THO Game Calls Forums
The Art of Handcrafting Custom Game Calls => Casting Blanks => Topic started by: TurnTex on February 02, 2012, 03:57:21 PM
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I see that this forum is empty and lonely so I thought I would post up some information to help get it started! I have a LOT of experience with casting resin and have been casting for 6 or 7 years now. I have mixed and poured over 300 gallons in my casting "career" I have cast everything from "worthless Wood" to dog hair. Heck, I even cast some cat crap one time for a gag gift! I have played with most all of the different casting resin out there and my preference, by FAR, is Alumilite urethane resin.
When I was developing my cactus blanks, I started out using polyester resin. I absolutely hated the smell and the way it stunk up my shop for days. I also hated the brittleness and the long time it takes to set up so I started looking for something else. I ran across a company called Alumilite and posted some questions on their forum. The owner of the company, Mike Faupel personally answered my questions and offered me some samples to try out. I loved it! It has virtually no smell and sets up real quick, typically less than 20 minutes! After working with Mike for a few years, I went to him with an idea for the "perfect turning resin". I had 3 issues I wanted him to address with Alumilite Water Clear: 1) polishability-it does not polish up as easily as PR, 2) Open time- it only has a 5 minute open time, and 3) cost. Mike was real interested and said he could work on the first 2 but could not do much on the price. A few days later, I received some test resin via Fedex and started testing. After 6 or 7 different formulations and giving feedback to Mike, Alumilite Clear was "born". I can get just as good of a shine with it as I can PR and it has a 7 minute open time, plenty of time to mix and pour. It is still more expensive than PR but the benefits of no smell, quick turn around time, and WAY less brittle make it my choice of casting resins.
Fist, let me state specifically and to the point, I do not work for, nor get paid by Alumilite in any way. I am just a very happy customer that has had the privilege of working closely with Mike Faupel, the owner, over the last 6 or 7 years. I thought I would state thins since I just did some videos for them and don't want anyone to think I am on their payroll somehow!
With that out of the way, I thought I would list the various formulations of Alumilite and a little about them. I have used every one of their casting resins over the years and since I see the question frequently of which one to use, I thought this might be helpful to someone. I will focus only on the resins commonly used in blank casting.
Alumilte is a 2 part urethane casting resin. It uses equal parts of A and B by weight. Complete and thorough mixing as well as accurate measurement is required for best results.
First, some definitions:
pot Life: This is the amount of time you have to get the resin poured into the mold and under pressure. It begins sometime after you have started mixing the 2 parts
Viscosity: The "thickness" of the resin. The lower the number, the thinner the resin. Compare this with the CA that you use as they both are rated in Centipoise (cps)
Demold Time: The amount of time you need to let it "cure" before removing it from the mold
Shore D: The hardness of the cured resin. This is measured with a durometer and uses the Shore D scale. The higher the number, the harder the resin.
Elongation: This is the amount of "stretch" the cured resin has before it breaks. It is an indication of the brittleness of the resin for turning and indicates how chippy it will be. Lower elongation equals more chippy and likely to blowout.
Temperature Resistance: The temperature where the cured resin will deform. This is important when sanding.
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-CLEAR RESINS-
Good for clear casting or casting where you want translucent swirls and depth of colors. Requires pressure or vacuum to get rid of bubbles.
Alumilite Water Clear
Their original clear casting formulation, thinner and less brittle than Alumilite Clear but does not polish up nearly as well. It also sets quicker and has a higher temperature resistance.
pot Life: 5 Minutes
Viscosity: 400 CPS
Demold Time: 30-60 minutes
Shore D: 80
Shrinkage: .5 %
Elongation: 9%
Temperature Resistance: 155° F
Alumilite Clear (Formerly Alumilite Crystal Clear)
This is a formulation I helped developed for the benefit of turners. It polishes better than Water Clear but is more brittle but still WAY less brittle than PR, however. It also has a longer open time and is the preferred resin for turning.
pot Life: 7 Minutes
Viscosity: 450 CPS
Demold Time: 45-90 minutes
Shore D: 80
Shrinkage: .5%
Elongation: 8%
Temperature Resistance: 140° F
Amazing Clear Cast
This is an epoxy casting resin and is NOT advised for turning. It is real slow set and is more useful as a bartop finish or where you need a really slow setting resin.
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-OBSCURE RESINS-
Good for solid color or multi- solid color blanks. Does not give any significant effect when using metallic powders. Does not require pressure or vacuum.
Alumilite Regular
This is Alumilite's original casting resin. It is available in light tan or black. It is also the fastest setting Alumilite and does not have a lot of use for turning. It is the most resistant to temperature, however.
pot Life: 90 seconds
Viscosity: 190 CPS
Demold Time: 5-8 minutes
Shore D: 75
Shrinkage: .5%
Elongation: 7%
Temperature Resistance: 250° F
Alumilite White
This is Alumilite's thinnest resin but is also their softest. it is good for making multi colored blanks
pot Life: 2.5 Minutes
Viscosity: 90 CPS
Demold Time: 5-15 minutes
Shore D: 72
Shrinkage: .4%
Elongation: 10%
Temperature Resistance: 140° F
Alumilite RC-3
This is a good value resin. It is the cheapest of Alumilite's casting resins but is only available in gallons kits. It comes in light tan or black and has a high temp resistance.
pot Life: 3 Minutes
Viscosity: 110 CPS
Demold Time: 5-15 minutes
Shore D: 74
Shrinkage: .4%
Elongation: 12%
Temperature Resistance: 190° F
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Here is some info on Polyester Resin for comparison sake:
pot Life: 30 Minutes?
