Reify3D Forum

I am a new Solus printer user. I am trying to have some success with cast the B9 Emerald resin. These casting pics are my most recent attempt. I am using the following procedure to prepare the resins for cast:
1) 3 different Alcohol Baths (the first 2 I left the resins in the alcohol for at least an hour)
2) drying them off with an air compressor not letting them air dry.
3) cured over night in the UV nail cursing machine model MK818 ( recommended by Emil)
4) Sprayed lightly with debubbleizer
5) Investment; Plastic Cast with Bandits from Rasdsom and Randolph ,using the drying water ratio formula.
6) Bench cooled for 6 to 8 hours
7) Max ramping temperature with Kiln Minder 800 for 1.5 hrs 1400 for 3.5 hours then down to casting temp
8) Casting with a vacuum caster 14kty this time. ( We are very experienced casters and can achieve quality castings with our equipment.)

I seem to find a great deal of different suggestions for a proper casting and curing technique. From these images can anyone suggest what to try next?

Go read my post and follow it to the letter and your castings will come out. I don't know where you got a 1 hour alcohol bath but a 15-20 second clean is all you need. Then rinse with hot water or dawn dish detergent bath for 30 seconds or so and you will be good. I then use compressed air to dry. 1 hour in alcohol will damage your print.

As said above, way to much alcohol. I just swish mine about 15 seconds. Then to the dawn w water in ultrasonic for about 1 min. When you UV cure, are you putting them in water? I find this a must to prevent damage to resin. I use a B9 cure box, cures my ring in 4 to 6 min.

1 hour in alcohol? Way too much. Maximum 30 seconds.

If you do not see any surface defects in the print after that long IPA bath and UV cure, I'd think there is something else going on.

Assuming your metal and flask are at the right temperatures and you devest the flasks appropriately, looking at some the photos, you have probably ash or some other debris that causes the pits. What type of kiln do you use? Gas/Electric? If electric, do you have enough combustion air in the kiln to help with the decomposition/burning of the resin?

The more orange peel is what I'd associate with incomplete curing and resin damaging the investment surface. Check for resin smell or any residue on the surface of the print. Sometimes a barrier layer can help, but with the emerald you traditionally do not need one.

rkundla wrote:If you do not see any surface defects in the print after that long IPA bath and UV cure, I'd think there is something else going on.

Assuming your metal and flask are at the right temperatures and you devest the flasks appropriately, looking at some the photos, you have probably ash or some other debris that causes the pits. What type of kiln do you use? Gas/Electric? If electric, do you have enough combustion air in the kiln to help with the decomposition/burning of the resin?

The more orange peel is what I'd associate with incomplete curing and resin damaging the investment surface. Check for resin smell or any residue on the surface of the print. Sometimes a barrier layer can help, but with the emerald you traditionally do not need one.

We use an electric kiln with very little draft, we were wondering about leaving the door a jar just a bit to increase convection. We did vacuums the flask before casting. All of the defects look to be orange peel or pitted.

Also make sure the spray you used doesn't eat into the resin. Did you check one first. Let it dry and wipe it off. Like most I don't put anything on my B9 emerald green and get great cast.

I am posting to my own post not sure if this is the right way to go about this. Just did another small batch of casting with similar issues. I followed Mark's Resin preparation process to the T. Here are a few other particulars I was wondering that could have some bearing on my results:

I did the microwaving i didn't let the water cool naturally I add a bit more cool water each time to speed up the process, not sure that could be the culprit

Investment is Plastic Cast with Bandust. (not sure what Bandits is but this was recommended by FormLabs.

I have a fairly new Neycraft Kiln but not sure the temp is 100% accurate. We haven't had any problems casting regular wax. The kiln does have a small top vent but no hole in the door and we dont crack the door a jar when we burn out.

I did notice my alcohol is 70% Isopropyl

I don not remix the resin before each print, just stir in vat with rubber spatula

We do our burnout old school and point the button down

Vacuumed can before casting

My curing is in The Universal LED Nail Curer recommended by Alex from Jewelry Services because of its 365 + 405 nm

Do get the 90% alcohol. Try a little less water in the investment mix. Here is a good read about 3dprintin casting.

If I were casting that, I would have a feed to the back of Alaska. Lots of turbulence feeding from the thin areas.

Someone else would probably know better, but button down is not recommended for resins. They don't melt they burn, and I heard that doing so can damage the investment.