Mixed too much resin, it already had catalyst in it. I didnt want to throw it out so I froze it. 2days later I needed a small amount for a leash plug so I defrosted the resin and used it. It thawed to a honey consistency and it seems to have totally set and ready for surf testing…
Who’d a thought it!
Heres a pic of the resin about 30 mins out of the freezer… like thick honey but spreadable / useable .
Thanks for sharing this! Is the epoxy now less exotherm after two days in the freezer?
A friend of mine who is a material engineer, adviced me to store my epoxy in the freezer (not mixed). This should preserve the quality longer.
I haven’t tried this yet, I’m a bit scared of using the freezer where I store my food in.
Do you use a seperate freezer?
now try this.
lay out cloth on sheet plastic on a flat surface. wet it out with epoxy and squeegee to (somewhat dry) saturation. top with another sheet of plastic (or peel-ply, release, etc.). now roll it up on a decent sized core, say a cardboard tube or pvc pipe of ~4 inch or better diameter. put it in a trash bag, get the air out, seal the bag, and throw it in the freezer.
low-budget, low-complexity cottage industry manufacture of pre-preg is pretty simple. when you’re ready to use it, just warm it up a touch, roll it out, bag it down, and let it cure. it works better if you bag in the hotbox, especially if your resin is higher viscosity and/or pretty far along its cure-process already, but it all works.
-cbg
Yeah surffoils, that's a great trick. One thing I've learned is that you have to use it within a few days or it will set up if using RR fast hardener. It may last longer using slow.
Thanks for the ideas guys, I honestly thought no one else would store resin next to their fish fingers too.
I’ve stored resin brushes in the freezer part way through a lam. Just pop a rubber glove over the end and stick them in the door compartment, next to the pitta bread, kulfi and vodka.
cbg hit the nail on the head. I was discussing wet out tables with another member here the other night but we never got into the pre preg or frozen prepreg options.
You could do a whole board this way or at least do things like fin box football patches or glass on fin patches etc.The applications are limitless.
Here’s a couple of video’s showing how to table wet out to make home made pre-preg. If you use a slower post cure type of epoxy it lasts longer in the freezer. Even if you were using it right away, and not freezing it, it’s a cleaner and stronger /lighter/ better glass to resin ratio way of building.
Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_tDQTgdsCg
http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=755195124001
There are many more videos to help you with homemade pre preg construction.
VanHelsing.
That video shows pretty well what my cloth looks like wetted on a table. Very neat and clean. I’ll never pour resin on a board again.
I just don’t bother storing the cloth. It goes right on the board.
The only advantage they had over me, is they bought plastic sheeting on a wide roll. No wrinkles. I’ve looked into that, but shipping cost and roll cost is high versus buying folded pastic sheeting at Walmart. I found it impossible to pull plastic tighten enough with tape on the table to be totally wrinke free.
it works well with small amounts of resin.
Don’t try to do a lot tho.
I tried to frees some about the size of a baseball or maybe slightly larger.
It exothermed in the freezer and melted the plastic lining in the freezer. DOH!
Home Depot sells really wide 6mil or even 4mil poly vapor barrier(the stuff U put on the stud walls). It’s quite inexpensive and works great.
Just staple it tight to the vertical edges of your wet out table.
VH.
Awesome, thanks!
Helpful Hints from resinhead:
When putting boxes or plugs in..specially with colored epoxy.
Mix up your batch, Right now..pour 1/4 into a (quality)ziploc bag.....put in freezer, make sure epoxy is more flat than pooled up at bottom of bag (Chris P found out about this)
Go about you finning plugging business. Now I bet your fin epoxy job has bubbles and holes etc after you have ground down etc. So now take that bag out. Cut the very tip end of the ziploc bag, and use it like one of those cake decorating guys. squeeze the remaining epoxy into the little holes and F-up you got from frothing you epoxy in the first place. Pefect match..no harm, no foul.
Or you can use the baggie load to put a leash plug in.
Or to fix those huge bubbles in the nose you get from that not so tight lamination job.
Or that little rail ding you got from dropping in on your buddy.
But, it will only live in the freezer for so long. It's not a long term deal. And if using RR, once it warms up it kick pretty fast. I personally CE is the better choice for this storage. it's usually a one shot deal
That’s a great tip Resinhead.
I agree on the slower CE being a better choice for lasting longer.
Slower , post cure type of epoxies last longer in the freezer.
Here’s a homemade pre-preg tip.
I cap over pro-box finboxes with a pre-preg butterfly patch that has had the excess epoxy squeezed out between two pieces of plastic and then drawn the butterfly shape onto the plastic and cut out like in one of the video’s I posted above. You don’t need to tape over the box openings this way, as no excess resin drains into the box.
I just use a Q-tip swab and wipe the inside vertical edge of the box with either release wax or even a little vaseline, jus to be safe.
Make sure you skuff up the tops of the pro box inserts with a little 40 to 60 grit sandpaper to stop any possible delamination of the butterfly patch and the plastic box face.
VH.
Two thougths, First don’t use plastic sheeting on framed walls. Moisture condenses against it and you get mold and wood rot. Use Tyvek or tar paper. Second note the thinner painters plastic, around 1 mil is better thatn the 4 and 6 mil. The thinner plastic is untreated, because painters use it to cover furniture. The heavy plastic is for concrete work and temporary rain protection, and is coated with oil. Just a slight film, but if you use it enough, it gets all over your hands. The oil is not good for epoxy and fisheyes.
But great videos you posted VH!
@ Everysurfer
I’ve never had problems with any oils on the plastic sheeting I’ve ever bought, maybe the concrete weter guard plastic is a different beast.
Most of my buddies use this vapor barrier plastic as a cheap bagging film as well. If it were oily the vac bag sealant mastic wouldn’t stick properly. The 1mil stuff probably won’t hold up to the vigorous squeegee pressure when forcing out the epoxy as in the home made pre-preg video I posted. The heavier material, like the freezer bag plastic the guy in the video uses lets you press as hard as you want without tearing or stretching the plastic. That being said, I’ve never use the 1mil drop sheet plastic with the pre preg method, always thicker, so i might be wrong.
I’ve use this in the past : http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/Search?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&keyword=4mil%20poly%20vaporbarrier&Ns=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=SEARCH+ALL
VH.
.
You know when you have the wrong plastic if Duct tape wont stick to it. With the oily stuff, the tape just peels right off. Have you ever tried the Stretchelon film? From Fiberglass supply http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/Product_Catalog/Vacuum_Bagging/vacuum_bagging.html
Item # a thin green polyurethane film that has well over 500% elongation. |
@ Everysurfer.
No. I’ve never tried it but it does look like the material to help those who have problems with wrinkles in their laps when bagging.
The stretch characteristic is smart especially if doing complex vacuum molding…
If I had easy access to Strechalon I’b buy it for sure. Don’t need it, but if it makes life that much easier, why not.
Have you seen the spray on silicone bag material that supposedly works fantastic on complex molds?
Have a look here: http://www.smooth-on.com/Vacuum-Bagging/c1334/index.html ?
@ Surffoils: Im sorry for taking your frozen Epoxy resin down a Hi-Jack path. I had no right. If you want me to stop cluttering up this thread with my goofy offshoot ideas. Please let me know. If so, I’m sorry , and I’ll take these ideas elsewhere.
VH.