Last night I glassed my daughters board…this morning I strip off the glass on my daughters board, a lesson in humility! I ended up with some small air bubbles were the glass did’nt adhere to the foam and didn’t have enough time to go back around before it started to gel. Got caught up in trying to re-align the laps for the swallow. Normally I work with resin that has a much longer open time and found that the Silmar went off at 8-10 minutes @ 1.0%. @75F. I normally never go below 1%, does anyone have any info on Silmar at less than 1%? So I will finish stripping the rails and repaint today. Good Fun!
I believe 0.75% MEKP is ok, but not any lower than that.
you might be able to knock the AC down a few degrees and get a few more minutes of work time. In the winter (I have no shop ac…poor student) I do much better lams as I get a few extra minutes to work the rails (or so it seems to me) Just a suggestion…
good luck
I’d go the 1 percent and work faster but with one change. Use a smaller batch and only lam 1/2 the board. Set your logos and wet out the flat areas and wet the rail closest to you. (Don’t spill onto the opposite rail). Do not walk around the board. Stay on that one side until it is done. You should be about 6 minutes into it, using moderate speed. Now mix up the second batch of lam and work the flats not hit by the first batch and work the second rail as well. (Warning: do not go take a break between these batches; the idea is that you keep going, just with refreshed resin). Same deal, stay on that second side of the board; Do not walk around the board. You should find that you save a grip of time. Soon you will be able to do the deed with one big batch of resin. There is no penalty for doing it this way. We have pro glassers who will do this when the board is giant or has some difficult feature… …you know, a triple winger swallow tail with channels and phazers and three extra layers for foot/knee patches… Hope this helps.
Everyone using catalyst will get caught sooner or later, I believe. I measure my resin, have a catalyst chart on the wall… lbut my last catalyzed batch caught me short. If it had been clear resin I’d have been okay, but it was a strong blue tint, and looked like total shit. I finished the board, but it was a lotta work, and still was far from good. A shiny polish goes a ways…
Now I use nothing but UV catalyzed resin. Unlimited working time. There’s no reason I can think of not to use this stuff. You just found the reason to switch. No one thing has made glassing easier and less stressful since I switched from a cardboard squeegee with some tape on the edge (first board, 4’2" x 22" kneeboard, reshape of broken Surfboards Makaha, early 19’69) to a Thalco rubber squeegee.
Also, if you’re no longer catalyzing, you dont’ have to deal with a hazardous material that will burn skin quite well. AMHIK.
Honolulu