Viscosity: 450 CPS
Shore D: 78
Shrinkage: 4%
Elongation: 1.5%
Temperature Resistance: 160° F
Odor: VERY HIGH!
Hope this information helps someone!
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Back in October, Mike Faupel, the owner of Alumilite, flew down here to Texas to shoot some videos with me on using Alumilite. The videos are on Youtube if you are interested. Here are the links:
Casting with Alumilite: http://youtu.be/9IErQYSQJT4
Using Alumilite White: http://youtu.be/jGvlN2pr3zo
Comparison of turning Alumilite blanks vs. PR blanks: http://youtu.be/DvQNK2RXd3A
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Loved your videos Curtis, Man I'm glad you came over to our side. :bow: :bow: Your a regular star.
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Loved your videos Curtis, Man I'm glad you came over to our side. :bow: :bow: Your a regular star.
Thank you for your kind words, sir! I am certainly not a star, though. Just an regular old artist/craftsman like everyone else here. I just have some slightly different skills! I sure as heck don't know how to make a call of any kind like you guys do!
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Thanks for the information! Welcome to the site. I've toyed with some alumilite and now realize how long the road would have been for me. Thanks for shortening the learning curve!
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Loved your videos Curtis, Man I'm glad you came over to our side. :bow: :bow: Your a regular star.
Thank you for your kind words, sir! I am certainly not a star, though. Just an regular old artist/craftsman like everyone else here. I just have some slightly different skills! I sure as heck don't know how to make a call of any kind like you guys do!
I believe a man with your talent could make just about anything he wanted to. Again, good to have you here. :bigup:
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Thanks for the information! Welcome to the site. I've toyed with some alumilite and now realize how long the road would have been for me. Thanks for shortening the learning curve!
I am so glad you found it helpful! I am always willing to share what i have learned so feel free to shoot me a pm or give me a call if you have any questions or need any help!
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Wow... sucks for me because I bought lots of polyester resin stuff today :stickman1: is there anyway to make it more durable (like less catalyst)? Do you need the pressure to make alumilite blanks? Welcome ~Andre
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Wow... sucks for me because I bought lots of polyester resin stuff today :stickman1: is there anyway to make it more durable (like less catalyst)? Do you need the pressure to make alumilite blanks? Welcome ~Andre
I would not be too upset, Andre. Folks have been using PR successfully for a long time. To help make it less brittle, use less catalyst. Try 3 drops per ounce rather than the recommended amount (10-12 I believe, been a while). It will take longer to cure but should be less brittle.
Alumilite really works best with pressure. If you are using either of the clear formulations, pressure is a must or you will get little champagne bubbles.
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Alumilite regular is what most guys use to cast predator call toneboards with. Ive used a couple different Alumilite plastics in the past for this and it works good. Just wasnt my cup of tea, but it is a great option for callmakers who want to make a difficult part like a toneboard and be able to offer a consitant product.
Great info in this thread.
Mark
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Curtis, I saw your video's a while back and thought they were great! I just recently cut a hunk of white oak burl from a downed tree only to find that the beetles and worms had already gotten to it and drilled perfect holes through this beautiful wood. I immediately thought of your video of casting "waste wood" to still use the awesome burl and fill the voids with resin. Have you every had any experience with a similar process? What is your professional openion! I will shoot some pics of the wood when I get back home on Thursday if it would help.
Thanks.
-John
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Nice to hear from you Curtis, and still using your acrylic vacuum chamber. I can say from doing business and having conversations with you, you are a wealth of knowledge. You are also a true professional. I always enjoy reading your posts and watching your videos.
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I got questions.....lots of them. So what do I need to get started with Alumilite? I'm concerned with the vacuum chamber. I realize you make one Curtis, but what's the cost of your unit, plus generator and general ballpark on Alumilite? Sorry, I'm lost.
Thanks ahead of time!
Andrew Hadden
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Andrew, casting with Alumilite works best with pressure rather than vacuum. For that you will need a pressure pot. The best thing to do is look around your local pawn shops and garage sales for a good, older US made pot. You can also buy one from Harbor Freight if you want to go that route. Many folks use them with good results as casual casters. However, I have blown one up myself and know of 4 others who have as well. My blow up was most likely my fault, however, due to some modifications I made to make the flimsy lid more solid in the clamp area. Since I cast as part of my living, I am now running 2 Binks ASME Certified 2.5 gallon pots and just picked up 2 Graco 5 gallon ASME Certified pots. The Binks I bought new for $350 each and got a good deal. The Graco post I got at a local salvage yard. they are like new and I paid $75 each. New they are $1,600 each!
What you are looking for is is the type of pot that is used to spray paint. You need a 2.5 gallon pot for most casting. Here is a picture of my Binks pots:
(http://www.penturners.org/forum/attachments/f43/17081d1254339029-no-more-pressure-pot-failures-me-dsc09899.jpg)
Then, the only other thing you need is an air compressor to add the pressure to the pressure pot as well as a few fittings.
My chamber's are designed for stabilizing which is a complete different process. For more info on my chambers, should you decide to try stabilizing somewhere in the future, you can visit www.turntex.com/cactusjuice
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Awesome! So one last question what do you use to pigment the plastic? Can I still use the model paint like poly?
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Also rufully how many call blanks could I make out of a gallon of water clear. I like how people make all the swirly lookin stuff it looks like water clear would be the right stuff?
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Your best bet is the Alumilite Clear. It is a formulation I helped them develope specifically for turning. It has better polishiability
As for how many blanks...depends on the size of blanks. Figure your size in cubic inches (length x wid x height) and multiply by .554 and that will give you aprox how much resin you will need. There is 128 ounces in a gallon so you can do the math from there.