My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

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M-Williams
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby M-Williams » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:52 pm

We print all day all the time and cast successfully with the cherry resin. Why don't you guys just give it a try? my two cents. Marc.
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rkundla
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby rkundla » Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:53 pm

The properties that make a resin more like wax are mutually exclusive to those that provide sharp detail and hardness. ;-)

Curing and combustion air seem to be the two important factors to getting a clean mold and a clean burnout.

I used a 66/33 red:cherry mix at the beginning and it was a bear to print, but the prints were very sharp and the casting usually came out good - even before I modified my electric kiln to take in more outside air. I just didn't like paying all that moolah for two bottles of resin and how much exposure I needed to get good prints. :D
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sochin
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby sochin » Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:55 pm

Storen wrote:
sochin wrote:I am assuming you have not tried it?


Why would you assume that?



because you wrote "I may have found one" not "I have found one". I took the "may have" to possibly mean that you are yet to try it....because if it casts like wax it would only take one try to prove that.

Unsure I put a question mark on the end.....and yet you still have not clarified. You found one or not? If you have why would you not just say "this resin casts like wax"?

I am like M-Williams, I print and cast Cherry day in and dayout without issues so this discussion is mute for me and now off topic. I just wanted others to consider different methods of heat treatment as they try to get Soluscast to work and consider doing testing more methodically.

cheers,
Sochin
Storen
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby Storen » Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:23 am

sochin wrote:
Storen wrote:
sochin wrote:I am assuming you have not tried it?


Why would you assume that?



because you wrote "I may have found one" not "I have found one". I took the "may have" to possibly mean that you are yet to try it....because if it casts like wax it would only take one try to prove that.

Unsure I put a question mark on the end.....and yet you still have not clarified. You found one or not? If you have why would you not just say "this resin casts like wax"?

I am like M-Williams, I print and cast Cherry day in and dayout without issues so this discussion is mute for me and now off topic. I just wanted others to consider different methods of heat treatment as they try to get Soluscast to work and consider doing testing more methodically.

cheers,
Sochin


Yes Sochin, I did try it :) as well as many other castable resins.
A few months ago I posted a link to my full review here in this form. If you are interested search for "smart-res".
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sochin
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby sochin » Wed Feb 28, 2018 12:40 am

Storen wrote:If you are interested search for "smart-res".



Thanks..... but I don`t need to read it or see photos. If you say it casts like wax then "it casts like wax" and I will take your word for it.

Print, gypsum investment and a normal wax burnout for even heavier weight items. Sounds great. Might try some when I get a chance. Thanks.
A.Joa1
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby A.Joa1 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:08 am

M-Williams wrote:We print all day all the time and cast successfully with the cherry resin. Why don't you guys just give it a try? my two cents. Marc.

Hey M,
i am thinking of getting a bottle of cherry after seeing that you recommend it a lot because sadly Soluscast is not working for me either. Have yet to try it with phosphate bonded investment as a last resort.
Would you be kind enough to answer this questions?

1. Can it withstand high heat like the Emerald? Very important for me as i make a lot of molds of flat items with standard vulcanizing process (160 celcius). Also i heat cure before casting.
2. For how long do you cure the cherry for a successful casting? UV? Heat? I have the Solus curing unit and the Mercury Vapor lamp.
3. What is the top temperature you reach in your burnout cycle?

Thank you in advance.
Storen
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby Storen » Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:54 pm

sochin wrote:Might try some when I get a chance. Thanks.


Yes, this is the most castable resin I've tested so far, far better than B9's in that regard, but it is very difficult to work with because of how soft it is.
When the build platform lifts the model and separates it from the film you could see how the model stretches and when it moves down you could see how it compresses. Because of the stretching - compressing I had some very weird deformations on some of the prints. I had to reprint more than 10 times! until I found the optimal layer-exposure/support for the particular design.
I suspect it might work better on printers with tilting vats.

The print detail is actually not bad - very similar to Emerald.

The resin is not easy to work with, but it could be a solution for people who have casting problems with the B9's resins.
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sochin
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby sochin » Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:50 pm

A.Joa1 wrote:
M-Williams wrote:1. Can it withstand high heat like the Emerald? Very important for me as i make a lot of molds of flat items with standard vulcanizing process (160 celcius). Also i heat cure before casting.


IMO Cherry is sturdier than Emerald and more suitable for normal high temp vulcanisation. That is why I prefer to work with Cherry over Emerald in general. It just feels more comfortable to work with for me.

I have not cut a Cherry mould for a while but when I used to I would print with the sprue attached, oven heat cure, talcum the print and then mould with Castaldo White label no problems. I just made sure I packed it really well to reduce the need for compression and when I did compress.... go gradually.

I heat cure Cherry at about 200c in the furnace for an hour for casting so 160c in a mould is no problems. I have never had a Cherry print react with Castaldo White label. Too much pressure with a not well packed mould and the print may crack. I always expect to break my print during cutting especially if I cut it warm.

If you want a high detail resin that high temp moulds very well then the Asiga PlasPink is very good but it is a bit expensive. It does not cast....don`t try unless you have time to waste.

HTH.

cheers,
Sochin
A.Joa1
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby A.Joa1 » Sun Mar 04, 2018 9:45 pm

sochin wrote:
A.Joa1 wrote:
M-Williams wrote:1. Can it withstand high heat like the Emerald? Very important for me as i make a lot of molds of flat items with standard vulcanizing process (160 celcius). Also i heat cure before casting.


