Casting SolusCast

[printcast]

Then print another heavy one , same one as in the begging of this thread and leave it out for the 2 week in the sun by a window , after having cured the same as you do

this is a test , to get a theory confirmed , hopefully not the way you will have to use soluscast every time , if this is confirmed then we will try and mimck the aging process to find a quicker way so as to confirm what to focus on , because as my friend says , you can get better than 90 % with the green if you age it , just goes to show that even in what you are doing now leaves room for improvement with the green , besides this should be true for all resins , I know the green can be grown and cast the same day , but this is not what Im tring to do at this time with solucast at this time, just as those of us who experimented with the green when it first came out , microwave with water , with oil , in ultrasonic with Dawn , no ultrasonic , vacuum heat ( the guy who did the study) , aging , reg nail cure box , b9 cure box .......... read all the threads at that time period

what Im trying to find out is if this ( aging) is 100 % Constance with good casting results , if so confirmed , then the focus should be on the fastest way to mimck that

LOL, I still have bottles of baby oil from those suggestions back in the day.

OK, I'll print the tire ring again, put it in sunlight for a couple of weeks and cast.

[Jewelermdt]

I'm so busy I like many of us don't have the time to let a ring sun bake for a week. I need to kick things out in one to three days after printing. I am way behind right now. Having trouble getting a few large items to print. I think my bulb might be the issue. Using emerald resin and it comes off printer like it's been cured a little. Tried the SolusCast twice with fails, just don't have time to play right now.

[rsaldivar]

just want everyone to know that , THIS IS A TEST , Im not saying this is the only way to use this resin , what Im actually trying to say if anything is that for all castable resins , all brands , this might be the most important factor , and then the investment , and then the cycle of the burn out , this might hold the key to successful casting , its important to note this because moving forward it will help with process of elimination , increase our understanding of order of importance of procedure and help us identify what the cause could be with your latest fail and why, in order to identify what you have to do next time to correct and move on , instead of aimlessly tying different things and guessing ,or unproven theory's

[rkundla]

I just wanted to post a quick photo of my first attempt at casting SolusCast using my own program for B9 Emerald resin.

Cure routine:
- two 30s washes in isopropyl alcohol
- dry with compressed air
- cure for 2 1/2 hours in my LED strip paint can chamber (has a turntable and clear cup of water to hold print)
- after supports are cut and any nubs are ground down, I give it another 2 hour cure in the paint can
- six minute ultrasonic soak in Alconox alkaine cleaning bath before spruing





Investment parameters:

38:100 Plasticast, cured overnight in a 2 1/2" x 3" flask

Burnout parameters:

All ramp rates are 1200°F/hr
Pre-heat to 300°F and melt wax button down for 1 hour
Remove wax tray, set button up and ramp to 700°F for 2 hours
Ramp up to 1370°F for 3 hours
Ramp down to 900°F for a minimum of 1 hours (this cast held at 900°F for 5 hours)

Cast using Lucas centrifugal casting machine.
Sterlium Plus sterling silver (50/50 scrap/new) using acetylene air torch

Here are the results:



Obvious investment breakdown in the interior of the petals where the prongs are located. Edge defects that appear to be ash or broken investment related.



There is supposed to be a hole through one of the sub-petals, but you can see many negative defects from ash or broken investment.

Here is the same parts cast using this technique with B9 Emerald:

21369148_1922549754422182_4686043260325806829_n.jpg (16.13KiB)Viewed 12595 times

While the Emerald isn't as sharp as the SolusCast, I've been able to get consistent results with this approach.

I will try some different things next time.

1) My normal cure cycle is 6 hours. I didn't want to go too long since I didn't know what to expect from overexposure. I will cure for the full 6 hours both times.
2) Slow my ramp rate - since I had areas where the surface was good, I think it was more expansion issues than uncured resin residue. I will slow the rate down to ease the rate of expansion.
3) Increase maximum temperature to improve ash removal - hopefully the negative defects were ash; I can also increase the time at the 1370°F temp to make sure the flask has more time to burn off the ash.

Regards,
Ron

[Storen]

Ron, thanks much for all the details!!!

I've noticed you haven't mentioned Boric Acid. Maybe this is what it needs or harder dental investment.

