Well I hope all you seasoned epoxy users get a great laugh out of this!
I am building a hollow wooden, my first board ever, so I toddled off down to the fibreglass store to get all the goodies I needed to bend the rails and epoxy them together, SO… I get all set up: JIG… check, 2 STRIPS BENDY PLY… check, RESIRATOR… check, GLOVES… check, CLAMPS… check, brush… pot… acetone… etc etc etc… you get the picture! I was a bit nervous because I had heard all the usual epoxy disatster stories, so I put my 5 parts of resin into the pot, did another dry run with the rails and clamps, then added my 1 part of hardener and mixed, all good to go, or so I thought, I started at one end and clamped the rails as I went, painted the last bit of rail up near the nose and put the pot on my jig as I continued to clamp my way towards the nose, then I heard a crackling sound, like when you drop ice-cubes into a drink, I looked around to see what it was and it was then I saw my pot of epxoy had turned PURPLE! and it was smoking too! I grabbed it and ran out of the garage with it at arms length and threw it on the grass and proceeded to hose it down! it was still REALLY hot after 10mins so I filled a bucket, put a brick in the bottom and sat my pot on top of it… fully submerged.
Why did it go off sooo quick I hear you asking… it was only mixed about 10mins.
I have since thought about that day and answered this very question!
I had the garage door open for hours before I epoxied and all the resin etc was in direct sunlight for this time, it was also 12.30pm on a 27degree (90ish farenheight) day so it’s no wonder that it went off so bloody quick!!!
disaster averted, THIS TIME!!!
here’s a pic of the end result, my dad reckons it should be my logo on the board!!!
Howzit Robbo- I don’t think that it’s a good idea to leave the resin in the bucket like that, due to the way the resin generates heat when it starts to go. Also accelerates the process. When I lam with RR, I put 2/3 of the batch directly on the side I’m laminating, and put the other 1/3 on the drip tray/table under the glassing stands. That way, I have a supply of fresh resin, nice and cool cause it had spread out, ready to use to wet out the laps and do a cherry finish on that side. Maybe for those kind of paintbrush style tasks, a dinner plate would work better than a cup. It would allow the resin to spread out and stay cooler, longer. Aloha…RH
thanks rick! when I did the opposite side rails it was cooler and the epoxy was not in the sun at all and it was fine in the pot for at least 20mins while I placed and clamped the rails and when I emptied the pot it was still as thin as when I started, have learnt from this and will take notice of temp and storage next time!
