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Casting resin

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The Bowler Hatted Turner:
Hi All,
         I want to use some casting resin and want advice about which one to use. The criteria are:-
1. It needs to bond to wood.
2. I need to add a colour,acrylic colours would be nice.
3. It needs to be a "hard" set not a "soft" set.
4. It needs to be capable of being cut and polished.
5. I am intending to cast directly into the wood so do not want too high an exothermic(?) temperature.

Not a lot to ask and I am confident the woodturning google will be able to furnish the answers.
Many thanks
John BHT

Les Symonds:
Hi John....I use CFS Fibreglass - http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/ - for all my grp supplies, and have done so for close on 20 years. They have a very informative catalogue, with loads of tips in it, and they've also always been very helpful when I have contacted them directly. I guess that what will suit your needs will be their water-clear, casting resin, plus whatever pigments you choose.....they have an extensive stock list, so I'm sure you'll find what you need.

Hope it goes well....Les

Martin Lawrence:
  Hi John,

  Many resins are brittle and chip when turned these you usually have to scrape to a finish but a decent finish can be obtained, I think your main problem will be the bonding to wood if your casting it directly onto wood you will need to place it in a pressure of vacuume pot to extract all the air bubbles and get it to enthuse onto the wood. If your casting  then using ashesive onto wood then I dont see a problem.  I tried casting direct onto wood burrs and when turning it comes apart so now I place into a pressure pot.

  There are generally two types of resin Polyurethane or Polyester one is a fifty fifty mix with a catalyst the other requires precise percentage mixing of resin to catalyst so precise you need a syringe to apply the catalyst not suprisingly the fifty fifty mix is the most expensive.

I will check out the above link for pigments because when I purchased my stuff I could only get pigments in 1lt tins, by the way the pigments are made to suit either polyester or polyurethane and will not work with the other mix.

Good Luck

Cheers Martin

The Bowler Hatted Turner:
Les Many thanks for that I will check them out.
Martin thanks for your comprehensive reply.  I want to cast directly into the wood but was thinking of coating the side walls with I dunno........sanding sealer or similar and then casting once dry. The reasoning behind it was to prevent colour bleed on the un- casted (?) bits which will be quite thin in places.
   
    The colours that I want are specific and have so far have not found them in any advertised pigments or stains. I really want to use the colours that I have which are acrylics.

I want to avoid casting and then gluing them in as it will make the job harder.
Once again ,
Many thanks
Regards
John BHT

BrianH:
Try West System. Primarily intended for the boat building industry but it is the stuff Marilyn Somoneorother was demonstrating a couple of seminars ago.
Not cheap and mixing ratios are important but are easily sorted using their twin pumps that afix onto the containers and give exactly the right amount.
All the best with it
Brian

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