Aqua Resin, Non-toxic Resin

Over in the noob forum, Spartan-267 found this nifty non toxic resin called "Aqua Resin" While Sean Bradley has done a great job asking questions and a few others are in the early stages of testing this product and gathering information, this is looking VERY VERY promising for those of us who live in big cities in apartments with no garages or backyards, and to our younger forgers who's parents aren't keen on "toxic" stuff.

Here is Aqua Resin's site:
http://www.aquaresin.com/


Here is a pic of the stuff in the starter kit (minus the Bucket and Krylon paint). Sorry if the pic is grainy, I'm at work and I used me camera phone
Here's a list of what you may need to start, I'm pretty sure since I'm inexperienced, I may have left out some stuff. Last time I worked with resins and mold stuff I was in college... 5 years ago...

The kit was $15.00 and it comes with the following:
8oz. Aqua Resin "L" - Liquid Component
6oz. Aqua Resin "S3" - Powder Component
AQG 0.5 - 1/2 Fiberglass Reinforcement strands
AQG 3.5-1 3-1/2 Fiberglass Reinforcement Strands
AQG-FCV Surfacing Veil
10mil FF - 30mil-50 mil (I'm guessing these are different thicknesses)

WEAR GLOVES AND LONG SLEEVES and SOME FORM OF EYE PROTECTION!! When handling the powder, AT THE LEAST, WEAR A DUST MASK! When sanding, do it OUTSIDE and WEAR a Mask & Eye Protection.

Waterproof Sealer:
Krylon Acrylic Spray Paint in Crystal Clear with a Satin Finish (finish may not matter, but it's what was recommended)
You will need to SEAL your pepakura before adding ANY resin. It is water based, so it WILL warp and deform your cardstock! I will try to have pics of what happens when you do and don't seal it this weekend. As far as I can tell, and since this is my forst time using any kind of resin, you SHOULD leave supports in the pep files (if they were designed with them) I'm not sure how heavy the wet resin will be and the Sealer won't add much if any reinforcement.

Also, you will NEED to use the Spray Paint outside or a well ventilated spot! Don't even try spray indoors in any shape or fashion, I was outside and I caught a whiff and I got a tiny bit woozy, so ignore anything dumb I said about spraying in front of an open window, college dorm tricks are dumb XD

Aqua resin Mix:
While going over the instructions and "what is this stuff" that came with the kit, I read that depending on the ratio that you mix, which can be measure by weight or volume (which is 1:2, for every 1 component of liquid you need 2 of the powder). I'll re-read it to make sure. Also the curing time is said to be anywhere from 30minutes-100minutes. So if you choose to add more and more of the powder, you can end up with something comparible to Bondo (in theory, this still needs to be tested). And it CAN BE SANDED! Another plus is it can be cleaned right up with water. And it is NOT flammable.

Fiberglass:
They also give you different types of fiberglass. One is the seperate chopped strands which is recommended to make it EXTRA strong. The other "veil" like material will give you some reinforcement, but it's not as strong as th chopped up strands, but you can use the two together.

Brushes
Aqua resin recommends using "chip" brushes, which I believe means the bristles are stiff, I could be wrong though XP These seem to be pretty cheap, and I bought 3 different sizes. They were the smaller sizes since a lot of the armor has small nooks and crannies.

A Mixing Bucket
From working with casting and resins in college, we always need a good kinda wide bucket to mix stuff in. I guess a good way to look at it is like this; you can't mix batter so well in a drinking glass. I think the bucket I got is a quart, maybe 2. I'm also not sure if you'll need to coat your bucket with tin foil prior to mixing, it may be a good idea since any left over residue could mess up a new batch of aqua resin.

Spatula or mixing thingie:
I bought a mixing spatula since I'm not sure how wood and Aqua resin will react, I dunno if the resin will soak into the wood, so maybe something plastic or metal would work best.

Measuring cups or some kind of scoop:
Aqua resin seems to not have to be dead on balls accurate when it comes to mixing, you can mix by volume or weight. For me, since I can get carried away and since I'm new, I went to Duane Reade (a drug store) and bought a plastic measuring cup and a little metal Scooper.

This is all I could think of up to this point, if anyone knows of anything else, let me know

Here is a NYC based store that sells Aqua resin, they are very nice and helpful:
www.sculpt.com
The Compleat Sculptor
90 Vandam Street
New York, NY 10013
tel: 212.243.6074
tcs@sculpt.com


So a HUGE thanks to Spartan-267 for thinking of this and doing some research! I'm not as experienced as Sean and some of our other senior forgers, and we are still in the Early stages of research and more information / testing will be added once we get results.

*edit* hahah I just noticed Aqua-Resin and Spartan-267 rhymes HAHAH!

there is also a thickener you can buy to add to the mix. Since, from what I've read, adding more powder will speed up your cure times.

I would assume, judging my the small volumes that the thickener is sold in, that it is very similar to most thixotropic additives for other materials.. like silicon, where you put a few drops of the stuff in and it does wonders for making it thicker.

As with other resins it also has accelerators and retardants that can be added to it to speed up or slow down the cure time without having to alter the amount of powder in the mix ratio.

