Preparing Resin for Casting or Laminating

All resins require the addition of a catalyst (also referred to as hardener) to initiate the curing process.

Below we’ve shared some of our top tips for preparing your resin before casting or laminating.

• Use a catalyst dispenser to measure the correct amount of catalyst. See our guide to Mixing Catalyst.
• Generally, a 2% addition will be sufficient - 20ml of catalyst per kilo of resin. Check the temperature of your working area and adjust your catalyst addition accordingly. It’s not recommended to add more than 3% catalyst.
• Make sure to stir the catalyst into the resin thoroughly.
• The hardening process begins immediately, so only catalyse a working quantity or your mixing containers will soon be full of solidified resin!
• If pigments are being used, these should be stirred into the resin before adding the catalyst. Add up to 10% of pigment, depending on the depth of colour required. To maintain consistent colour on a large project, it is often a good idea to pigment all the resin and then decant working quantities to be catalysed as required.
• Once catalysed, the resin gradually cures. It will reach a jelly-like consistency in about 10-20 minutes, before becoming hard in about 30-40 minutes at room temperature (about 20^oC).
• The curing process generates heat (known as ‘exotherm’) within the resin. Too much catalyst or large volumes of resin increase this heat, so a thick laminate or a large casting should preferably be built up in stages.