My RR experience....

General Discussion
1

Have been a long time lurker and few time poster…time to contribute…

I have built about 15 boards of varying styles all using RR epoxy. Have learned some things I am going to share to help some of you reduce headache…will post some photos later…for now here are the lessons learned. Hope someone is helped…

  1. I didn’t appreciate how important it is to not touch cured laminates or hotcoats with my bare hands. The oils left behind caused me many problem…I was in denial until I got some Nitrile gloves at Costco…now I know…sterile technique is key. I wear the glove when I handle the glass, when I apply resin and when I cut my laps. I put on a pair even to flip the board over in the racks. Makes a huge difference.

  2. After about 10 boards I took someones advice and tried prewetting the glass. I just fold it up neatly and pour the resin over it in a 8 by 10 tupperware that is 2 or 3 inches deep. Move the glass around in the epoxy, spreading layers apart and scooping resin between them with a gloved hand. Until the resin is saturated. You can even kind of kneed the resin into the glass. Then unfold on your board and squeege into place. Leave more overlap than you usually would at the lap to ensure it will allow you to be a little of when you place the glass. Would not use this technique with freelaps.

  3. The green 3M tape. This is the best stuff I have tried for doing cutlaps. Doesn’t leak epoxy underneath it like the blue stuff does. This is the stuff for hard to stick surfaces…I guess EPS is a hard to stick surface.

I’ll try to add to this list…I know some of this stuff has been posted before, but I am hoping to help someone by gettting all the RR tips in one place. Please feel free to add your own or comment…ben

2

Ben, good stuff. THere is a great summary in the resources section , but it is good to requaint the new folks with these tips. I agree with all you mentioned except the pre-wetting. I just end up with a gooey mess trying that. Also, I have concerns about (me) getting a good tight lam. Any specific tips on how you do this?

3

re: pre-wetting the glass; just like Burt says. Use a 1:1 or slightly greater than ratio. After folding and soaking unfold the wetted glass out and put it in place. Then from front to back or vice versa using a brush pull it tight getting all the creases and folds out. Plenty of time to work it. You may need to mix up a bit more to rid yourself of any dry spots. I’ve use this method on the inner glass of 2 balsa composites. Very tight layup as you are really pulling the brush along the glass (with not a lot of resin in it) while getting the creases out. IMHO I’m sure it would work the same for regular layups. Once it’s tight you can brush in more resin if desired.