Casting resin eyes: materials recommendations?

[sanssoucistudios]

Wrote a blog post about my misadventures casting resin eyes, sharing my mistakes so that others might learn from them. Also sharing the crazy family photos we took with the reject eyes afterwards.

www.sanssoucistudios.com: Casting blank resin eyes for fursuit heads, or trying anyway
http://www.sanssoucistudios.com/blog/mis-adventures-in-resin-eye-casting
I used Little Windows resin here. Curious to know what others might have tried, and what their results were.

TIA!

 

[Kellan Meig'h]

Just read your blog and I loved the crazy eye photos. Also, I noticed the information on the parts of a sewing machine. My machine doesn't have a hoo-ha but it has an "Egads! Look Out!" (reverse) lever and the dreaded "NoNoNO!!" (stitch length lock) button for the wheel of numbers.

But I digress

I would suggest you might have to create a hobby-sized vacuum chamber to de-gas the resin. When I was doing resin-cast slot car parts (not slush cast), I made a box out of clear lexan that was 3/4" thick, about 10" in a cube. The guy at Tap Plastics helped out by cutting the pieces. It had four sides but the top had an opening cut into it that was almost as big as the box. There was the actual lid, a flat piece of lexan with a groove routered into it that held a substantial rubber o-ring. I used a hand vacuum pump that would evacuate the chamber and hold the lid on. I had a small ball valve drilled and tapped into the upper corner of one side that would hold the vacuum after I pulled the chamber down some. doesn't need to be pulled down to 24 inches of mercury, just a few inches to create a vacuum for de-gassing.

 

[sanssoucistudios]

Just read your blog and I loved the crazy eye photos. Also, I noticed the information on the parts of a sewing machine. My machine doesn't have a hoo-ha but it has an "Egads! Look Out!" (reverse) lever and the dreaded "NoNoNO!!" (stitch length lock) button for the wheel of numbers.

But I digress

I would suggest you might have to create a hobby-sized vacuum chamber to de-gas the resin. When I was doing resin-cast slot car parts (not slush cast), I made a box out of clear lexan that was 3/4" thick, about 10" in a cube. The guy at Tap Plastics helped out by cutting the pieces. It had four sides but the top had an opening cut into it that was almost as big as the box. There was the actual lid, a flat piece of lexan with a groove routered into it that held a substantial rubber o-ring. I used a hand vacuum pump that would evacuate the chamber and hold the lid on. I had a small ball valve drilled and tapped into the upper corner of one side that would hold the vacuum after I pulled the chamber down some. doesn't need to be pulled down to 24 inches of mercury, just a few inches to create a vacuum for de-gassing.

Thanks for the info! I like your sewing machine part names!

Sounds like if I wanted to go back down that path, it would be possible to build a home vacuum chamber, doesn't sound too much worse than making a spray booth or a mold box. Thanks again!

 

[Kellan Meig'h]

Thanks for the info! I like your sewing machine part names!

Sounds like if I wanted to go back down that path, it would be possible to build a home vacuum chamber, doesn't sound too much worse than making a spray booth or a mold box. Thanks again!

You're welcome!

The box was made from 3/4" lexan, 3 pieces of 10" x 10" (top, bottom and lid), 2 pieces of 10" x 8-1/2" (sides) and 2 pieces of 8-1/2" x 8-1/2" (ends). The whole mess was glued together with a solvent glue that sort of melted the joints together. The hole for the ball valve was drilled and tapped for 1/8" National Pipe Thread. Depending on your vacuum hand pump, you may not need a ball valve if it has an internal check valve. The groove in the lid for the seal was something like 1/8" wide by 1/16" deep and I used 1/8" bulk o-ring stock from the hardware store to make the seal. Glued the ends of the o-ring together with superglue. It turned out to be a weekend project, only needed 1 twelve-pack.

 

[Tigers-on-Unicycles]

Oh dear lord those photos. Can't unsee.

My adventures with casting resin have involved brand new 99 cent painter's pallets and a so called 'easy casting resin' I found at the craft store and bought with a coupon. However, in order to successfully create a hard, clear, bubble free piece you have to mix the two liquids in precisely equal parts, and I'm talking down to the last microliter or something, pour very carefully into a blemish free surface, pack everything up in a box so that a dust particle doesn't get in and wait 24 hours while making intermittent prayers to the moon gods and sacrificing a chicken.

I have never gotten what I wanted out of it. My friend has a bottle of the kind that you just pour and leave in the sun for 2 hours and honestly, I think I'd rather have that, I'm running out of chickens.