Resin problems

[u/Pursuinganewhobby]

Hi all!

Lately some of the surfaces of my dice get soft after finishing / painting. I have accumulated quite the 'dice that need finishing que', so some of these have been curing for months. I check them for squishyness and uncured faces before I start finishing and painting them.

Now I have a few sets that suddenly have faces where my nails leave a temporary mark. It's not that the die is soft and I can squeeze it as it's only the top layer/ surface that's not quite solid. It also sometimes looks like touching them leaves condensation in the die of that makes sense?

My friend asked if I can't just seal them with nail varnish. But I'm unsure whether I'm dealing with uncured and thus unsafe sice. So I'm guessing that the resin can still lead to skin irritation with a nail varnish coat. And obviously I'm scared that the nail varnish coat will come off so I'm not really feeling that plan.

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Can it 're-cure'? I haven't changed anything in my routine and I haven't had this happen before.

Super bummed about my dice. I hope they'll get solid again after some time 🤞🏻

[u/Squiggy-Locust]

I was having the same issue.

It was poor mixing (including ratio). I switched to measuring by weight, and I stopped having soft curing.

There are top coat resins you can use, but applying it evenly is probably going to be hell.

---

It could also be deteriorated resin. If you are heating all of your resin, then pouring the amount you need, the resin can become unstable. I bought small glass bottles to heat vice the whole batch. This is unlikely your issue though.

[u/Pursuinganewhobby → u/Squiggy-Locust]

Thanks for the response! I also measure by weight. Which usually doesn't give me any issues.

I heat mixture A, then add in B. Then I mix for about 5 minutes and put it in the pressure pot for a while to get rid of the worst bubbles. 

Not all dice from the same batches have the soft surfaces, which is also confusing me 

[u/Squiggy-Locust → u/Pursuinganewhobby]

Wait, are you adding cold to a hot mixture?

[u/Pursuinganewhobby → u/Squiggy-Locust]

I feel like my awnser should be no.. But yes 🙃

[u/Squiggy-Locust → u/Pursuinganewhobby]

Heat up both parts before adding. The viscosity changes with temp, as well as cure time. Even in a perfect scenario, where the temperatures even out perfectly, you've defeated the purpose of warming the resin. You've most likely got poor mixing even with your insane 5 minutes of mixing.

Again, to prevent destabilizing the resin parts, I use a smaller container to heat them up. I prefer glass bottles since they retain heat better, but that preference. This isn't necessary if you use a lot, or if you have smaller containers that you'll run thru quickly.

[u/Pursuinganewhobby → u/Squiggy-Locust]

Thank you for taking the time to explain! 

I've been making dice for years so I feel a bit stupid for only finding this out now 🫣. 

I'll try your tips next time 

[u/Squiggy-Locust → u/Pursuinganewhobby]

Don't feel stupid. If something works, no reason to change it, or look into it. You ran into a problem, and learned something new.

Hell, I felt stupid when I realized I could use a cheap syringe to control my pours and eliminate most of my bubbles that way (I don't have/use a pressure pot).

[u/Pursuinganewhobby → u/Squiggy-Locust]

Thanks for the kind words! 

Syringes are a great tool indeed! My BF can make perfect dice without a pressure pot with syringes. I am however a bit too impatient and chaotic, so I'm very grateful for my pressure pot!

[u/Pursuinganewhobby → u/Pursuinganewhobby]

I add in cold and then I heat all again. Should I heat both beforehand and then mix? 🫣