Sunshine on sticky resin?

Started by Wulf, 11 August 2017, 02:40:45 PM

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Wulf

I've gone back to my remaining old production Fieldworks buildings (they stopped doing 10mm, but have restarted again), and as ever I'm annoyed by the sticky resin. I washed them in Fairy Liquid (Original & Lemon scented), scrubbed them with a toothbrush (yes, an old one...), sacrificed chickens (very tasty), etc. The stickiness has lessened, but remains - if I put the roofs/upper floors on & leave them there for a day or two, the bits stick together.

Now, it'll probably be just fine once I apply a bit of paint or primer, but it annoys me. Looking through Shapeways 3d print website, I came across a bit of advice there for that material. Leave them in direct sunlight for a few days to fully 'cure' the resin. Now, I'm in Scotland, so direct sunlight is hard to come by, but this intrigues me - does it work on the hard brittle resin used by Fieldworks and, no doubt, other terrain manufacturers? If so, would a sheet of glass stop the effect, or would it have to be outdoors?

Duke Speedy of Leighton

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Steve J

The Shapeways resin is one that is cured by a UV lamp, hence the sitting it outside for a few days to aid curing. Glass does limit the transmission of UV light, hence not getting sunburnt when behind glass in a conservatory.

If the Fieldworks resin is a chemical cure (a 2 component mix) then leaving it outside is unlikely to make any difference. You could dust it with talcum powder, dusty dirt etc to help absorb the stickiness prior to painting, but I'd do a small section first to make sure it does no inhibit the paint.

Hope this helps?

Wulf

Quote from: Steve J on 11 August 2017, 05:29:52 PM
The Shapeways resin is one that is cured by a UV lamp, hence the sitting it outside for a few days to aid curing. Glass does limit the transmission of UV light, hence not getting sunburnt when behind glass in a conservatory.

If the Fieldworks resin is a chemical cure (a 2 component mix) then leaving it outside is unlikely to make any difference.
That's what I thought, the two materials don't bear any resemblance to one another, but I thought I'd ask.

I guess I'll stick to primer. Talc, while a reasonable idea, doesn't seem to stick at all...

Leon

We had a couple of batches like this back when we did our own resin casting.  It's usually caused by moisture during the curing process that stops the resin from fully curing properly.  The result is a constant oily residue seeping from the model which never seems to stop.  We tried all sorts, priming it, sealing it with gloss varnish, talc, heat, nothing seemed to stop it.  We had some Dungeon sections which we painted up and they were still getting greasy 6 months later.
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Wulf

Quote from: Leon on 11 August 2017, 08:58:26 PMWe had some Dungeon sections which we painted up and they were still getting greasy 6 months later.
Always a ray of sunshine, Leon...  :-X

Sadly, this seem to affect every one of Fieldworks buildings, even the 'pre-painted' ones (which are more 'pre-washed' really, but quite usable). It's not at all bad, you can't actually feel it. The bits only (so far) stick to one another (which is, really no bad thing for a roof... until you want to take it off & the whole building comes with it...)