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How do I sufficiently clean resin "head" for metallizing?

2003

I'm a private Movie Prop collector and am working with a number of friends on a batch of 5 film-accurate C-3PO heads (the Gold robot from Star Wars)

The head is made from a high grade of resin, and we are using a vacuum metallizing company also in the UK (in Derbyshire).

We are having problems with a poor finish (similar to orange peel) and this is despite a number of precautions:

1) Quality resin
2) Silicone mould (no releasing agent)
3) a lot of cleaning when it comes out
4)sanding with 1500 to help the base lacquer key
5)final cleaning with IPA

Despite all this we still get the orange peel in patches and its difficult to see where the contamination is occurring. Do any of the Gentlemen out there have any suggestions on how we can thoroughly clean the head?

Many thanks,

Jeremy Hill
Prop Collector - Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

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No, but one of the ladies might ;-)

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

Apologies yes, the UK Vac-Metallizing market is a somewhat male-dominated sector but..... Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome your comments on how I can make my Star Wars Gold Robot nice and shiny!

Jeremy Hill
- Leicester, UK
2003

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I think the generalities of your approach are correct, but sorry, I don't have the hands-on experience in that technology to figure out exactly what's amiss. Until somebody comes along who does, all I can be suspicious of is the silicone molds. In most metal finishing, silicone is a word never to be spoken because there is no cleaning procedure that will reliably remove it.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003