I’m looking to fill an inside-out wood turning with a deep pour resin. The general shape of the resin “cavity” will be like a 3 inch diameter cylinder about 4 inches tall (give or take). Looking for clear glossy result. Can this be poured in a single casting or would I need to do it in layers?
It will have a small wire brush-like Christmas tree in the middle, so good chance for bubbles. Would the vacuum pot be sufficient to pull those bubbles out or should I also cure it in the pressure pot?
I would not pour that deep in one shot, 2 to 3 pours… 1.5 to 1.75 inched each pour… depending on the epoxy you use? I recommend entropy resins… I can get you a link to save guy some money…
When I have poured resin-encapsulated stuff (miniature aquariums, for instance) I dip the goodie into acrylic before making the pour. I would recommend you do that with your wire brush. That will help a lot with the bubbles.
Hi Mike,
It all depends on the resin you are using. Many have depth limits and I would point you to their product documentation prior to buying or use. I use Alumilite for woodworking and I know it can handle deep pours like that. so long as it is mixed well, should give a nice clear glossy result. My largest to date was 4x4x12 inches and it was just fine. As Chris mentioned too, its a great idea to pre-coat your item, especially wood, as bubbles will leech out of the wood and potentially make the finished item look bad. There are different ways to do it, but really any seal over the wood will suffice. I personally do a single coat of varnish before doing the resin cast (if I have not previously stabilized the wood first). Otherwise you will potentially have bubbles or even hazing of the resin itself. regarding the vacuum chamber to remove bubbles I would definitely recommend that prior to pressure casting it. Hope this helps!
Thanks for all the advice. I did my first pour and set in the pressure pot at 40 psi. I’ll report back in a week or two.