Hi im looking for a resin to use for a short run of chassis for a handheld project im working on, injection moulding has been considered but I'm really uncertain the amount of sales is going to be high enough to warrant the costs... So for a small run I'm possibly looking into casting the chassis...
Do you have any resins that have similar thermal and strength properties to plastics like ABS? Shatter resistance scratch and dent resistant with some mild flex for durability? But can also accept pigments and is capable of being cast with a glossy smooth finish and or dusty grainy mass finish? 
I will also need some help picking mould making rubbers or even plasters... 
If you have anything like that please let me know.

Thanks
Simon

Hi,

You will struggle to find a resin to match ABS entirely.  However you can get reasonably close with some toughened PU resins such as our Xencast P6 Toughened Polyurethane Casting Resin as it mechanically performs very well.. Finish is down to mould quality - a silicone mould may be a nice and easy solution. As long as the mould is gloss, the part will be gloss.  The resin accepts pigments easily.  Ideally you would benefit from degassing the resin but it is not essential. 

You can further improve the tensile strength by adding Milled Carbon Fibre Powder to the resin mix.  The only downside to doing so is your colour choice ends up being charcoal black and nothing else!

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Thanks for getting back so quickly...
Anything close to ABS would be good. I just dont want the thing to shatter if dropped or chips easily taken out of it. So similar strength and durability to most handheld things... 

I noticed the short pot life 6 minutes. If im going with a textured mould surface, i was thinking I would need to paint on a skin of resin before closing up and poring the mould to guarantee no bubbles on the finish. Is that not required with this resin? 

On the mat finish I was going to give it a grainy fine sand texture... Will that be an issue?

Let me know
Thanks

As long as the detail is not too deep then the resin will fill it no problem as it is quite runny. 

With matt finishes, be aware your silicone mould will mechanically grip the part slightly so may need peeling off a bit more carefully and may have a reduced lifespan.  You can mitigate against this a little by rubbing some pure silicone oil onto the mould or using a silicone release spray.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant