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Fiberglass and Epoxy resin


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Guest Anonymous

Ok, I've got some parts I've carved out of foam, shaped them to where I want them (this stuff is great, shapes so easily). I did a test today of the epoxy resin on the foam blocks I'm using, it doesn't appear to eat them which is a good thing.

Heres the conundrum for you Fiberglass guys, the epoxy appears to dry rather slow (like way slow), it was a tad cold today, probably on the low side of the curing temperature at just about 70 deg. My question is, after putting the first layer of glass and resin down, how long before a second layer should be put down? Is this different with Epoxy resin vs polyester resin?

The product I'm using is Evercoat Everfix epoxy resin mixed at a 1 to 1 ratio resin to hardener. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks,

 

Lone

 

[ May 03, 2001: Message edited by: lonehdrider ]

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Lone, epoxy stuff is really tempermental to the ratio for one thing. Take extra care to be sure than you are getting 1:1. Also epoxies require to be mixed very well, more so than other types of resin. From the books I've read on the subject, almost all problems with epoxy stem from one of these 2 things.

 

I recommend the book "Fiberglass & Composite Materials" by Forbes Aird if you are looking for some "extra" literature. icon_wink.gif

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Guest Anonymous

Thanks Drax, I'll look into it, it looks like something I may want to do more of. I'll look at making the ratio more exact and see how that test sample flies. Thanks again.

 

Lone

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The fact that you were getting a cure at all means that you had the ratio pretty darn close. Its not like polyester resin in that you can vary the amount of catalyst to speed up/slow down the cure. Epoxy simply won't cure if its that far off.

 

70 sounds plenty warm enough to me for it to cure. Some epoxy's do gain structurally from a post cure heat cycle however, I've heard that it can be in the neighborhood of 20-30% additional strength. Food for thought.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Anonymous

Hey Lone, I've seen your websight, very cool.

Regarding your question, I am in Roseville, just north of you and I just made some carbon fiber parts this weekend using marine grade epoxy from Tap Plastics. I was surprised at the time it took to cure too. It took over 24 hours to fully cure, but when it did it was fine. I was very carefull about the ratio and am sure that I did everything right cuz the carbon fiber looks awesome! When I get it installed I will post pics.

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Guest Anonymous

That'd be excellent Jerry, I'd like to see that. I've yet to use the epoxy, I went with urethane resin because I was worried about the cure time. I'll have to try something now with it since you've confirmed its cure time is long. (I wasn't sure, the test piece I did seemed hard but more pliable than the glass resin I ended up using (with the regular hardener by drops). One thing, it would be nice since its a tad thicker and you'd have time to work it before it starts to get all jelly like and hardened (still trying to get the hang of the time to wet something out before it sets.).

I've got my pieces mounted on my wing flaps and bondo'ed will prime soon.

I bet the carbon fiber does look awesome, its great stuff, perhaps once I get a bit more confident I'll give it a stab. I'd very much like to see the pictures though, thanks!

 

Lone

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