How to remove bubbles from resin

hi guys today we're going to talk about dealing with bubbles in your resin work so first we're going to go over how to avoid adding too many bubbles to a resin when we're mixing and pouring and then going to different methods of removing bubbles once they're in there there's a list down below of the different sections so feel free to use that if you want skip around okay so the first tip is when you're pouring your resin don't pour it straight down into the middle of your cup because it can pull air down into your mix to avoid doing that what you can do instead is pour it down the edges of your crop and it'll flow in without adding bubbles if you use a resin that's measured by weight it can be a little tricky to aim it because you need to keep the cup on the scale but if you're just transferring the resin between cups you can angle them as you pour so it'll flow down the sides smoothly now the next tip is to do with how we're mixing the resin so popsicle sticks are a popular thing to use because they're easy to get and they're cheap but because these are made of wood they're a little bit porous so they can sometimes leach tiny bubbles into the resin it's better to use something non-porous like plastic or silicone i like to use a mini baking spatula because there's a good surface area i can just reuse it every time i mix up roses so it makes less waste too when you're mixing it's also important not to mix too fast or you'll whip air into it it's better if you take your time and mix low and steady it's also easiest to fuse a cup that's a good size for the amount of resin you're using because if it's just a thin layer on the bottom of a large cup it's a lot harder to avoid stirring bubbles in even if you're going slow okay so we've talked about how to avoid adding too many bubbles but what else can we do for the ones that get mixed in anyway well one of the things that affects bubbles staying in is the viscosity of the resin which is how thick the resin is higher viscosity resonance are more of a honey kind of consistency and low viscosity ones can be almost as thin as water we can use this information to our advantage because if we use a thinner resin the bubbles will rise out much easier using a slower setting resin will also allow more time for the bubbles to rise out before it begins hardening now if you don't want to buy a thinner resin another option is to follow the viscosity of any resin by warming it before you begin mixing warmer resin will have a low viscosity so it'll be both easy to mix and allow bubbles to rise up better the easiest way to warm it is place the resin bottle in some warm water for a little while before you start you just have to be careful not to get any water inside the bottle personally i like to use a yogurt maker for this because it's vacuum sealed so it keeps warmth in and it prevents the bottle from tipping over any sort of bowl or container will work though just don't use anything that you're planning on using for food again later the only downside to this method is that it will speed the reaction time up so you'll have less time to work with the resin before it begins to harden ultrasonic cleaner is one of the cheaper options for something that will actually force the bubbles out of the resin and they work surprisingly well all you have to do is place your resin cup inside the chamber and fill it with water at least as high as your resin goes and turn it on depending on how much resin you're mixing you might also need to weigh the cap down with something on the top of it so that it doesn't float as you can see the ultrasonic waves slowly force the bubbles out of the resin and by the end of it you're left with a clear bubble-free resin like with using heat though this will also speed your reaction time so be careful not to overdo it the main drawback of this method is that it only works relatively small amounts of resin so if you're doing larger projects it might not be ideal but that's where the next option comes in if an ultrasonic cleaner isn't cutting it the next option is to use a vacuum chamber a vacuum chamber works by removing all the air out of the chamber your resin cup is in which then forces the air out of the resin itself too this works best on low viscosity resins because thick ones tend to bubble up quite a lot you can either buy a ready-made vacuum chamber or it's not too hard to make one yourself if you have the tools the last major way to remove bubbles is to use a pressure pot these are usually made by modifying a paint pot but a few ready-made ones can be bought too technically a pressure pot doesn't remove any air from your resin it's actually the opposite of a vacuum chamber and works by forcing lots of air into the pot doing this increases the pressure on the bubbles in your resin and shrinks them down smaller than the eye can see and leaves you with a bubble free cast pressure casting works really well it's what professional resin artists use if you have a pressure pot set up you probably won't need to worry about any of the other points in this video so far the main drawbacks to a pressure pot are the size and the potential safety issues generally people use them without any trouble but in a worst case scenario they can explode so it's best to do your research overall though as long as you're staying within the normal pressures most casters use you're relatively safe and a great option to use to get bubble-free casts with a lot of the methods we've discussed so far you'll end up pulling the bubbles out just fine but then they'll just sit on the surface being a nuisance sometimes you can just crush them against the side of the cup but if that's not working there are several other ways of dealing with them first of all you can swipe a butane torch or a lighter over the surface of the resin and the carbon dioxide from these will pop the bubbles super easily but this is only good for resin work that doesn't need silicone molds like river tables or coating artwork because otherwise it's super easy to accidentally fuse a resin to the silicone which will work your mold instead for mold-based work you can breathe out harder of your resin and the carbon dioxide from your breath will pop the bubbles this only tends to work on low viscosity rises though alternatively you can also put some isopropyl alcohol in a fine mist spray bottle and pop the bubbles super easily too i've seen other people mention that vibration can also help bubbles rise out of resin pasta i've never really tried it out though but you might want to experiment also a good way to cut down on bubbles being introduced from things you're adding to it is to dip them in the resin first before adding them to your mould it helps to break the surface tension so that they don't end up with bubbles clinging to them thanks so much for watching this video if you have any other suggestions for dealing with bubbles or if you need any help please leave a comment down below i'm planning on making more reason tutorials so if you're interested in that feel free to subscribe and don't forget to like this video if you found it helpful you

