Hello! I have been using the Colores Brand resin with the durenamel
hardener from Rio Grande and am having some trouble with the resin
pulling away from the bezel walls and shrinking after a few months
or so. I am curing the resin with a heat lamp and kept thinking that
the silver and resin have different expanding and contracting rates.
I had tried heating up the silver bezel first to let it expand and
then pouring the resin in to almost over fill the bezel, but am still
having some of these problems. I live in an arid climate and thought
this could have something to do with it? does any one have any
suggestions on this?
Thanks!!
Jill Johnson
Firstly, I have not used ‘colores’. I do have some experience with
resins.
My suggestions don’t use a heat lamp allow the resin to cure at
normal temps. You mention that you live in an arid climate; get a
humidfier. It is my understanding that resins require humidity to
properly cure (normal levels of humidity).
On the other hand I could be totally wrong.
Just out of curiosity: Do the directions you received with 'Colores’
recommend curing the resin with a heat lamp?
Ceramit is more suited to jewelry applications - but given that you
are using Colores already - it sounds like
-
the walls were not absolutely clean - wash them with a swab dipped
in acetone or MEK and let dry thoroughly before use - and always
roughen the surface with a 3M diamond film on a mandrel or wrap it
around the non - cotton end of the swab and run it around the bezel…
-
your catalyst may have gone bad - another brand also packages
theirs in a plastic bottle, the trouble being it is the wrong plastic
(wrong for the application the company chose the bottle probably for
costs savings over correct type of chemichal resistance at a higher
price…the same thing happens to pure essential oils (from botanical
by - products) - they are packed in a blue or amber glass bottle
then the not - so - brilliant marketers add a plastic drip tip that
in at least 80% of the selections offered by the major sellers of all
natural plant, bark, root and gum oils the compounds they contain
dissolve or at least degrade the plastics over not that long a period
of time : wrong plastic for those products).
-
you are heating the metal - re - read the instructions.none that
i have ever read instruct anyone to heat or warm or anything but
prepare the metal by cleaning it before pouring the resin, or
epoxy.Another thing to keep in mind being in an arid environment is
the percentage of moisture the brand new, and not nearing becoming
outdated product contains.and the percentage of water loss to
evaporation from simply running an air conditioner with the
bottle(s) open in the same room can tally. That does not even touch
on the storage of the containers, ambient temperature, light
exposure and all the other factors that affect both parts of the
product.
If you have recently purchased a certain colour - do a test… using
the remainder of that colour you are replacing and the fresh
product…if both pull away from the sides of your bezels then the
problem is elsewhere.and do the instructions mention curing with a
heat lamp, or is that something you thought would expedite the
process.reread the manufacturers direction to re clarify, in your
mind, exactly how they tell you to use their product.if you are
following it to the letter, and the product is relatively new, write
the manufacturer and explain that you may have received a bad batch,
or go to the retailer and turn it in for an exchange, or refund and
try another brand to add colour in that format.Alternatively,
consider perhaps using glass effetre/enamels… rer
I have used these products for many years without that problem, but I
wonder if you might be able to avoid this by heat curing your items
in a small portable toaster oven. I have mine set to 150 degrees F
and cook my items for 2 hours or so to set the resin. Otherwise, I
would contact the manufacturers of the Durenamel for advice or a
different hardener.
BBR - Sandi Graves
Stormcloud Trading Co (Beadstorm)
Saint Paul, Minnesota
651-645-0343
I know that with Devcon Epoxy, it does have a shelf life of about
two years. Not that it won’t cure, but it takes forever to do so.
It could be that you either have an aged product, or the product has
been switched to another manufacturer and the production standards
are not the same.
I suggest that if you purchased the Colores from Rio Grande and if
it is their product, then send a sample to their tech team and give
them the exact protocol you used plus a sample you made it from. You
can spend a lot of time trying figure out what happened, but time is
precious. Rio is a great company if there is a product that is not
working correctly, you can trust them to spend their time to research
your issue and solve the problem.
Folks, I cannot stress enough how important it is when you are
fabricating a piece of work, to DOCUMENT everything you are doing.
The design stage is one part, but the rest of the fabrication is
technical and requires good notes. When you run into a technical
problem, if the problem didn’t exist before, then your original
notes will come in very handy.
Karen Christians
http:www.cleverwerx.com
What a horrible problem! I’ve also been using the Colores and have
had no issues with it. I’ve been doing them for about a year. Now, I
don’t live in an arid climate, so I don’t know if that might have
something to do with it (I’m in PA), but I do cure them just
overnight (making sure the room isn’t cold), so I wonder if the the
heat lamp is the problem. Don’t know why it would be a problem,
though. I did cure one small batch with my kiln because it just
wasn’t curing as it should and I had to get it to the customer. I
haven’t heard of any trouble with it, I hope there won’t be any. I
did realize after I did those, though, that it was because winter
had arrived and my basement studio just wasn’t warm enough to cure
them. I simply brought the next batch into the main part of the house
to cure overnight as usual and it worked like a charm.
Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher