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bad fiberglass resin?


JaysZ

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i don't know how long my bottle of resin has been sitting, but this afternoon i tried to lay up some fiberglass on my dash cap and it isn't hardening. the resin even turned green, and this particular brand dries an amber color. has this resin gone bad?

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Resins will slowly thicken with age (because most if not all resins have a small amount of catalyst already added from the factory). The catalyst though, can sour with age making them less effective, and this is what it sounds like has happened to you (or you did not add enough catalyst - cold day that day?)

Anyway, the sniff test can tell you a lot about the catalysts viability. It will actually develop a sour or vinegary smell when it starts getting old.

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hello, yes it is definately possible i mixed the wrong amount of MEKP in. i brushed over a little extra after i found it wasn't hardening properly and when i checked this morning it was better but still a little moist which i thought was odd. the weather was cool as well, so that definately could have affected it. well, either way i chunked the can of resin and will pick up a new one tonight so i can get this over with lol. thanks :)

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When this happens and all else fails, I borrow the wifes hair dryer and spend some quality time in the garage with the fiberglass!

 

does the heat help to "force" the resin to cure, so to speak? i've done many side projects in FG but this is the first time this has happened to me.

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I had a similar thing happen when making the front end for my corolla. Took weeks to dry and then stuck in the mold. I use the same resin with a new batch of mekp and it happened again. Now I dont buy resin form that shop! I guess thay dont sell enough of it and it stay's on the shelf to long. So the lesson I lernt was to deal with the big shops and get a fresh brew. This means getting it shiped in where I live.

 

Douglas

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Yeah, heat helps. It's a chemical reaction, and heat will speed it up, even after the fact. I've been told that fiberglass hardens throughout it's life, and not just the first hour or two. I believe this is why years later you'll see slight waves in what was a perfectly flat panel.

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Terry, good call on the resin situation. I wondered why some of the hardner I had smelled so freaking bad. Time to throw it out!

 

My freind is a long-time body man and whenever he does any work on a glass corvette he shoots primer on it and it sits for at least 6 months before he will top coat it because the glass likes to ripple and he seems to think it helps to wait. I have seen the vettes he has done, and they are beautiful even 5-6 years later so I belive him.

 

Its been along time since I frequented the site, and I am refreshed by the level and amount of good quality posts here!

 

Evan

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Terry' date=' good call on the resin situation. I wondered why some of the hardner I had smelled so freaking bad. Time to throw it out!

 

My freind is a long-time body man and whenever he does any work on a glass corvette he shoots primer on it and it sits for at least 6 months before he will top coat it because the glass likes to ripple and he seems to think it helps to wait. I have seen the vettes he has done, and they are beautiful even 5-6 years later so I belive him.

 

Its been along time since I frequented the site, and I am refreshed by the level and amount of good quality posts here!

 

Evan[/quote']

 

He lives!!

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