Quote Originally Posted by Tigra View Post
Hi guys,

The thread seems to be a bit old but maybe there are any news on the matter? I am having trouble with casting both FTX green and Green Cast. The cartridge is extremely fragile, that's true and I do had issues with prints breaking off but seems that manually placed thik supports do the trick, at least for the rings.

I used plasticast and formula 1. Formula seems to give an ok quality but quite difficult to remove. I cannot get the plasticast going so far. Still bad surface and ash. Bfrod900 - you've managed to get quite decent surface on one of the pictures, can you tell a bit more the details on how you've managed to do that if it is not too much trouble?

Another question, I've heard form a caster that he vaccums the flasks after the burnout to remove any residual ash, what do you think, will it help?

By the way I have noticed that thin patterns like nets and thin rings come out nearly fine but if there is more of the material it will ruin the cast. I guess it has to do with expansion and curing both.
With FTX Cast, you have to cure, and cure, and cure, and then cure some more. It will turn from a light-green shade to white with a hint of pink. Sometimes I would have to run 6-10 cycles in the cure chamber. Larger pieces are hit-or-miss but smaller pieces cast better after extended curing. I think the reason is FTX Green is relatively transparent so the piece cures inside and out, while the FTX Cast is more opaque leaving uncured resin inside the piece. Don't know, but that's my theory.

When you mix the Plasticast, make it as thick as possible. Not too thick where it sets early or won't pour, but as thick as you can make it. This will increase the strength.

I tried using air duster to blow out the ash residue before casting, but you need to make a separate sprue for the ash residue to escape or it just blows around in there. It helped with the bad surfaces a little, but I was nervous about blowing cold air on a hot mold. Plus, an escape-hole sprue requires extra metal which costs money.

I've gone back to using FTX Green and making rubber molds from the prints.