[rsaldivar]

did you vacuum the crucible before injecting the metal ?

and yours saying no type of heat curing , only UV , Right ?

[rkundla]

Ron, thanks much for all the details!!!

I've noticed you haven't mentioned Boric Acid. Maybe this is what it needs or harder dental investment.

No problem Storen!

I have been trying to avoid the use of modifiers like boric acid. I don't want to risk damaging the tree by hammering out the investment, plus I don't want the investment setting up too quick.

[rkundla]

did you vacuum the crucible before injecting the metal ?

and yours saying no type of heat curing , only UV , Right ?

All I did was give the flask a little tap with the button side down to knock out any loose investment.

I have tried vacuuming in the past, but could not tell if it was effective or not. I certainly do not sprue my tree up to create the necessary vents to allow air to be drawn through the interior of the mold since it requires more metal and doing that with a gold casting is not in my budget.

So I only apply UV, but the paint can does get warm, so the water in the cup might be in the ~100°F range? I'll take a thermometer to it the next time I run a cure cycle.

[rsaldivar]

the boric does make it hard but not palt investment hard , just adds a little kick to the hardness that otherwise wouldnt be there , iv never used a hammer to take off the investment, but yes it does set up a littel faster with the boric , I use a 6 min. set time frame , 3 to mix and twice 1.5min. vacume , once in bowl and once in crusible , besides , I think the boric also helps with cleaning and impurities in the resin ( all types of resin from all companies ) ,

I dont think any investment should be coming out when you tap the crucible besides I wouldn't be tapping it because you might be causing investment to break off and come out , I also dont know how much helps to vacuum the crucible , but I know it wont hurt it , I wount run lines (vents) to create a vacuum channel either , your right , it would only be more metal ,
also , just as vacuum casting machines work to suck the metal in , so would a shop vac work to remove any resin remains (ash) if any , investment is pours and anything in there (ash) would come out with out the extra spurs (vents) you mentioned

[M-Williams]

The only difference I see is curing. We use our 2 QUANS 50W UV LED lights. the blue resin prints so well,crisp and sharp. you can stick with Emerald if it is doing the job for you.
Our workshop caster thinks it is like the DigitalWax DC550. prints fantastic, you have to cure it to death though. Marc.

I just wanted to post a quick photo of my first attempt at casting SolusCast using my own program for B9 Emerald resin.

Cure routine:
- two 30s washes in isopropyl alcohol
- dry with compressed air
- cure for 2 1/2 hours in my LED strip paint can chamber (has a turntable and clear cup of water to hold print)
- after supports are cut and any nubs are ground down, I give it another 2 hour cure in the paint can
- six minute ultrasonic soak in Alconox alkaine cleaning bath before spruing





Investment parameters:

38:100 Plasticast, cured overnight in a 2 1/2" x 3" flask

Burnout parameters:

All ramp rates are 1200°F/hr
Pre-heat to 300°F and melt wax button down for 1 hour
Remove wax tray, set button up and ramp to 700°F for 2 hours
Ramp up to 1370°F for 3 hours
Ramp down to 900°F for a minimum of 1 hours (this cast held at 900°F for 5 hours)

Cast using Lucas centrifugal casting machine.
Sterlium Plus sterling silver (50/50 scrap/new) using acetylene air torch

Here are the results:



Obvious investment breakdown in the interior of the petals where the prongs are located. Edge defects that appear to be ash or broken investment related.



There is supposed to be a hole through one of the sub-petals, but you can see many negative defects from ash or broken investment.

Here is the same parts cast using this technique with B9 Emerald:

21369148_1922549754422182_4686043260325806829_n.jpg

While the Emerald isn't as sharp as the SolusCast, I've been able to get consistent results with this approach.

I will try some different things next time.

1) My normal cure cycle is 6 hours. I didn't want to go too long since I didn't know what to expect from overexposure. I will cure for the full 6 hours both times.
2) Slow my ramp rate - since I had areas where the surface was good, I think it was more expansion issues than uncured resin residue. I will slow the rate down to ease the rate of expansion.
3) Increase maximum temperature to improve ash removal - hopefully the negative defects were ash; I can also increase the time at the 1370°F temp to make sure the flask has more time to burn off the ash.

Regards,
Ron