69MEKP, regular MEKP, grease or not, mold and de-mold

hirona · Joined: 25 Jun 2009 Posts: 63

Hi everyone, Very Happy

Lately I’ve been introducing Phthalate free 69 MEKP into my making process, and I’ve also found some issues and comparisons from the result, thought maybe giving it a write up and wish if anybody can shed some light as well.

My Orgonite making table: Embarassed

About 69 MEKP & regular MEKP

69 MEKP seems not acting the same as regular MEKPs. In my case, I’ve been using Cast’n Craft brand MEKP hardener for a while. (Look at the skull on the left!) Shocked

The issue of 69 MEKP is that, it doesn’t seem to “shrink as much” as regular MEKPs, and it also tend to “fuse or attach” to the mold partially. Meaning, when you are de-molding it, small bit and chip of plastic will be still stuck to the mold, therefore the surface of the final product will be damaged.

This one is definitely an ouch. Sad

Poor little thing.

This happens to metal or stainless mold more than glass, but it also happens to glass mold as well. And due to “less shrinkage”, de-molding process became a pain to execute, a lot of “heating then freezing” procedure ended up taking more time to accomplish.

I checked the plastic residue stuck in the mold, and found that it also has a “glue gun stick” like gel consistency (imagine a bit harder than gummy bear if you may). Doesn’t matter if I grease the mold or not, it happens randomly from the same batch of resin; some came out ok, some are just heart breaking. This had never happen to me while I was using regular MEKP.

This past weekend I spend 2 days doing 2 different method of casting (Almost 1 gallon of resin), both batches were using 69 MEKP, one didn’t applied oil to the mold, and one did. The results are pretty much the same.

About mold & de-mold

A while ago, I came across someone’s experience here on the forum about “not to grease the mold” method. And yes, I tried, it works. The surface of final product became extremely shiny & glossy without those microscopic bubbles on the surface of Orgonite.

But due to the usage of 69MPKP, that batch was very hard to de-mold.

The second day, I tried to grease those molds, but as like what I’ve been always experiencing, some microscopic bubbles formed on the surface. You can see little bubble cavities from the photo below:

There are three things during orgonite making still seem challenging to me; one is the bubbles on the finishing surface, second is the demolding process which is kind of unpredictable. Third will be the tacky bottom issue, which is related to the nature of Polyester resin.

I hope someday, after trial and errors, learning and failing, I can come up with new conclusion to accomplish each and every task of the making.

Something in the sky during one of the pouring day:

Thanks for reading. Embarassed

-hirona

AmbientSound · Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 425 Location: MA

I have the same problem with epoxy resin. To date, I have had to destroy every mold I have used with epoxy (which, really, is only 3 or 4). Plastic is a terrible material for molds, I find. Glass is good, but it really sucks when you can't get the mold out without breaking the glass and then prying off the remaining pieces. I have yet to work with the MEKP resin. I don't know anything about it. Have you tried silicone molds? I hear those are great.
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Cosmic Sage · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:41 am Post subject:

I use the 69 exclusively and have no problems at all. I gotta say freezing to release is the way to go! Never have to break a glass again or use lubricant trust me. Silicone is my preferred mold material for sure.
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hirona · Joined: 25 Jun 2009 Posts: 63

Cosmic Sage,

May I ask you a question about freezing? How long do you have to put the final in the refrigerator? Is it necessary to de-mold them after a day or two? Thanks!

Another amazing thing I’ve found about 69 MEKP is that, once you put your final product outside for a few days, the surface contacted to the air will gradually fully cured! The tackiness is gone. This is so cool. I'll buy more stuff from Fiber Glast from now on, including their Isophthalic Polyester resin.

AmbientSound,

I stopped using Epoxy after a huge disaster of de-molding happened during my first cast, then I tried Polyester and I love it! Epoxy tends to cure in a “gummy” consistency instead of solid, glassy finish, especially the thin part (bottom) of the Orgonite pyramid. And then I went 100% Polyester exclusively; I love it.

I really love glass mold. They create glossy finish yet you can look through from the side of the mold while pouring, sometimes it is very nice to be able to measure the thickness of each layer and verify what's been installed. I’ve found kitchen glassware is durable and easy to maintain.

I tried Silicon mold with Polyester resin once, but it gave me a total sticky cast, you can even see gooey pulling strings when de-molding. Later I was guessing that if the silicon mold has no glossy finish inside, you might get a sticky cast. Or maybe the mold that I got was simply bad quality, I don’t know. Since then I stop using any silicone mold for casting; maybe I should give it another try.

Smile

-hirona

Cosmic Sage · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:43 am Post subject:

I wait till the pieces are fully set in the molds (2 to 8 hours depending on a few factors) then pop them in the freezer for an hour or so. They will come right out of the mold whether it be metal or glass no problem.

There definately are different grades of silicone I had a few inferior molds that made the pieces come out really tacky but even so they would cure and I could sand/polish the a little and they ended up being fine. Actually with my little star silicone mold they come out a little tacky and not so smoothly as my heart and dolphin silicone molds. But as you can see they end up looking just fine.

<a> orgonite

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I always wear latex gloves when popping the pieces out and I don't touch them for a couple of days usually, so they cure fully without me leaving imprints on them. Find the right silicone molds and you'll change your opinion of silicone. Glass and stainless steel are great too though. Peace
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Sensei · Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:59 am Post subject:

Hirona, I find that I have to use 30 to 50 % more of the 69mekp than the industrial mekp to get desired results.

Warm resin will not trap air bubbles. I warm mine in a cut in half can on a coffee warmer available at Dollar Stores. I mix the warm resin 50/50 with room temp resin so it does not cure too fast. This will allow your bubbles to surface. They can then be popped with a hot hair dryer or heat gun.

Sensei
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hirona · Joined: 25 Jun 2009 Posts: 63

Sorry for the late reply.

Cosmic Sage,
Thank you for the tips. I’ll definitely follow accordingly. Smile

Sensei,
Yes, the same thing happened to me; I had to use 1.5 times or more of 69MEKP to get it cooking.
First time I used regular amount of catalyst during a cold day and it didn’t solidified for more than an hour. Finally I’ve decided to dump them all out and then add more to make it work. And, thanks for the advice; I’ll give heating pad a try!

Thanks! Very Happy

-hirona