I have a problem where my resin kicks too fast. I live on the east coast usa and work out of a shed where temps get above 100 degrees inside. In the morning I have no issues but later in the day it always kicks so fast that by the time I go to wrap my rails it’s clumping and gets real hard to work with. I know it’s a matter of backing off catalyst. But this time I used 3cc of cat to 32 oz of resin and still became clumpy within 5-6 minutes. Frustrating more than anything because I’m using less than half the recommended amount and still having issues. Anyway my real question is when this happens to the rails, would I be better off just not wrapping the rails, cutting off that section when it fully hardens and just doing the rails later? Every time this has happened I just wrap the rails anyway and end up with a lumpy finish with dry spots. Maybe I’m just spending too much time on the deck too. Any advice would be great.
Just “speculation” on my part.
But many warm their resin for better results in the winter.
Maybe chilling your resin to 60-65 F would help slow catalysis enough that you would have enough time to wrap your rails.
Experiment before trying.
“Measure twice. Cut once.”
Yeah, I agree. Throw it in the fridge for a bit to cool it.
Glass at night.
and/or
Use less catalyst.
OR
Use UV resin.
Hello i have issues with heat also.
What i do for pe resin with mepk catalist.
0- i always catalise at 1% never lower, i might be wrong but i was taught that less is not good.
Altough i was also taught to use 0.5% for leash plugs and fin cups to make the bond stronger so…i don’t really know well.
1- i have a portable air conditioning machine i use it to cool the room 1 hour before glass. (This machine makes heavy noise )
2- i glasss in the night or early morning.
3- still in the future i am thinking of separating things (since i only do boards for myself and some friends) i will shape in the hot months and then laminate in fall or spring.
Cheers and good waves.
Use sun cure catalyst.you can take your Time
Hello Mr. Lsd.
Quick question??
If i do use sun cure catalist, i need to laminate it in a room without sunlight right?
So i can use the lamps from the room but what happens if the room is not exposed to the sun but still gets clarity from sun light?
Will it still work?
Cheers and good waves.
Sorry, also what are the mix ratios for the suncure?
Bring it out side in the sunlight and will kick real quick. Then you can flip it to get the other side. Or you can get uv bulb’s, grow lights would work. They sell uv catalyst for one gallon containers
Hi Chris, there are couple of things you can consider doing:
- Divide your resin in smaller batches and kick your “rail resin” once you are done with the flats. That buys you time and actually makes it easier to wet out the lap.
- use an abundance of resin to get everything wetted out really quickly and thus get to your rails faster. (if you pay the resin yourself consider the economics of a bad lamination to 5€ of more resin)
- Do a half sun cure / half catalyst batch so you have time but it gels and sets (can be less than 1% because the UV kicks your resin instantly). to get it to dry properly set it out in the sun.
hope it helps