Thread: Luci Clear casting resin

Brad

There may well be people on the Forum with experience of this product, which I believe is relatively new, but failing that I would have no hesitation in contacting Boatcraft as they are quite approachable.

Regards
Paul

My experience is similar to yours. It takes 2-3 days to set. Great product, just don’t be in a hurry.

Thanks Paul and Bruce.
I just got back from checking on it again, it has been in the sun for a couple of hours now, it has definitely started to set now, I can tip the cup, and there is less tendency for it to sag .
Its about 28C here today.

That sounds like you have a casting pour resin good for deep pours over 15mm, rivers tables etc.
I use a fast 24hr cure epoxy like "platinum 360+ FAST" for the smaller jobs which will set in under 12 hours and ready to turn/sand/polish in 24hrs

This is a link to their FAQ on LuciClear:

LuciClear Art and Casting Resin (boatcraft.com.au)

Unfortunately, it makes no reference to curing time either there or anywhere else on their site. A little curious I thought.

Regards
Paul

We had a play with some at the club here. Middle of winter (single figures at night), poured about 12mm deep on the Saturday morning and you could still leave a fingerprint on Tuesday! What amazed me most was its ability to flow through the timber. Within 10 minutes of pouring it in a trench in some Sally wattle it was oozing out the long grain over 120mm away - I doubt even water could flow through it like that . Would be brilliant for stabilizing dodgy timber for knife scales and pen blanks etc.
Learnt a lot from that pour . . .
1: Line the job with at least a couple of sealing coats first.
2: Wait for warmer weather unless you can keep dust etc off it for 4 or 5 days.
3: Excellent if heating the job during curing is going to be an issue - definitely no temperature rise in it.
4: Love that it doesn't bubble - very clear result without the stuffing about

I haven't used the LuciClear but have used other BoatCraft products including Bote-Cote and Aquacote. Both were slow curing in comparison to other similar products that I have used, very slow in fact. Definitely does what they claim but as TTIT says don't be in a rush.

Thanks everyone for the posts. Luckily I am not in a big hurry, I am happy to wait another week before I will break them out of the moulds and turn them.
After a full day in the sun, they have cured enough that I can touch the resin without feeling any stickiness. The cup with about 12 mm sitting in the bottom, feels like a piece of rubber now. I am feeling a lot better about it now, compared to what I was thinking this morning.
A bit more info on their website would be helpful.

My experience with Luciclear is the 2 factors influencing the cure time are temperature and the mixing ratios. Cooler temperatures do extend the curing time but don't discount the mixing ratio, especially when mixing smaller volumes. I've found that getting as close to the 2:1 ratio as possible will give the optimal curing time. On more than one occasion I rushed a bit when mixing up and fell into the trap of 'thats close enough' when in retrospect it really wasn't. Two smaller volume mixes one after the other (cause I didn't mix enough the first time). First pour was very carefully measured volumes, second pour was rushed. Same temperature, same piece of timber - first pour fully cured and sandable in a tad over 30 hours, second pour took 4-5 days to fully cure. Sadly, this situation has occurred to me more than once and I've no-one to blame except the operator.

Overall I've found it a good product and does what the supplier says it will do, especially if you follow the instructions.

Regards
Twosheds

Cheers 2sheds, before I started, I had intended to weigh the 2 parts
(I have a set of scales that read to 0.1g).
But when I opened the box and saw the graduated measuring cups, and the instructions said to mix by volume, made me 2nd guess if the 2 parts were a different weight for a given volume, so went with eyeballing the volumes on the cup graduations, I went with 40ml:20ml because of the ease of using the marks on the cup. The job took about 1/2 of that volume.
I wonder if mixing by weight would have been the better way to go ?

Originally Posted by Ironwood

I wonder if mixing by weight would have been the better way to go ?

All we can do is follow the manufacturer's guidance and recommendations in their Technical Data Sheets (TDS). If it says use volume then I would expect that the two parts have different densities (weights).

I use a lot of small volumes of Techniglue R60 which is a "1 part hardener to 2 parts resin by volume" mix and use 20 ml & 50 ml syringes to dispense the volumes.

If the syringes are accurate enough for drugs then they must be suitable for reasonably accurate dispensing of epoxy resin.

The best part is your pour is setting.

I have a bowl with Paua inlay poured by Alby Hall at a NZ woodturning symposium in either 2012 or 2014 that still hasn't cured fully. Oops even the best can get caught out.