Can you kick a poly lam too slow?

Just curious…

Doing some test colors on scrap foam, and realized that this board is going to be a solid opaque tint job on both sides, and I’d like as much time to get the lam clean as possible. Being a 9’8", I’m gonna have to mix up about what, 2 gallons of lam resin at once (for the top and bottom lams to get an even color, save a little more than half for deck)? So can I kick it with not much catalyst and just babysit it or what? I’d rather get the laps super clean, babysit it, and wait a day or two for the lam to be totally dry until I do the deck…Or will it just not kick well if I use too little catalyst? Thanks.

Tired from playing too much tennis in the hot sun…

What, why would you put in the catalyst in the whole batch of PIGMENTED resin?

Why not pour what you need for one lam into a 1/2 gallon container, then catalyse it.? No catalyst in the main batch till you need it.

Gonna need pinstriping, hope you are good at pinstriping a 9’8"er…

That’s what I meant LeeD, Of course I wouldn’t kick the whole batch! That’s why I said “save a little over half for the deck…”. Anyways, say I was just laminating the bottom of the board…Could I kick the resin that I’ll need to do the bottom, but just kick it super slow? The question was more of a “Will putting very little catalyst in quite a bit of pigmented resin cause any problems.?”…

If you don’t use enough catalyst, you will have a real disaster/mess. Pigment slows the kick, so use more catalyst than “normal”. You should be able to get a good lam with a 30 min set time. Twenty mins to lam, and ten mins to babysit. Waaaay much time.

Thanks Bill.

So for a beginner like myself, who always likes to err on the side of having “waaay to much leftover resin” as opposed to running out, how much lam resin do you think I should mix up for the entire board (9’8" stepdeck, 7.5 volan x 1 on bottom, 7.5 volan x2 on deck)?

Scott,

It has been a long time since I’ve glassed a board that size. I know how much to pour into which paper bucket, but don’t know how to describe it to you. There is hope however. Jim Phillips has glassed some boards in that size range in the last year or so. (I think) If he picks up on this thread, I’m sure he can help you. Also Jay, aka Resinhead, is a heads up glasser, perhaps a PM to him for some help would be worthwhile.

Tenover. You should be able to get the gel times from your resin supplier. eg

25 min @ 2% @ 25 deg C . ( I’m in Australia) Personally I would not go below 3/4 % for a thin laminate. With those numbers you should be able to get an idea of the gel times. Add a few minutes for the pigment as Bill suggests. Do some test some batches. Mix up 100 ml add 2ml ( 2%) catalyst and see how long it takes to gell. (sorry I’m still in Aus) I foget what that is in ounces and ? platty.

How about this… 5 lbs resin for the bottom , 6 lbs resin for the deck… mix all colors if you have to, but the color will be darker on the deck if you use tint , you said opaque tint and to me tint is see thru, opaque is pigment, not see thru… you don’t need to worry about pigment, it’s the same color every time you use it… for tints, i’d use about the same amount of tint on each side, a little less for the deck because of the two layers…for catalyst, i glass differently than most everybody,i think… i’d put in about 4 cc of catalyst to do the bottom, glass the whole thing, get it really clean, then put another 10 cc catalyst into the rest of the resin in the bucket and paint the under lap with a 2 inch brush, squeegy the board totally again with the extra catylized resin, then clean the whole thing with squeegy again… you’ll be glasing the whole board twice, but having the slow resin to start gives you some leeway…the way i understand catalyst is that it has a free oxygen that is used to bond two esters together, then it gets kicked out to do it again and again, so the catalyst will work its way through the whole job… wadaythink?.. danny

ps i’d probably use only 3 1/2 lbs for the bottom, 4 lbs for deck so my suggestion should give you extra resin