IMO Cherry is sturdier than Emerald and more suitable for normal high temp vulcanisation. That is why I prefer to work with Cherry over Emerald in general. It just feels more comfortable to work with for me.

I have not cut a Cherry mould for a while but when I used to I would print with the sprue attached, oven heat cure, talcum the print and then mould with Castaldo White label no problems. I just made sure I packed it really well to reduce the need for compression and when I did compress.... go gradually.

I heat cure Cherry at about 200c in the furnace for an hour for casting so 160c in a mould is no problems. I have never had a Cherry print react with Castaldo White label. Too much pressure with a not well packed mould and the print may crack. I always expect to break my print during cutting especially if I cut it warm.

If you want a high detail resin that high temp moulds very well then the Asiga PlasPink is very good but it is a bit expensive. It does not cast....don`t try unless you have time to waste.

HTH.

cheers,
Sochin


Hey Sochin,

thank you very much for the feedback.

Most of the times i get very good results casting the Emerald but this is not consistent and i am curing for 40-50 hours with the Solus curing unit (Melody Susie before). I have tried and still experimenting with all possible curing methods. Here is an example of the castings i usually get

Capture1.PNG


The reason i am asking is because i read from a couple of users that Cherry is casting better than Emerald (and maybe even cure faster?) and i wanted to make sure that you can make molds with it before spending any money. So thank you for answering that. The only problem i see with Cherry is that according to Mark is so heavily pigmented that can set even while printing. Is that true? Is it more difficult to print than Emerald or is it more or less the same?

When i have the time i mold SolusProto with Castaldo LiquaCast Long Life. Every time i print the SolusProto i am amazed by the quality, so not changing that. I just need to have one versatile resin that has high resolution, casts well and can withstand the standard vulcanization process.

To the Solus team: All we ever wanted was SolusProto castable.
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sochin
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Re: My (failed) castings w/SolusCast

Postby sochin » Mon Mar 05, 2018 1:06 am

A.Joa1 wrote:
sochin wrote:
A.Joa1 wrote:

Most of the times i get very good results casting the Emerald but this is not consistent and i am curing for 40-50 hours with the Solus curing unit (Melody Susie before). I have tried and still experimenting with all possible curing methods. Here is an example of the castings i usually get

Capture1.PNG

The reason i am asking is because i read from a couple of users that Cherry is casting better than Emerald (and maybe even cure faster?) and i wanted to make sure that you can make molds with it before spending any money. So thank you for answering that. The only problem i see with Cherry is that according to Mark is so heavily pigmented that can set even while printing. Is that true? Is it more difficult to print than Emerald or is it more or less the same?

When i have the time i mold SolusProto with Castaldo LiquaCast Long Life. Every time i print the SolusProto i am amazed by the quality, so not changing that. I just need to have one versatile resin that has high resolution, casts well and can withstand the standard vulcanization process.



40 -50 hours cure time...I feel your pain. My curing method is in another thread somewhere here, it is the same for Cherry and Emerald and much shorter than that. 2 hours all up.

Your last point above first. Big smile on my face when I read "I just need" .....I think you will be better off printing multiple resins to do their respective jobs. For the all round resin closest to your Nirvana of high res, castable and high temp vulcanisable that you search for.......I would say Cherry at the moment....but with a lot of buts.

This is just my opinion....... I find Cherry and Emerald the same to print...if anything Cherry easier than Emerald...I have no problems casting Cherry but Emerald does for most people cast better than Cherry. I use Emerald for heavy pieces 15 grams plus.

I personally think that Cherry burns fine just so long as you give it enough air to burnout. Your occasional problems may not be with the resin but elsewhere.

Therefore if you are having problems with Emerald I would expect you to have more with Cherry. My suggestion is that you stay with Emerald and look at getting more air into the flask to assist burnout. That would be the first thing I would look at. The better the resin burns the better the cast IMO. I would also look at the type of piece that you have issues with and how it is sprued, where it is in the flask to see if you can spot a pattern. I believe that resins need more clearance from the flask wall than wax does.

Regarding Mark (Kuhlein?) referring to the Cherry setting (should that have been settling?) during printing....I am not sure what he is talking about. The pigment in Cherry does settle to the bottom if left to stand and I stir before every print. On the Asiga many prints would be 7 hours plus as it was a lot slower than the Solus...I never had an issue with the resin settling and damaging a print.

With Cherry I say the same as Marc, mix your bottles before pouring and stir your vats before printing. Not sure if Marc does this but I never leave my vats in the printer. I seal them and store them in a dark container.

I always keep empty resin bottles handy. When I get a new bottle of Cherry I pour it all out and mix it well. I then put half of the resin back in each bottle. Stirring/shaking/rotating two half full bottles is easier than one full one for me. Plaspink used to settle badly as well.

I am guessing that the answer to your problem might be buying more Vats and use each resin for its best purpose. Sounds like you may be doing that now with Emerald and SolusProto. I did that with the Asiga and now with the Solus. I have one vat for Cherry and another for Emerald. Will get a third vat soon for a vulcanising resin.

Solus users have such a good life with it`s vat system....the Asiga was so expensive with it`s disposable proprietary trays. Printers, resins and trays are so affordable now.

cheers,
Sochin

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