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Best place to buy resin?


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http://www.fiberlay.com/

 

I do a lot of mold making and resin work professionally and I source nearly everything through Fiberlay now. In my experiences, they've been significantly more helpful and knowledgeable than TAP.

 

You'll probably want the Sharkthane Hard Pro 65-2 or 70-3. They both have extremely short pot times, but it's thin and I've never had any issues with bubbles.

 

If you need silicone, get their Pro-Sil 1000.

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Responded to PM, but reposting here in case anyone else wants the info:

 

Depends on the resin you're after, and where you live. TAP Plastics has stores all over the Pac NW, and if you give them a call, they'll hook you up.

 

I use Smooth-On, and shopped around to local distributors (near Bellingham). I ended up using Seattle Pottery Supply, as it was the most cost effective with gas/time/shipping, but you can get a full list of distributors here: http://www.smooth-on...distributor.php

 

I believe I paid $356 or so per 5-gallon kit of SmoothCast 320 (ended up getting a total of 9 kits for my latest product). Keep in mind that most resin companies list "kits" by the volume of the largest of the components. SmoothCast 320 uses equal parts of A and B, so a 5 gallon kit is actually 10 gallons of resin (5 gallons of A and 5 gallons of B). You can also do 55 gallon drums, but there's the issue with handling and storage. If you won't be using it immediately, I suggest getting some dry gas blanket, as the resin spoils after opening if it absorbs too much moisture.

 

Before committing to a specific brand, I'd suggest getting a handful of 1-gallon kits with which to experiment. I like the TAP QuikCast, but have since found the SmoothCast 320 to be superior in every way. Pot time also matters a lot, depending on how much material you're mixing up at a time (more resin means you want a longer pot life, because more volume speeds the exothermic curing), how long it takes you to pour, and whether you're using a pressure pot or not. If you want to say more about the specific project you're working on, I can give better advice about the type of resin or other details.

 

Casting is fun!

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Smooth-on blows Tap Plastics out of the water for quality. 

 

Having been a huge TAP advocate in the past, and having used both extensively, I couldn't agree more. Best thing to do is to check the viscosity numbers in the tech specifications of whatever resins you're considering. The lower the viscosity, the better. TAP is good, but SmoothOn is better.

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