I’m trying to find a decent resin that has a very slow curing time. Something in the realm of 4 hours. Anyone have any suggestions?
I need it because I’m hosting an event that is basically using colored resin to do something approximating stained glass. Something like this
But because it’s done in a classroom setting, not just me doing it myself, the resin needs to have a fairly long working time.
If you don’t need to be working on it constantly you could put it in an ice cooler when it’s not in work. That will significantly slow the exothermic reaction and extend the curing time.
There’s going to be between 10-15 people all working on their own project. And given how slow these people tend to work, I don’t think that’s going to necessarily be an option
Unfortunately, the only slow cure resin I’m aware of has a much longer cure time - a couple days.
Darn. Any thoughts on reducing the amount of catalyst? I’m worried that if I do that too much, then the resin is not going to cure at all
Cool project. I watched the video and I liked the project
To help me clarify. Slow cure versus long working time? Long working time, right?
I think if you used a long cure resin and did one color at a time, even the slowest could get through one color in a long cure time window. Would require the student to plan out the colors ahead of time. If the entire class used the same palette of colors, even better
Max
So I don’t know that I have ever run across a 4 hr working time resin. Best I have seen is 45 minutes. That being said, when I do my resin classes I will make sure we cover the process verbally (usually twice cause I get questions through explanation #1). Then once everyone has a clear understanding of the process we all mix our resin at the same time and I have to split my attention between everyone during the working time. I cap those classes at 5 people so that could be the challenge for you. Also, will this be pressure cured or just air cured? If air cured, then you could do it in stages. like ok, were going to pour color #1, lets all do that simultaneously. then 45 min later switch to color 2, and so on. Not sure if any of this helps.
Regarding mixing the catalyst in varying amounts I have never messed with that. The only person I do know who used to do that at DMS is not longer a member. I do remember them saying that it was a costly endeavor as they had to blow through hundreds of dollars of resin to get their technique down.
Edit- I just saw that you mentioned a 4 hr curing time. Did you mean curing time or open working time. I was assuming you meant working time. Cause most resins have 12-48 hr cure times. 4 hours is a very fast cure time.
Work time. Sorry, I don’t have a lot of resin experience, so I might have gotten my terms next around. But that actually is a good point about doing it in stages. I’ll see if I can work that into the logistics