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I'm looking for a cold cure high viscosity resin to use with instant mold. It can't generate heat while curing or it will warp the mold. Is there such a thing out there or something that will work to that effect?

What are the benefits and drawbacks of quick curing resin as opposed to longer cure time resin?

No idea man. I'm pretty sure insta-mold and products like it where designed for use with green stuff.

What are you trying to make multiples of?

Try browsing this site to get the name / type of product you're after:
http://www.tiranti.co.uk/

I know of none, but google might....

http://www.systemthree.com/store/pc/ColdCure-c31.htm

http://www.inseto.co.uk/products/twopartepoxies.htm



best of luck!

I'm trying to make my own bases for minis in Fantasy. It works with epoxy putty but uses a lot that is why I'm asking about resin. Epoxy putty is great for remaking shields and small bits but larger pieces could get expensive.

Also, if you want to make a lot of bases, I would suggest just going with silicon instead of instant mold.

I make my own bases and you get a lot more pulls from silicon and better quality than with instant mold.

Check out some of the vids on youtube, from smooth on or brick in the yard (or just do a search for silicon molds).
http://www.youtube.com/bitymoldsupply

best of luck!

I've used many different brands and speeds of resin in both polyurethane and polyester and they all generate heat as a byproduct of curing. The chemical reaction at it's most basic chemical level is exothermic so the best you could hope for is a really slow curing resin that releases the heat over a very long period of time so it can dissipate. You could also try cooling the resin in a fridge as it cures but that exponentially increases curing time.

I'd look into dental plaster if you need zero heat emission. It's much stronger than plaster of paris and is a water based cure that generates no heat.

davethepak wrote:
Also, if you want to make a lot of bases, I would suggest just going with silicon instead of instant mold.

I make my own bases and you get a lot more pulls from silicon and better quality than with instant mold.

Check out some of the vids on youtube, from smooth on or brick in the yard (or just do a search for silicon molds).
http://www.youtube.com/bitymoldsupply

best of luck!

This was a lot of help. Thanks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've updated the OP with another question. What are the pros and cons of quick cure resin vs longer cure time resin? Is there shrinkage? Loss of detail?

 slk28850 wrote:
I'm trying to make my own bases for minis in Fantasy. It works with epoxy putty but uses a lot that is why I'm asking about resin. Epoxy putty is great for remaking shields and small bits but larger pieces could get expensive.

I don't know of any resin that doesn't generate heat to cure, and I strongly suspect anything with properties as exotic as that, which would also generate product suitable for wargaming... probably would be more expensive than it's worth when compared to silicone alternatives. Similarly, I think dental plaster and others of that type are probably too brittle for basing unless they are strictly going into a display case.

You have 2 better options:

Oomoo is fairly cheap ($26) and you get a lot of it. It's very forgiving in terms of mixing (1:1) and is fairly flexible. Downsides include it being a little stuff if you have elaborate undercuts (and you probably don't for bases) and it has a defnitel shelf life, one side will go bad in 9-12 months or so in my experience, even using a gas blanket.

A slightly more expensive option is Tap Plastic's Platinum Cure. It's also very flexible as far as mix goes - 1:1 by volume, cures pretty fast, and is very soft, so it allows for deeper undercuts. it also has no shelf life as far as I can tell. This is my preferred silicone. The obvious downside it's it's very nearly twice the price of the Oomoo.

What is the aversion to silicone? Is there some problem? If it's just 'I don't know how"; it's actually easy as hell and we could totally teach you how to do it.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 slk28850 wrote:
I've updated the OP with another question. What are the pros and cons of quick cure resin vs longer cure time resin? Is there shrinkage? Loss of detail?

There should not be any significant shrinkage or loss of detail with any modern resins - like, .01% or so.

Quick cure allows faster turnaround if you're rapidly prototyping something and won't need to degas it; i.e you're casting something large and simple that isn't inclined to have air bubbles in it you need to address, like a flat round base. Longer cure time is ideal if you're casting something complex that you need to get into a pressure pot - if you are you really need something with a working time of 15 or 20 minutes medium.

Do you have any pictures of the bases? I can recommend some brands to you. Alumilite is awesome if you're casting things that are really simple and need to crank they out fast, for example, but for more complex stuff it might start to kick too fast before you can get the bubbles out.

Not that If you're casting Games Workshop or some other manufacturer's stuff we can't help you because of IP considerations, but if you are going to show an example of a Games Workshop base that is similar to what you're going to cast, as an example, we can.

I have never used silicone but am not against it. I just already have insta mold and was going to use it if I could. Are there any specific resins that are better then others? The stuff I'm working on would be similar to Scribors bases so there are undercuts in some of the bigger pieces for larger bases. I'm not in a hurry so the slower curing stuff would be fine.

I do like the idea of clear silicon for the mold so I can see if its filling properly.

 LUTNIT wrote:
I'd look into dental plaster if you need zero heat emission. It's much stronger than plaster of paris and is a water based cure that generates no heat.

