Mold Master Woes And Learning To Be Less Stubborn And/Or Fixated

So this is a long over due update for a number of the masters for the new accessibility line. Products in the Arcanum, Resonance, and Voidgrip lines have been delayed for much longer than I'd like, but I am finally getting results and usable molds.

First I want to thank those that have reached out and asked how I've been healing, it means a lot. After a spinal injection which has helped alleviate the pain in my dominate arm (left), my healing seems to hit an extremely frustrating plateau. While the pain is gone, I still only have a marginal amount of feeling in my left index finger, and a bit more in my middle finger. My thumb, ring and little finger are all okay however this has caused a number of issues with my grip strength and endurance with my left hand.

This issue with my grip strength is one of two issues that has been a constant struggle with trying to finish the mold masters. From the 3D printer to paint ready includes a number of steps to prep the master, and in most cases a fair bit of sanding to produce something ready for paint. However I have now dropped and broken a number of masters now, which requires the whole sequence to start again. At this point I think I've printed at least 3-4 copies of every design that's been released so far.

The other issue is one of paint, and this has been the biggest time consumer for me in trying to get this done. To give you a quick behind the scenes, mold masters printed on a resin printer need to be sealed with a top coat of some kind to prevent the resin from causing cure inhibition in the silicone. This is where the silicone is never able to fully cure and you're left with a gooey, sticky mess to attempt to scrub from your master and then try again. Previously I've been using hobby primer and acrylic resin clear coat to seal my masters relatively well. However going on months now I've struggled to get a clean, smooth finish that doesn't end up with a scratch or something else that requires a restart. Acrylic resin, while being relatively straight forward to apply is extremely easy to damage, even during handling during a de-mold.

Because of this fragility, it can't just be sanded smooth and spot fixed. In fact a lot of typical paint repair techniques are notoriously difficult with mold masters intended for silicone because its very good at replicating everything it touches (even light fingerprints can show up!) So with the acrylic resin I had to strip it off, which often damaged the primer underneath and ended with the model being cleaned down to the resin master and try again. I will admit I got locked into a mental loop in trying to make this process work as I have very little space to spray my masters, particularly in the cooler days still coming out of winter back in March and the paints I was using were more airbrush spray booth friendly.

Adding on top of this is the degas time for paint, which typically needs to be left alone for 5-7 days at minimum (most shops wait two weeks depending on the paint they're using). At this point while the resin had hardened a bit more it was still extremely easy to damage and far too often thanks to my now somewhat clumsy dominate hand I'd end up damaging the surface. I'm surprised I haven't ripped out most of my hair by now.

After this back and forth for a couple of months trying to get it right I managed to get the master for the Arcanum Signet to give me two clean, usable molds and so orders containing those have already gone out. 

The Current Solution

Based on the advice of a local friendly shop, as well as another who's talked to me extensively about their process I'm currently trialing two different types of paint. The front runner is called a 2K Gloss Coat, and unlike most paints is mixed from a base and a hardener, like an epoxy. This is the same process (and specifically this paint) that is used to clear coat and seal the finish on vehicles. My tests pieces have been extremely promising, and I was unable to scratch or mar the surface in the ways I have previously with the acrylic resin paint. Another important improvement in this process is being able to sand this coating, allowing me to fix issues without having to resort to stripping it bare and starting over again from the primer. 

There is however downsides to this. In order to get a consistent surface, you have to sand everywhere the paint will touch, not just the repair spot because the freshly applied paint needs that roughed up surface to grip to. The timing between coats is extremely sensitive; apply too quickly and you get solvent pop (bubbles) or bad orange peel, apply too late and it doesn't level properly leaving uneven textures and surface with a really bad finish.

A lot of this has been both frustrating and painfully expensive ($44CAD a can!) to learn, however slow but steady progress has been made, and the following masters have been finished:

• Arcanum Imperius
• Arcanum Locus (Degassing)
• Resonance Link (Degassing)
  (This list will be updated as masters are finished)
  

Outstanding masters in progress:

• Arcanum Link
• Arcanum Velox
• Resonance Anchor
• Resonance Key
• Resonance Devia
• Resonance Cascade
• Voidgrip Devia

I am working to refinish these as quickly as possible, and have set all other development/new releases aside until these problems are sorted. And going forward, I am going to drastically reduce the number of items in a release and have production vetted molds before accepting orders on new releases rather than being in the process of finishing them when announcing new releases.

If you are one of those with an outstanding order, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kindness and patience you've shown and I will be including extras with every outstanding order as I get them finished and out to you.

-- Chris
Chief Artificer