A few recent items/photos from my first little market stall.

[enigma]

haha your secret is safe with me

I did speak to the chap at ABL though and he said my issue with it taking forever to cure should be sorted with the oven and I also finally managed to find some of the right colour pigment I needed and have looked everywhere for so thanks for that too

[FloWolF]

haha your secret is safe with me

I did speak to the chap at ABL though and he said my issue with it taking forever to cure should be sorted with the oven and I also finally managed to find some of the right colour pigment I needed and have looked everywhere for so thanks for that too

ABL are really helpful and sorted a couple of issues out for me too; however most of what I'm doing is experimental and outside of the usual scope of these products, so I have to use experience, common sense and empirical feedback from my own tests - some of the stuff I asked them I just got shrugs and 'I don't know you tell me!' answers lol!

Oh the other thing that helps is *very accurate measurement* of the 2 parts - I *never* use volumetric measurement, always by weight (1 part to 0.45 parts by weight for the epoxy I use), using scales I got just for the purpose (because your favourite jewellers/druggies (lol!) scales will get ruined!) - can be gotten via ebay for as little as ~tenner.

',;~}~

Shaun.

[enigma]

Thanks Shaun
I use scales too , I can't see how you could get accurate enough without- the resin I currently use is 1%- 2% so as I normally only do 10 to 20 grammes worth at a time it would be very difficult otherwise.

Im hoping not to have to use a vacuum, Im assuming thats to prevent air bubbles?
My stuff is all fairly simple not complex like yours , my main issue was just that it could take over a week before it reached the stage where it wouldn't be marked by fingerprints.

[FloWolF]

Thanks Shaun
I use scales too , I can't see how you could get accurate enough without- the resin I currently use is 1%- 2% so as I normally only do 10 to 20 grammes worth at a time it would be very difficult otherwise.

Im hoping not to have to use a vacuum, Im assuming thats to prevent air bubbles?
My stuff is all fairly simple not complex like yours , my main issue was just that it could take over a week before it reached the stage where it wouldn't be marked by fingerprints.

1-2% - Are you using a polyester resin?..

And yeah vacuum is just to help eliminate bubbles/fill difficult voids/undercuts in the embeddings etc. and the pressure until it cures is for similar reasons.

Cheers!

Shaun.

[enigma]

Sorry Shaun I missed this,
Yes I think its polyester, is that good or bad?
It seems to do what I want except for taking so long to cure at times.
I went to set the oven to 60 degrees and realised the minimum I can set it to is 150 degrees !

[Dennis]

The traditional stuff for finishing acrylic is Vonax, which comes on a dull green waxy bar and polishes brilliantly with a soft cotton mop. One bar will last a life time.

http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery...prcode-998-208

[enigma]

Thanks for that Dennis!

[FloWolF]

Sorry Shaun I missed this,
Yes I think its polyester, is that good or bad?
It seems to do what I want except for taking so long to cure at times.
I went to set the oven to 60 degrees and realised the minimum I can set it to is 150 degrees !

Hi again - good or bad? - Just that compared to a quality epoxy or urethane, it is rather brittle and not as scratch resistant, it can smell rather a lot when mixed, and it tends to go off unmixed in the can if left for a while,the warmer it's stored the faster it tends to happen - I see it sold in small 'kits' most often aimed at crafters/the odd small project, where I suppose the fact it can work out cheaper is the big bonus, and the fact it can set if stored too long not too much of a bother.

I went through 2 500ml tins of it, the majority of which set solid in each can after just a few short months (the third can I went to buy had already set on the shop shelf!), before I started doing some digging around the web to find what would work better for me and where best to source it from.

Not sure how well polyester resin handles an oven 'post-cure' - the information I was given and the experience I have in this regard are only with epoxy and urethane, so be careful with the oven and maybe try a sample piece first?

As for the temperature - I couldn't get my little toaster oven to stay stable even at the higher temps it had a setting for (I use it for curing stabilised wood at around 95C), so I went out and bought a PID temperature controller and sensor and wired the oven through that - came to about £40 all-in from a UK supplier on ebay so not too bad, but you need a bloody degree in somethingorother to set all the parameters on the damned thing lol! - Took me a couple of months of web searches and phone calls before I got it working more or less how I need it.

If you have a heating boiler in a cupboard that gets war you can leave it in there for a while - may take longer to fully post-cure, but it will be quicker than at room temps.

However it you were thinking of having the primary cure happen in the oven at anything like 60 degrees C - DON'T! Ideally most of these resins should stay at or around 30 deg.C until set - rushing the initial hardening with too much heat will only generally worsen/weaken the final product, or with some even effect their transparency/colour.

Cheers!

Shaun.

[enigma]

Thanks Shaun
Its really helpful to have your experiences.

This is the type Im using:
http://www.resin-supplies-shop.com/e...bProducts/scr1

I haven't had a problem with it setting even over about 6-8 months stored but I tend to keep the house at around 21 degrees so cooler than many I guess.
OTOH that doesn't exactly help the setting!
I asked my OH about setting an oven up like yours but he isn't into electrics so thats a no
Time for the wood burner to go on now though so I am hoping placing it on the mantelpiece post curing will help.
It actually sets quite quickly, its just getting it past the stage where the very outside gets smeared by fingerprints.
It doesn't appear to brittle in the sort of things Im making, I have dropped one or two and they have been fine.

Oh and I love the smell

[silver70]

These are lovely - especially like the studs in the first set.