Aaronw Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I've been casting for a couple of years but just ran into a problem I haven't had before. I poured the resin into the molds and it won't cure. How do I get this sticky mess out of the molds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62rebel Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 i had a similar problem with old resin doing fiberglass dash in my 1:1 '51; dang stuff would not "kick". try to pour out the major portion of the uncured stuff and dribble a little MEK into the rest and slosh it around. pour the excess off and hopefully the resin will "kick" with the hot catalyst. be careful (extremely!!!) with the MEK as it is very powerful stuff and the fumes are something else. good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 So the MEK will cause the rest of resin to solidify? Two of the molds are pretty open so I can get alot out, the other two are closed molds which will be a pain. I realize what I did now that I look at the bottles, I couldn't get the part B open so I used a new bottle of part B (figured I'd plan a big casting session and break the lid off the other part B later). Now looking at the label it says Now new tan color, the old part B was white resin, they must have changed their formula and I used the old part A (white) with the new part B (tan) and I guess they don't work together. Oh, well I guess its just one more thing to learn, don't mix resin batches. :roll: Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62rebel Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 try testing it first with a little of the resin that you can get out of the mold. if it kicks, then i'd try the rest. don't want you to lose a mold! When i did it with the old resin i was fighting with i brushed it on and it made the resin kick but it was still slow curing. good luck and be careful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 Thanks, the MEK has only made small amounts kick but it did work really well to thin the resin. I dumped out the excess resin and refilled the molds with MEK, after a short time the resin was really thin so I could get most of it out, then washed and dried the molds. At the least this has worked for 3 of the 5 molds I had filled with resin, the remaining 2 may be a lost cause because they are have small openings so I can't really scrape the resin out, I squirted some MEK into the molds with an eyedropper and will hope for the best. Of the last 2 one was an early mold which I should redo anyway, the other is a fairly new mold but not something critical, so if I end up losing 1 of 4 good molds and 1 old mold oh, well. I also use a polyethelene board for casting on to protect my work table, I used a little MEK to clean off the sticky uncured resin that spilled and the MEK cleaned everything off it, silicone blobs, old resin etc, it looks brand new. So at the least your tip saved me 2 brand new never before used molds, 1 little used mold and now I have a really clean working surface. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelmartin Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 You didn't say what kind of resin you were using. MEK will work cleaning polyester like used in fiberglass resin. If you are using a urethane resin I have had good results cleaning with lacquer thinner or alcohol. Some urethanes don't like RTV when it is freshly cured. Sometimes a post-cure of a couple of weeks makes it work better. Good luck. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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