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Can anyone point me in the direction of what I need to do some hobby resin casting. I have been doing it without any special tools and getting OK results but I would like to up the anti now and maybe get a vacuum degassing set up. I can find degassing chambers on eBay and vacuum pumps but I am not really sure what is a good specification.

Any advice gratefully received.

N

What you should look into getting, for nice quality casting, is a Pressure Pot. When resin cure under pressure, it gets rid of 99% of the air bubbles. You only really need to degas resin, if you are casting in clear or transparent resin.

There are some good Pressure Pot tutorials on YouTube, on both making one, and using it with casting.

I degass my silicon for making molds using a vacuum pump I got at harbor freights and a vacuum pot I got off ebay.
(basically a big pot, with a sealed clear lexan lid).

As noted, I rarely degass my resin, but I also use some very low viscosity stuff, and pressure cast. I only bother to degass the resin if for some reason, I had to shake it much longer then normal.

For a pressure pot, get a decent compressor (not an airbrush compressor, not enough CFM) and a painters pressure pot.

check out some of the various youtube videos out there.

best of luck!

Thanks guys, so basically I should be looking at pressure casting not vacuum casting. I will check out youtube next.
Thanks
N

Getting a pressure pot is a pain in the UK ditto for vacuum casting / degassing equipment. Bare in mind the prices for the equipment are nearly twice what you would pay in the US.

Ebay is probably the expensive option, look up "Axminster tools & machinery" they're in Axminster, Devon (as the name might suggest), although their pot is pretty small, it's the cheapest when I looked around 2 years ago.

I vacuum cast my pieces, pressure casting is generally better, but you so have to worry about bubbles in the mold causing deformities. I don't know if you can use a pressure pot for making better molds.

Good luck

If you can find a pressure cooker, a pressure gauge, valve, and a quick release you can make your own for a fraction the cost of commercial pressure pots specific for casting. You only need to go to 40 to 50 psi (275 to 345 kPa), so a pressure cooker pot is generally more than strong enough.

Don't need a dedicated 'casting' pressure pot.

Get a "air pressure paint tank" from a hardware store.

(you may need some extra fittings to rig to your compressor).

Here is one from a US discount company, hopefully you can find something similar that is affordable.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-1-2-half-gallon-pressure-paint-tank-66839.html

You want to make sure the pot is designed to withstand proper vacuum and pressure amounts. In US I know Binks Pressure Pots are ASME Certified for Vacuum and pressure but may be outside of price range. This guide may help decide if you prefer to go with a vacuum pump over a pressure pot.

Go check out resin addict.

A wealth of knowledge there.