I made six boxes with an art-deco design for the sides and a topographic map box top for xmas presents (process detailed at that link). Each box used different colored resin for the sides, and the top is a topographic map of the town we live in.
Here are some of the things I learned during this project.
- Using Polyurethane to seal the wood before adding resin is worth the time and effort, as it reduced the post pour bubbles in the resin. My understanding is this reduces the air that could be pulled out of the wood while the resin is hardening.
- When they say “stir the resin for 5 minutes before pouring”, I don’t think that is suggesting it needs 5 minutes of (active) stirring. I think that is more of a suggestion to make sure the two parts are mixed, but wait 5 minutes before pouring. I noticed (in my small batches) that a lot of bubbles were created in the mixture around the 4 minute mark, but the bubbles being created in the mixture decreased after that.
- I used a heat gun to help pop the bubbles, but DO NOT over heat the mixture. If it starts to create a foam, you’ve overheated the mixture and the results will be bad.
- For my (limited) skills, it really improved results using the “Cut, Seal, (wait), Resin, (wait), Final Cut” method. In other words, use the Shapeoko to not only make the pockets for your resin, but use the Shapeoko to clean up the resin after it has hardened.
- Using multiple cut-resin-cut cycles allows you to put in fine details without blowing out wood, but it of course really increases the time it takes to make something. (The really close roads in my design are an example of this).
- The tops were much harder to make than the sides, yet I like the look of the sides more than the tops.
- I think my resin would have ended with better final surface if I had done a final pass with an upcut bit rather than a downcut bit.
