on to decals. With decals, the blank isn't a loss if something goes wrong. Just turn or sand the decal off and try again.

[salty72]

I haven't had any problems with the inkjet, although the ink in mine is waterproof. I used to apply the label then coat it with either CA or clear. I have since moved on to decals. With decals, the blank isn't a loss if something goes wrong. Just turn or sand the decal off and try again.

Any hints as to brand or part number of these Decals..? - As I thought of using Avery labels but have a bit of a problem with them unravelling when I pour the Resin (Resin I'm using is KenetiX R104 with H125 Hardner)

[Resination]

I'm not familiar with that brand of resin. Shouldn't make too much of a difference though. The decals are from Hobby Lobby although they are available over the internet at many places. A search for waterslide decals will reveal the sources and one should be in your area. :2tsup:
I have applied them before casting but, the best results are to apply them to a finished pen.

[NewLondon88]

I haven't had any problems with the inkjet, although the ink in mine is waterproof. I used to apply the label then coat it with either CA or clear. I have since moved on to decals. With decals, the blank isn't a loss if something goes wrong. Just turn or sand the decal off and try again.

I'm using inkjet and a printer with micro dry ink ribbons. Where are you finding inks
that are waterproof? Are you refilling original cartridges?

I've tried coating with CA, but get some problems with optical clarity. Any ridges cause
distortion. I'm also spraying clear acrylic, clear enamel .. some days they work great,
and other days ... not so great. I went in this morning to de-mold and turn a few
Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Sierras .. but the labels had started to lift while in the
pressure pot :oo:

[tommyd]

Any hints as to brand or part number of these Decals..? - As I thought of using Avery labels but have a bit of a problem with them unravelling when I pour the Resin (Resin I'm using is KenetiX R104 with H125 Hardner)
try ebay (mynestegg) 10 sheets clear injet waterslide transfer decal paper .$14.50 delivered to usa

[Resination]

I'm using inkjet and a printer with micro dry ink ribbons. Where are you finding inks
that are waterproof? Are you refilling original cartridges?




My printer now uses Claria high def. ink. I'm not sure what the old printer used but, it was similar.