Curious what everyone is using for resin buckets when they are laminating boards. I’ve been more or less scavanging the recyclables or using the paint buckets from the hardware store. Curious what everyone else uses.
2litre ice cream tubs. 70 cents at surfblanks oz. I got two for each colour
I’ve seen guys using milk bottles cut in half too
I use catering sized mayonaise buckets - think they are about 5 litres free from a school kitchen. They are ideal. I have that many stacked up they may even make into my shipping container for my impending move to the deep south (Sydney).
Cheers
Rich
I use those thin clear quart & 1/2 quart containers at the bulk food section in the grocery store. flat sides and mostly flat bottoms, they come w/lids (for storing your color work). Load em up with cereal, peanut butter, oats at the store, clean em, send em to the garage, mix resin in em a couple times. repeat. stir sticks at the hardware store. take a stack cut em in half on the chop saw. endless supply.
I don’t mix resin batches beyond 3/4 quart because I’m working w/KK. But I have some cleaning/bleach containers I cut the bottom out in case I run into a huge job where 2 guys are lamming a single part. Fage sells greek yogurt in a qrt size, that container is tits, super flat bottom. $7 for the yogurt though. Expensive yogurt.
Smart and Final Paper soup cups. They hold about 10 ounces with room to stir. For epoxy, a flat bottom is mandatory, so you can scrape the epoxy from the sides.
A free side hint. When mixing epoxy, I use two cups. Pour your Epoxy and hardener together into the first cup and stir. Then pour a quarter of the mix into the second cup, and stir that. Pour another quarter into the second cup and stir more. Third quarter, and then the fourth.
As you pour it, you will see how little the epoxy and hardener mixed together the first time you stirred. When the first cup is poured out, you will see how much straight epoxy is stuck to the side of the first cup. Scrape that with your paint stick, and pour the mix from the second cup back into the first, stirring as you go.
After you are done, put the cups down. If they are almost empty, so you don’t get any exotherm, the remains will flow to the bottom, level out and harden. Re use the same two cups next time. This only works with paper cups. The cured epoxy will peel off the plastic buckets, and float chunks into the mix.
I agree w/Mark…flat bottoms are pretty much whgat to look for. The typical hardware store mixing bucket is horrible (in my area at least) . You’d think they’d have it figured out by now; especially when the bucket has printed graduations for 2 part mixing. So dumb…But assuming your resin isn’t too viscous and temps are adequate, I’ve found surf epoxy mixes well even with a slight bottom stamp on the bucket. I go 3 minutes of mixing, scraping, it’s work, should feel like that to get it fully reacting.
And a digital scale with tenth readings.
Duplicate… " I’ve been thinking about this, Mr. Hand. If I’m here and you’re here, doesn’t that make it our time? Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with a little feast on our time. "
Whenever I can I use the gallon containers cut down with razor blades that the Resin Research comes in. Furthermore, I scavenge water cups from fast-food places or salsa containers for mixing. Kind of a no-brainer, but for production the white plastic buckets from Surf-Supply work best, because if I am careful, I can crack out the excess resin out later.
For poly I use the 2.5s from the Depot. They last a long time and are pretty flexible so they don’t shatter when popping resin out. The paint store ones frin both Vista and Dunn Edwards are too brittle to crack resin out. The pail cracks too more often than not.
For epoxy I use the graduated ones from my paint store
Everysurfer.... You can't do a 2:1 mix of epoxy resin with One cup? I'm driving down Coast Hwy with no problems at all.......You're going crazy speeding up HWY 95.
Guys.....slow down, do a proper mix. Mix it slow and steady for 3-5 min. Pay a little extra for some nice new mixing cups. If you choose to take the risk of contamination feel free to re-use cups or your kids soup bowl.....Every month someone posts some nightmare glass job on Swaylocks.....
Sometimes Pro's give Pro advise that only works if you are a Pro. I'm not a Pro. I will pay extra up front so that I have Zero rework later. Nice clean, new mixing cups.....not Oh Fark...I screwed up another glass job.....Stingray
I like plastic better than paper but I use both.
I prefer clear plastic, because they clean better and you can peer through the resin under lamps and inspect for artifacts from all sides. (pictured is a case in point where I discovered fragments from a 1 qrt can lining from a company that bottled additive F from bulk quantites. This is rare but still possible. I like to see through the mix under light).
Re-using some containers is fine, there is an obvious distinction what can work and what can’t. Use good judgement. The higher risk of contamination and artifacts comes from the environment where you glass. If your glassing stands are even slightly dirty, you’ll evetually transfer all that gnar into your lams. Can’t blame the bucket then.
this is what I use.
Always glassing with UV resin so the 1L volume of the bucket is perfect.
By the way the chocolate it tastes so good.
soymilk/OJ paper containers with tops cut off. Ice cream paper containers. plastic graduated buckets from the hardware store. gallon apple juice plastic jug with top cut off for big batches. 5 oz paper dixie cups for little batches. stringer offcuts for stir sticks