I have my blank, glass, RR epoxy and ply…all raring to go but when my RR epoxy arrived it has loads of warning stickers over the resin, hardner and additive F re: fumes.
I purchased RR epxoy because of all the posts stating it’s almost fumeless even with the addition of additive F. Are these stickers just Seabase in the UK covering themselves or ???
I also recieved fast hardner…anyone got experience of this @ 20-22C. How fast is fast, i was hoping for a little more time as this is my first attempt at shaping and glassing. Some idea of the flip time with that hardner and temp would be cool too.
I had asked Greg Loehr that questiuon by e-mail a while ago because the place I used to work in had to be closed up when it got cold here. He said that in his shop they have the doors open and plenty of air moving through and none of his guys wore masks without any problems. He said that for my case if I had to keep the room closed I should wear a mask with amine cartridges. The add. F is xylene (a VOC) but I guess that the epoxy reaction produces amines. I could only find one distributor here in Montreal (Canada) that had cartridges made for ‘methylamine’ vapors, but unfortunately only by the box.
I am finishing setting up a new shop for myself now that will have a ventilation system with a fan pulling air out an 6" pipe. I will use thI might just spring for a box of those amine ones as I am sure that Greg knows just what is needed.
The fumes really aren’t too bad, especially compared to poly resin, but as with any chemical, you should inform and protect yourself, especially these days with chemicals present everywhere in our environment.
As for times. The fast hardener gives about 25 minutes working time and a flip time of 2-3 hours. At your temp of 20-22C, I would think about 3 hours.
RR epoxy has no odor but Add F is pretty nasty. I’ve been told just have a window with some air circulating and a simple fiberglass proof type / painting mask. No full respirator. No big deal. It’s nothing like the precautions you need to take for poly. But search around and you’ll find many more post about this.