Flaming Brass Dragon pen

[Workinforwood]

Here's a little something I kicked out thanks to my new cnc mill. It's the first real success I've had with 4 axis cutting. I had a ton of failures, but thanks to the people here, I now have mostly success!

[Glenn]

Workinforwood
   Wow, wonderful detail! Great design scheme also!
Good to see you're up and running.
Glenn

[budman68]

Absolutely gorgeous. How to you clear over the brass to keep it from tarnishing?

Thanks for sharing-
Dave

[Workinforwood]

This project is actually islands and pockets and then cast in resin and spun into a pen. There is no finish or clear coat to stop the brass from tarnishing. I could put a few coats of CA glue over the entire pen if I wanted to, but I personally like to leave things unfinished. I like a little tarnish. Customers can use brasso to rejuvenate the shine, but generally they prefer tarnish too.  The resin is Silmar 41 and silver eye shadow.

[budman68]

Ah, I see, thanks again-

[RICH]

Great work on the pen.
RICH

[Tweakie.CNC]

Excellent work my friend.
You may have just given away a trade secret there with Silmar 41 and silver eye shadow. 

Tweakie.

[Workinforwood]

Nah...Polyester Resin casting is no secret, it's been around forever. Usually I use Alumilite, which is a urethane resin, but both resins have their best place of use. PR is much harder. Alumilite is not as hard but it is stronger..you trade off hardness which can be brittle at times for strength..well the thing is that when you are turning two different substrates, if one is considerable harder than the other you will end up with a ridge between the two when you sand and polish it.  I cast my blanks in silicone molds that I make myself and in a home made pressure chamber. Basically just a quality paint pot that has the feed removed and plugged so it can hold pressure, the pressure crushes any air bubbles in the resin, so the bubbles don't technically disappear, but they shrink down to a size that can't be seen without a microscope. It's a fun hobby.