Plaster generates heat as it cures.

Many suggest using a resin from the same manufacturing as the silicon, but I have used may interchangably.

Slower resin gives you more "pot life" which is the work time you have before it starts to cure.

Also, you will want to pour several bases at once...mixing resin in small quantities is more challenging, as any error in the mix ratio results in a greater % of the wrong stuff.

That is, if you are off by 2CC in a 50CC mix, thats not as bad as being off 2cc in a 10cc mix.
(it wont cure properly if the mix if off too much).

I usually pour about half a dozen bases at once, depending on the size.

I have molds with 25mm, 40mm, 60mm and bike bases in them.

I don't case my custom large oval bases, as I use so few of them, and they are very unique. I rarely cast 60mm either, now that I think about it.

As far as particular resins, I like the smooth on resins - I find that the smooth cast 305 gives me a great combination of pot life (7m) and demold time (less than an hour) and is very thin (essential for capturing details).
http://www.smooth-on.com/Urethane-Plastic-a/c5_1120_1209/index.html

One final note;
Unless you are going to cast a LOT of these.....its easier just to make them each (or buy bases). Resin casting (and silicon mold making) is kind of an art...learning how to pour (yes, that matters), how to make the molds, getting used to the chemicals, the temperature, knowing not to have ANY moisture in the molds , how to mix etc.

If you only want a few casts (say, less than 20) I would just use the greenstuff and instamold. Its only if you really need a complex part or need a lot (I had to cast about 100 bases) where resin casting really is worth it.

best of luck!

 slk28850 wrote:
I have never used silicone but am not against it. I just already have insta mold and was going to use it if I could. Are there any specific resins that are better then others? The stuff I'm working on would be similar to Scribors bases so there are undercuts in some of the bigger pieces for larger bases. I'm not in a hurry so the slower curing stuff would be fine.

I do like the idea of clear silicon for the mold so I can see if its filling properly.

I like Tap Plastic's resin; you get a quart for $26 and it's very easy to mix up, simple 1:1 ratio and you need to really throw the ratio off to get a bad cure. It takes about 7 minutes to start kicking and can be demolded in around 25 minutes or so, depending on room temperature. It's pretty rigid stuff, and brittle even (though I've made a great many parts for it without issue). It sands easy, takes super glue well, and paints well. On the other hand, when I was making a ton of tank treads, I used Alumilite, which started to kick in about 3 minutes and can be demolded in 10, and they are really flexible so they won't break with being curved around things like the Quik-Cast would have. Alumilite also makes, IMO, the very best water clear resin on the market, though it gives of fumes and you must ventilate the room.

There aren't really any bad resins per se, just different ones for different applications. I like urethane resins because they are easy and good for my purposes. The only one I would avoid is polyester resin; which is also one of the cheapest and you sometimes see it in stores like Hobby Lobby and so on, as a big bottle with a tiny bottle of catalyst. These are a little tricky to use (you need a postal scale to measure ratios such as 10:1 by weight in grams) and I've never really had great results with it on small parts.

 insaniak wrote:
Plaster generates heat as it cures.

Forgot about that... it's the same active ingredient as concrete cement which is known to explode from the heat generated if laid too thick/quick. At these volumes is it anywhere near the same as resin though? Heat is only a concern in thinks like dam building or extremely thick foundations. Heat from resin can boil water with a piece you can hold between your hands.

davethepak wrote:Many suggest using a resin from the same manufacturing as the silicon, but I have used may interchangably.

Most of the suggestions I've seen about using the same manufacturer have been to do with the Smooth-on range... and that's really just because it's easier to buy them both from the same place. There's no particular reason that you would have to use resin and silicon that have the same branding on them.

LUTNIT wrote:Forgot about that... it's the same active ingredient as concrete cement which is known to explode from the heat generated if laid too thick/quick. At these volumes is it anywhere near the same as resin though? Heat is only a concern in thinks like dam building or extremely thick foundations. Heat from resin can boil water with a piece you can hold between your hands.

It depends on the plaster, and the size of the cast. Some plasters get hot enough to burn skin, particularly in larger casts. I wouldn't expect the hotter plasters to be as hot as the hotter resins, though.

I've used TAP, Smooth-On, and Brick in the Yard (Polytech) resins and silicones.

Smooth-On generally has the lowest cost per volume and best range of useful curing times. I'm not a fan of Smooth-On's platinum cure silicone but their tin cure is great.

Of course tin cure silicone usually calls for a vacuum tank to degas it. At 1/2 the cost of platinum silicone it's really worth it if you are doing serious casting. If you are just doing some small projects just stick with platinum silicone.

For resin I find Smooth-On and Polytech both leave an oily residue on the cast parts even when a release agent isn't used. TAP isn't so bad for this.

So in summary my personal preferences are:
Tin cure silicone = Smooth-On
Platinum cure silicone = Polytech or TAP
Polyurethane (white or off white) resin = TAP