Are you using a white resin? You need a clear resin to get a black. The products I use are all Japanese. I use a clear urethane (Craft Resin) with dye (Mr Casttonner). The resin goes off very fast so you have to be quick. I think epoxy resins would take hours to set. Urethane is unworkable in less than 5 minutes. Gloss coat on the top.
If you get a clear and put black dye in it you should be good. If your not pressure casting though your gonna see the bubbles. I know Smooth On makes a black resin, but its double the price of the clear or white
thanks so much guys i ended up buying the smooth on onyx resin ..so I'll see how that goes but clear with the dye comes out looking good ..Ill definitely have to try it.
I just picked up a couple cans of smooth on onyx as well. Have not poured any yet tho. Ill let you know my results.
The Smooth On black pigment works great with the sc-325 clear resin. That Onyx sounds cool but I don't want to store three different resins when I can get all the colors from the clear. DO post your results though.
when i was at reynolds i almost grabbed the black tint but decided to go with the onyx instead. hoping to do some casting this weekend so ill post pics.
Yes... But doesn't the clear resin put more wear and tear on your mold. I havent used any smoothon products. I use the tap plastics clear resin and even with all the mold release it still super sticky stuff. I only get maybe half the casting out of a mold that is strictly used for clear castings
I agree with Butch. Also, undercuts and your parting line will wear out your molds but you should get quite a few casts.
the smooth-on onyx is nice and dark, but i recommend the 'slow' cure version only... i found the fast cure version is almost too fast to pour, never mind pressurizing it in a timely manner.
I finally busted out and did a test pull with the onyx from smooth on. I love it. I didn't have the issue with quick curing but that may be related to moisture and temp at my house. I'm using the fast cure by the way.
wonder if i got a bad batch then? i'm used to the smooth-on products having about half of the pot life they claim to, but this stuff didn't make it out of the mixing cup some of the time. also, the reaction was smoking hot. also, way too many micro-bubbles.
Check out the "color match" resin by smooth-on. 326 It's perfect and black as sin with the pigment. great resin.
I can say the onyx stuff looks good when u get it right but it can be pretty hit or miss. Sometimes it never fully cures & in a few instances it kept growing for days ( I posted a pic of that in a other thread, it was kinda cool actually) On a side note I've been waiting a month and a half on some more mold max 30 to come in.
