so after like two weeks, the resin on my 6’4 x 19 3/4 shortboard didn’t cure. I’m not sure what to blame this on, shitty catalyst? maybe the little bottle wasn’t even catalyst at all? too cold? not enough catalyst?
anyways it wasnt going to harden so i got fed up and peeled all of the fibreglass cloth off of the blank. so now i have a blank with a bunch of tacky resin on it.
my question is, what do i do?
save what resin and fiberglass i have left and start shaping a new blank
sand as much of the resin off of the board as i can and redo a layer of cloth, this time with A LOT of catalyst?
ive had this problem before, just leave the cloth on and add another thin layer of resin with lots of catlyst, like double the normal amound and then some. You might want to try a small test batch with it at first to see if it is the catalyst, and then if it is replace it. If its not, then add another thin coat with extra, and it should work.
i peeled all of the cloth off the board. sorry i dont know if you mean to put another sheet of fiberglass on it and then some resin, or if you thought i left the cloth on the blank.
You don’t say how cold it is, or where you are. Suggest you expose it to several (overnight) hours of warmth, at least >75 degrees, or a day in full sunlight. Whatever happens, don’t waste your blank and shaping effort; just glass it as you ordinarily would.
DO NOT put extra catalyst! It won’t “penetrate” the old resin; it’ll get you in big trouble doing the next lam, and overall won’t give you any advantage.
However, that bottle of catalyst should be checked out (or maybe chucked out). Does it smell like catalyst? Does it burn your skin like catalyst does? Suggest a small test batch to see that it actually does set resin off. If it’s a small bottle, then perhaps simply replacing it would be the ticket.
well tonight i decided to do another experiment with the cayalyst,
i mixed about 50 mls of resin into a container, and then another 20 mls of the container labelled “cat” that i was given, stirred it around while holding it infront of a heater for a few minutes, and nothing happened.
decided to then mix what i thought was the surfacing agent and the resin together, same ratio, and it hardened in 2 minutes. so i used the surfacing agent in place of catalyst. so now my blank looks like shit as i peeled all of the first layer of cloth and resin off. but it will surf nonetheless and thats all that matters right? anyways sorry about all the previous posts, problem solved.
so you figured it out…and you pulled off the old glass…its not like i would have been a good idea to leave that on there…could you possibly thin the blank a little more to get the resin off?..if not get somebody to help…say the board is 6’ measure 6’6’’ or 7’ of cloth cut it and have your friend hold the part at the nose and you get the tail…lay it on like your making a bed …cause sticky resin could cause a problem any other way…then laminate…if that was wax/styrene you added instead of mekp…that might cause a problem down the road…thats why i say if you can get it off of the blank somehow do so…good luck man,its probally best to test things before you use them,especially if its in a weird container.
its probally best to test things before you use them
totally. i learned the hard way i guess. i put a new layer of cloth on tonight. the resin kicked and it worked out perfect. just lots of little marks and shit on the blank now. ah well.
also tonight one of my ‘experiments’ in the container started smoking heavily and felloff the bench it was on. crazy shit goin on in the shop yo.
" i mixed about 50 mls of resin into a container, and then another 20 mls of the container labelled “cat” that i was given, stirred it around while holding it infront of a heater for a few minutes, and nothing happened.
…but later it “started smoking”…
50mls resin + 20 mls catalyst = lucky it only started smoking !!
isn’t 1 % catalyst to resin quantities a bit safer way to go ?
"stirred it , and held it in front of a heater ??!!"
oh man...shores, you're SCARING me !!
ben
I was working for Dick Metz at the old Hobie shop on Kapiolani, when a customer broght back his catylist and said it was acetone. We NEVER put anything in the one ounce plastic bottles but catylist, he apparently was trying his best to cover his mistake. 30 to 20 ratio might be enough to contaminate the resin to the point of not going off, 2% is what the book calles for
I’m not trying to be a smart ass…but, Clean up your Glassing Act. This stuff is dangerous. The first thing I’d do is get your labeling of the chemicals straight, slow down and run test batches when your not sure. Surfacing Agent i.e. Wax should be in a quart container? Catylast is usually in a Bodibottle or a small 1 oz eye dropper bottle. Resin is are kept in 5 gallon or 1 gallon cans. Don’t ever heat resin up when its close to a source of ignition? if you can’t get it warm enough by putting it out in the sun, or inside the house then don’t glass, it’s too cold out.
All these chemicals can ruin your day if handled wrong. Resin makes a wonderful Napalm that will burn and stick to your flesh while you trip over the buckets of unkicked resin and glass scraps. Just when you think you caught your balance, you trip over the glassing stand to have a full 5 cc of catalyst land in your eyes and blind you for the rest of your life. You crawl out of the garage on your hands and knees, thinking “I should have listened to resinhead”
Dont forget to brush your teeth and wash your face…don’t run with sicssors
Howzit resinhead, It's a different Jim Phillips who is from the Santa Cruz area who did skate board graphics and alot of other graphics work. I have a better one but it was to big for the forum to accept. He is a fanstastic artist from a family of natural born artist's and his son is following in his foot steps. I have one that I think Cleanlines would really get a kick out of, we call it the "Geezer". Aloha,Kokua
