Resin Addict Forum

i am tring to cast knife handles, pen blanks and any thing else that seems cool. i have tried alumilite, but due to the complexity of the designs i want, i can not get the bubbles out before it sets. i have also tried a two part polyamine epoxy that is air releasing. this epoxy is so thin and has such a long pot life that when i pour two differently colored parts into the mold they almost mix completly(color-wise). also the pearlizing powder i add settles to the bottom of the mold. would a filler or thickner help prevent this? i thought about using a fumed silica, but is hard to sand. i am going to try wood flour to see if it helps, but i think it would affect the opacity/traslucentcy. does any one have experiance with this kind of thing? i would prefer some thing cheap, as it turns out i am cheap...no really.. crazy cheap!!!!!!

If you want cheap then resin casting isn't the greatest hobby to get into!

If you add a filler to your super thin resin it will lose a lot of its air releasing ability, but if it takes as long as you say to set then a lot of the filler will probably settle anyway. You need to look into using more appropriate polyurethane based resins with shorter cure time and a vacuum or pressure casting technique to remove bubbles.