Channel: Lamella Creations

Views: 39,206

Rating: 4.9196939 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 7B93dS3NSFk

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/lurkbehindthescreen]

An excellent video with some really good hints and tips.

I especially liked the one right at the end about dipping items in resin first, before adding to the project, that had never occurred to me before.

One thing, I did find the video very quiet, not sure if it was just my phone, but it was very clear and well presented.

Thank you for taking the time to make the video

[u/MsElektronica]

Keep it up! Great video!

[u/TechnicallyMagic]

Nice video, I know how much time and effort goes into creating video content. I was impressed with your knowledge of this issue, but I have a couple suggestions to add clarity to your info, and some extra info.

Conceptually, vacuum chamber/pressure pot bears a bit more context. One would use a vacuum chamber on the batch, and then remove the batch for use elsewhere. One can unintentionally speed up the pot life and cure time of a batch by using a pressure pot on it, so be aware of this.

With a pressure pot, you will load the mold and place that into the pressure pot to cure in the mold under pressure. This will also speed up the overall cure of the resin.

"Resin" isn't enough information. Products differ immensely, and come from fundamentally different groups like epoxy, urethane, polyester, and acrylic. Products from these groups can be formulated to cure in volume for casting, or in thin layers for laminating. Trying to laminate with casting resin can be difficult to impossible to generate enough heat in the reaction to cause cure. Trying to cast with laminating resin will often spontaneously combust chemically from generating far too much heat. It's important to be as precise as possible with rules of thumb for "resin".

For example, polyester resin (typical "fiberglassing resin" which is another misnomer) is styrene-based and extremely flammable as a result. You shouldn't even think about having electrical appliances with motors running around polyester fumes, let alone open flame, to say nothing about trying to pop bubbles with flame. It would be like trying to get to a puddle of liquid gasoline with a flame, you wouldn't even make it close before vapor combustion. Even if you're outside you're going to lose your eyebrows at least.

Finally, if you're using a true silicone mold, you will not fuse any resin to it with heat or flame. Molds sold as "silicone" from places without standards very well may not be silicone, if this is where you've experienced this phenomena. Making your own molds with silicone is an easy way to avoid this, being critical of your merchant, or learning how to test for this is also useful. Only silica-based materials like sand, glass, or more silicone will chemically bond to silicone. Real silicone can accommodate low-melt metal casting like bismuth believe it or not, which subjects it to extreme temperatures far longer than popping bubbles with a flame.

Mold release is still a good way to vastly increase the life of your mold, despite being able to cast any silicone mold without it. Misting with an aerosol mold release will also quickly break surface tension bubbles.

[u/whoblewboobear]

This is exactly what I needed! Thank you!!!

[u/Shizzle_McSheezy]

Liked and subbed...good tips, gonna watch it again, with audio, when I'm not working..

[u/Bubblegum983]

Great first video. The information is excellent, easy to understand and well laid out, fast but still very thorough. You do need to look at your microphone setup though. It’s quiet and there’s a lot of white noise, making it harder to hear you. (On my iPhone anyways) Everything else looks great!

[u/CLD44]

Vacuum all the way bby

[u/Lemgirl]

Thank you for this!!!

[u/ScalpelUser]

This is wonderful! I've had trouble finding something like this and it helps so much for me to understand the little details and why they work. Most videos I've seen will say 'this is my favorite method' but no comparison to others or much on why it improves their work.

I'm really excited to see more!

I'd love some comparisons and recommendations of various viscosity resins, I didn't even realize this was a thing. I'd also love to see a tutorial for how you made your pot. I love the look of it.

Someone else mentioned sound; you might be able to filter out white noise through something like Audacity but it wasn't to a point where it detracted from the video. The production value was great, especially for the first video! I'm really excited for more.