From Sean's post in the topic, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this mixture is 1-1. The stuff you're talking about doesn't sound like that CG. You can add more of the powder(hardner?) to the liquid to make the consistency thicker. Also, cooler tempatures will cause Aqua-Resin to slow its cure time. Take a read of Sean's post here... http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopi...mp;#entry120982

23Magnum said:

From Sean's post in the topic, and correct me if I'm wrong, but this mixture is 1-1. The stuff you're talking about doesn't sound like that CG. You can add more of the powder(hardner?) to the liquid to make the consistency thicker. Also, cooler tempatures will cause Aqua-Resin to slow its cure time. Take a read of Sean's post here... http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopi...mp;#entry120982

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ok i'll correct you

It's actually a 1 part liquid to 2-3 parts powder

how much powder you add will change the thickness of the mixture. And yes it will also change the set time for the mix.

this is directly from the tech sheet on the aquaresin website.

Extra Powder will: increase hardness and stiffness, decrease flexibility, decrease set time, and decrease beta


and yes i've read sean's post, and put in a call to them myself this morning to get some additional information that sean didn't tell about

Oops, memory failed on the mix ratio. Work=
My brain must of been taking a break or something. I do remember reading that, but somewhere along the way I forgot it said 1 part liquid to 2 part powder. My bad, and thanks for setting me straight on that.

Mind sharing the additional information? If it's important, I think everyone would like to know.

Ok so I just got back from The Compleat Sculptor, and they were VERY VERY VERY nice, helpful and they had a lot of stuff. They were cool, and they knew who Master Chief(most people go "who") was and they were cool enough to ask me where and why for the armor, which is nice most people just sit there dazed. I'm also seeing how popular Aqua resin actually is. They were out of all the small stuff, and another customer came in a bought the 26 gallon tube of powder, so I bought 2 starter kits. I'll post pics later today, gotta eat my sammich and do some work.

To Seal your cardstock, the girl that helped me recommend Krylon Acrylic Spray paint iN Crystal Clear in Satin finish, which they also carry. And it wasn't too expensive, I bought 2 kits, Spray Paint, a mixing bucket, 3 brushes, and a spatula and it was under $50

it's nothing too important. just talked to them about strengths with different types of fibers, adhesive properties of the resin. only a couple things that sean didn't cover, none of it really crucial to how most people on here work

the guy i talked to didn't have much technical info on the stuff I was asking him about.. mostly just sort of second hand info from people they've dealt with.

which is why i'll be ordering some myself today to test it out with different materials (cardboard, cardstock maybe, muslin, fiberglass mat, fiberglass cloth)

What I really want to know about this stuff is how well it sands.. because traditional resins, whether epoxy or polyester are hella hard to sand.. if this stuff is as easy to sand as say bondo, I'll love it forever



edit: curse you skullcandy you posted as i was typing this out

Awesome that you're the first to get your hands on this stuff among us though, I can't wait to hear how it turns out (lucky ass having an actual store that sells it right near you )

Well from what I was told, you'll want to make sure to add a few extra layers of resin before you sand, that's all the girl said at the store. We'll all see soon enough when we test it

well i was actually thinking more along the lines of thickening it and using it on the outside of a piece as a bondo replacement.

but yea, you would want to add a few more layers if you're gonna sand the parts that have fiberglass in them.. that's true regardless of the type of resin

Yeah I asked about that too, she said keep upping the powder ratio . And they do make a retarder incase the curing is wicked fast. This is all very exciting

i cant wait to see how the tests come out. i might even take a special trip to NY this weekend to get some of this stuff

I'm going there to NYC on the weekend of Feb. 22nd. I might just stop there and get some too.

Wow, I can't wait to see how this will end up. I was planning on going to my parents house and basically annexing their garage. I could stay in my apartment if this works!

LukeTrocity said:

Wow, I can't wait to see how this will end up. I was planning on going to my parents house and basically annexing their garage. I could stay in my apartment if this works!

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The place is actually pretty easy to get to (to me anyhow). Anyone that visits NYC and needs directions (if you take the subway or walking)drop me a PM.

Aqua resin is based in NJ Luke

just a quick question to the ppl who know alot about aquaresin, would i need to add the supports to my helm while resining, if its already sealed with the krylon spray, so the cardstock wont get obsorbed, or do i still need them in to avoid my helm collapsing. because i didnt add then when i thought i was using the hotglue method.

Skullcandy Girl said:

The place is actually pretty easy to get to (to me anyhow). Anyone that visits NYC and needs directions (if you take the subway or walking)drop me a PM.

Aqua resin is based in NJ Luke

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Ha nice!

NJ- Home of 24 hour diners, the mob, and now Aqua resin

yay go jersey!!!!! i would buy this from nj, but its just faster to go to ny plus my sis can take me there.

rachciav said:

just a quick question to the ppl who know alot about aquaresin, would i need to add the supports to my helm while resining, if its already sealed with the krylon spray, so the cardstock wont get obsorbed, or do i still need them in to avoid my helm collapsing. because i didnt add then when i thought i was using the hotglue method.

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Rachiav I'd make sure the leave the supports in just in case. I think the added weight of the wet resin could cause it to collapse in on itself, the spray won't add reinforcement.

grrr...and i thought i was done with the helmet.

rachciav said:

grrr...and i thought i was done with the helmet.

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Patience, you can't rush good work