Anyone here use resin? Can I pick your brains please?

Please reply if you have some experience with using resin with silver / any other metal.

i would like some tips on ensuring that it will stay inside a silver dome, without, if possible, the addition of claws.

here is my previous question from another forum, but had no response there:

question for any of you that use resin - any tips for ensuring my resin stays in its domed silver casing, and doesnt fall out!

i have made quite alot of resin & silver jewellery, and had a scare once when one of my resin & gemstone' innards' fellout one day while i was thankfuly test wearing it! The others from the same batch, made in exactly the same way, have all been fine.

but obviously i was a bit anxious then, as i was starting to sell these pieces & didnt want to take any risks, so began adding claws around the edges of my domes, just in case!

this is adding soooo much time onto my making now though, but im worried to go back to not using claws!

any tips from you lot? i am mostly self taught when it comes to resin, so suggestions from more knowledgeable folf welcome!

oh, and pics of what im talking about can be seen here : FacetNation - Gallery

i also cant seem to add pictures to my posts, so any help on that appreciated too!

Thanks!

Before I start suggesting a method of securing resins, may I tell you that I have never worked with resin. Looking at your rings with the claws I was wondering if all you need is something inside the dome to secure your resin. Have you tried raising points of metal inside the domes before adding your resins as an anchor for the resin. You can make a simple tool for this purpose, I have shaped a couple of scorpers /gravers for cutting inside domed pieces, I used these for texturing but they could also raise grains to secure your resins.

Attachment 2296

I havent tried this - but I will give it a go, maybe on copper first as a test piece.

Juts cant seem to figure out why one of my pendants fell out, and the others have been absolutely fine. I have even tried forcing them out of the domes, and they just wont budge!

The other idea I had, and wondered if anyone else had tried it, was soldering a small discreet peg, with the end slightly curved, at the centre of the dome.

These scorpers will raise a peg inside the dome wherever you want them, without the need for soldering. Also you may have success by just texturing the inner surface of the dome with something like a diamond burr.

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Originally Posted by FacetNation

Please reply if you have some experience with using resin with silver / any other metal.

i would like some tips on ensuring that it will stay inside a silver dome, without, if possible, the addition of claws.

here is my previous question from another forum, but had no response there:

question for any of you that use resin - any tips for ensuring my resin stays in its domed silver casing, and doesnt fall out!

i have made quite alot of resin & silver jewellery, and had a scare once when one of my resin & gemstone' innards' fellout one day while i was thankfuly test wearing it! The others from the same batch, made in exactly the same way, have all been fine.

but obviously i was a bit anxious then, as i was starting to sell these pieces & didnt want to take any risks, so began adding claws around the edges of my domes, just in case!

this is adding soooo much time onto my making now though, but im worried to go back to not using claws!

any tips from you lot? i am mostly self taught when it comes to resin, so suggestions from more knowledgeable folf welcome!

oh, and pics of what im talking about can be seen here : FacetNation - Gallery

i also cant seem to add pictures to my posts, so any help on that appreciated too!

Thanks!

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You need to "key" some of the surface of the metal slightly, ie rough it up a bit. You can do this in any number ways - make it a part of the design or discretely at strategic points. Its just so that the resin has more to grab onto - if it's too shiny smooth then there's the possibility of what happened to you.

You might also have perhaps mixed the resin slightly differently on that one. What are you using - Polyester, Epoxy or polyurethane? Also dependant on brand - some are a quite forgiving rough 50/50 mix of resin and hardener and some are very precise by weight to the 0.1g

It can also make a huge difference if your surface isn't absolutely clean - even the oils from your fingers can be enough to stop some resins from adhering properly.

Thanks guys, I am going to try texturing the inside of the domes slightly with a graver i think, and see how that works.

Any recomendations for cleaning the silver before adding the resin? I currently use a soap & pumice powder mixture, rubbing it in & then rinsing in hot water & drying thouroughly with a polishing cloth/ lint free material.

I am having issues with my claws today - hence the quick internet break while i calm down! Bloody fiddly little so & so's!

Dear FacetNation,
You have no doubt considered that whatever you do to the inside of your domes will affect the final appearance. I am not a natural with gravers, so I would run all round with a largish round burr instead. This would probably brighten your resin though. If you want guaranteed retention, then one tiny O-ring soldered into the bottom of the dome on edge will do the trick.
If you are using a two part resin where you mix a powder and a liquid, then a Q-tip moistened with the liquid will clean and degrease for you, or you can just boil up your domes with a large pinch of soda crystals and then rinse and dry.
Kind regards, Dennis.

Soda Crystals! Excellent, we always have a bag under the sink. Thanks for that!

I have left my gravers at work, so for today i did use a burr, and I will await the results!

Thanks everyone, very helpful.