Hi Guys, I have been watching the video a couple of times and when he is installing the leash plugs, he puts some cabosil into the hole and pour resin mix over the hole before mixing them. It is quite a lot that he pours, I think. My experience is that when there is a thick resin, it eats into the foam. I always mix with q-cell and cabosil before pouring into the hole. I am not sure but q-cell helps to not overheat the epoxy and it does not burn my eps foam. I tried once with cabosil and epoxy resin, It started to bubble near the outline of the leash plug and when I pulled the leash plug out the resin had eaten into the eps foam quite a bit. How does he do it? Is there a trick to it? Or am I doing it wrong? Thanks
If there is a minimum amount of epoxy it won’t exotherm (heat up) as much. It sounds like you have a lot of resin in the hole. Q-cell just takes up space, which means less resin in the hole also. Cabolsil is more of a thickener and aids in sanding, it also comes out clearer than Q-cell. I use only Q-cell (microballoons) but cut the hole really close to the size of the leash plug with no heat problems.
Hi Mataco, My hole has about 1/16 play when i insert the leash plug. Someone in swaylocks mentioned that Cabosil adds strength when installing leash plug and fin box that is why i am trying to install with resin cabosil mix. I am thinking that even with tight fit, the leash plugs has some cavity that has to be filled with resin and those parts will heat up. As suggested by experts here, i have placed ice pack underneath and it works. Only difference is that I have to wait for the reain to cure before i start to laminate the top.
the key is to use the slow type of hardener to prevent exotermic reaction. the best style how to work with epoxy is to have slow and fast hardeber that are at the same mixing ratio to epoxy. then you can mix hardeners to get desired pot life.
I am using slow hardener for the resin. The mixing ratio is 2 part resin 1 part hardener.
Cabosil and Q-cell both make the resin weaker in shear. There’s no need to do the plug and them lam at the same time unless your at the factory trying to bust out a lot of boards. What type of foam? What type of plug? Do you leave the resin in the cup for a long time before you put in the plug? Is it really hot outside? There are a lot of factors that create heat. It sounds like you can do it so you aren’t doing it wrong. Stick to the ice bag.