UV Resin Experiment Fails

The experiment this time round was to find out if ink inclusions work for UV resin. The resin I used is Magic Glos, and erm, results weren't too pretty....

 I did 5 tests but 3 went totally wrong. Ah yes, I did keep the last failure.

Test 1

Ink: Transparent blue alcohol ink (just 2 tiny drops per block)

Curing time: 15 minutes

Results: BIG fail! The bottom (which will eventually be the front after you pop it out of the mold) was totally uncured...

Test 2 & 3:

Ink: Transparent blue alcohol ink (just 2 tiny drops per block)

Curing time: 30 minutes

Results: Resin is cured but the sides touching the mold are still sticky. 

Important Note: When giving your resin pieces an additional resin coating, please use something like the top of an open box to support the pieces and not something that will stick forever to the resin pieces. (The left-most piece in the photo is an example of that failure... It's perpetually stuck.) Or use a plastic folder so that you can peel the resin piece off (middle piece in the photo.. Note that I actually had to trim off the excess cure resin from the sides)

Test 4:

Ink: White opaque ink (About 1 drop per block)

Curing time: 15 minutes

Results: Absolute fail.

Test 5:

 Ink: White opaque ink (About 1 drop per block)

Curing time: 30 minutes

Results: Not much better than an absolute fail. The bottom never seemed to get cured. I ended up trying to cure the bumpy bottom after popping it out and trying to do a resin coating on an already failed piece. (Refer to the right-most block in the photo)

Conclusion:

The less translucent the ink, the harder it is for the resin to cure. Even if the resin looks transparent enough, do allow more time for curing (I would say let it bake in the UV lamp for 30 minutes) and be prepared to get sticky surfaces (sides that are touching the mold). If that happens, I suggest doing a resin coating, and let it cure again. Of course, the best is to still use casting resin... And I think it's about time for me to try that.