The final steps to complete aluminum and resin autism awareness pendant.  |
| I use the inside of plastic jar lid with some tape as a mount for piece before filling with resin. |
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| Pendant taped down ready for resin. |
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| Mix resin according to instructions. Rubber gloves are helpful to keep hands clean. |
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| Use tooth pick to transfer resin into cutout opening in pendant to cover the paper completely. Pick any large bubbles with pick. |
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| I created a vacuum chamber from recycled plastic jar with hole cut in bottom. Using a shop vac you can create a vacuum to pull the air out of resin. Take care to not apply too much vacuum or resin goes everwhere. |
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| Inspect resin and if all is well, set in protected ventalated space to cure. The fumes can be pretty bad, so use proper personel protection when working with resin. |
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| After resin has fully cured cut the back flush with the front. Sand edges smooth. |
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| Clean pendant to remove metal shavings from sawing and filing. |
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| Sand the back of the piece to designed finish. |
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| Sand the front to desired finish. |
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| I used buffing wheel and Zapp compound to polish front of piece. |
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| The pendant after polish, still needs cleaned around rivets. |
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| The pendant after cleaning. |
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| I applied Renaissance micro-crystalline wax. |
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| Add cord and the pendant is complete. |
How did you create the vacuum system?
ReplyDeleteI used a plastic jar like a peanut butter or mayonnaise with a hole cut in the bottom. I put the piece filled with resin down on a block with some double sided tape or a loop of tape to keep it in place. You then put the plastic jar with a hole over the part and down on table or work bench to create the chamber. Then you use a shop vacuum to add the actual vacuum. Please note you put the vacuum nozzle by the opening to pull air out of the chamber but also allow some air from outside the chamber to flow into the nozzle as well. You can adjust the air being pulled from the jar with your hand over the nozzle and hole in the jar. If you get too much vacuum it will pull the resin from your piece and create a big mess. It took a few tries to figure out the right ratio. Better to go too light than too much. The small air bubbles will be pulled from resin with the vacuum. It gets out most but not all. Hope this helps.
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