Reify3D Forum

I would keep your top temp time to 4 hours. This is what Emil is now suggesting.
From what I have seen on here, most cure the SolusCast (blue resin) about twice as long as what you posted.

nice design!!

Messerbr wrote:Last minute ocean themed pendant and earring set for Christmas. Pretty happy that the print came out first try!
Bolin_Ocean themed pendant Sketch.jpgKeyshot Office Depot Renders.104.pngBolin Print.jpgIMG_20171218_092224.jpg

I'm so impressed with your work. Thanks for posting all of this for the rest of us to learn from.

Progression of the ocean pendant using our customer's shells. First casting didn't come out due to lack of sprues... so I overloaded this one.. I think the contrast between the sand and water sections came out pretty sweet.

Raw casting of a 14kw ring. Followed Mark's burnout cycle exactly as he posted, and this had the best surface we have gotten so far

so this is what I do with the soulcast , Remember its not the same as the green , all resins have to be tweaked to fit them personally

1. after growing I rinse in acetone for about 8 seconds , then I compress air dry

2. then I put on my turntable between my 2 Quans ( 20 w ea. ) or more watt is better if your going to buy some ) overnight , leave it in a manner that it doesn't need to be turned around , leave some supports so it will stay standing , and remove all other supports that are an obstruction from the UV light getting to those areas , in my opinion , nothing should be cured less than 10 hours with this resin , heavy stuff like over 15 grams or more than a 1.5 mm wall in any area should be cured for at least 24 hours

3. then tree up , no heat treatment with the Blue at all , it tends to crack with heat and besides doesn't need it this way , at most ( if you want ) spray with Rust-oleum , but will work without it too , rustolem provides a coat but in my opinion will steal a hair of detail from you for doing that ( good for low multi prong wok job , no scrolls / fonts, or use with bands with channels instead of micro pave ......) ( thing that dont have alot of detail )

4. use optima prestige investment , if you don't have any , BUY SOME , yes a little more buy very well worth it for Resin casting and will do wax too , 38/ to 1 with distilled water or 36/ to 1 with boric water , either will work

5. burn out

bench sit 3 - 5 hours , no less than 3 , if you have the time , do 5 , either will work
3 hr at 350 f
then 2 hr at 700 f
then 3 hr at 1450 - 1550 , if a heavy piece do at least 5 hours , the more resin area the more to burn out and longer it takes to do so with any resin
then down to cast tem. this should be about 1.1/2 hours to get to , between 800 f - 1000 f , the lower the temp is at casting , the smoother the cast comes out but remember the less chance the fine detail areas will fill , so if a high or heavy prong or thin areas , especially thin areas that are not well sprured , then your better off with a higher cast tem. , this is something that comes with experience , a little less smooth and full fill in , versus , more smooth and not as much fill required , you weigh this and then go for it , but decide according to detail as far as final cast tem.

6. then Marvel at what a good job you did

one thin

please keep in mine that the Quans lamps will need replacing , they don't hold there same intensity over time , which only makes sense , after all what does ? everything that we use wears and these lamps are no different , in my shop , about once a year will do , it all depends on how often you use your , I do about , on average , taking the whole year into account , about 1 to 1.5 curring sessions every other week , and those of you that have had yours for a while , because there not too expensive , buy a new one and put it side by side with yours and you will see that its about half as strong or less than the new one , that's how I found out , I assume that the expensive machine are the same thing , it only make sense

rsaldivar wrote:one thin

please keep in mine that the Quans lamps will need replacing , they don't hold there same intensity over time , which only makes sense , after all what does ? everything that we use wears and these lamps are no different , in my shop , about once a year will do , it all depends on how often you use your , I do about , on average , taking the whole year into account , about 1 to 1.5 curring sessions every other week , and those of you that have had yours for a while , because there not too expensive , buy a new one and put it side by side with yours and you will see that its about half as strong or less than the new one , that's how I found out , I assume that the expensive machine are the same thing , it only make sense

Awesome, thanks for the tips. Now that the Christmas chaos has died down I'll be able to work on casting the blue some more. With your UV curing do you have your models in water? We have a 50W Quans and a small solar turntable, but typically I have only been curing the blues for 3-4 hours in water so I'll definitely start curing longer.

We just got a new box of Plasticast, do you know if the sell samples of the Prestige Optima to try?

no , no samples ,
I also have platicast and have used it for years, but I went out and bought optima because a friend recommended it , since I've bought the optima , I haven't used Platicast , I still think its good , but to me , optima is better for resines , it's a newer investment , newer development with all this increase in resin growing , plasticast was designed for plastic mainly ( its called , plastic - cast ) , back in the day of plastic injection molds , at least that's how I see it , however , my trend of thought as to why I bought some more investment (optima) when I already had plasticast , instead of waiting , was because my jobs are high end (price wise ) and my customers are so not understanding being late (on a regular bases) that for me a 65.00 investment was a small amount of money in order to come threw for my customers ( my customers are other jewelry stores )

ps. no , no water , that's why I said to put the piece on the solar turntable in a way that its standing up-right , so as not to have to turn/flip the piece ,be sure not to leave the resin piece out much after growing , I find it better to do it as soon as I pull off the build plate because I find that when I leave it out too long , then put it in UV , sometimes it gets micro cracks - just, after you air blow off the acetone ( don't rise in water at all ) just cut off the supports as I said , uv cure overnight and tree up the next day

rsaldivar wrote:5. burn out

bench sit 3 - 5 hours , no less than 3 , if you have the time , do 5 , either will work
3 hr at 350 f
then 2 hr at 700 f
then 3 hr at 1450 - 1550 , if a heavy piece do at least 5 hours , the more resin area the more to burn out and longer it takes to do so with any resin
then down to cast tem. this should be about 1.1/2 hours to get to , between 800 f - 1000 f , the lower the temp is at casting , the smoother the cast comes out but remember the less chance the fine detail areas will fill , so if a high or heavy prong or thin areas , especially thin areas that are not well sprured , then your better off with a higher cast tem. , this is something that comes with experience , a little less smooth and full fill in , versus , more smooth and not as much fill required , you weigh this and then go for it , but decide according to detail as far as final cast tem.

What ramp speed do you use for your burnout? I'm going to try to cast the blue with your schedule sometime this week.