Does anyone suggest warming resin before mixing to get it to flow better? Used RR ce for a while and had good results warming the resin. Using kk now, glassing in my garage in mild to cooler temps( 60- 70) so far this spring, ( long island).
The resin seems to be a little thick and hard to move around on hot coat , and laps aren’t wetting out that well on lams. I seem to be using more resin than the suggested amounts to be on the safe side, but just enough to get the job done. Also being aware not to spill too much over the sides. I know pre heating resin will give you less working time, and with summer approaching using kk im just curious how much working time I will have and If pre heating will give you any undesired results.
Also, any lame tips in using less resin are helpfull!!!
Sometimes i will use the old technique of flipping the lap up and then pouring a line of resin down. One pass wwith the squeegee wets it perfect. This is how we did it in the late 60’s with heavy ten ounce volan glass jobs… I don’t know why nobody does it anymore. It actually works great and it saves a lot of resin. I showed how to do it on the Master Glasser video.
I read about this technique a while back on Sways, and now I use it all the time! It’s a great way to minimize the amount of resin used (my first board a few years back, using a more poly-esque technique resulted in about 600mL resin per side, a lot of which ended up on the floor. Now flipping up the laps, I can get away with 250-300mL of resin per side).
You’ve definately done a few boards!!! Do you flip the dry laps up onto the deck, wet out the middle, then waterfall into the overlap? Will the waterfall push the folded lap down? Sounds like a good way and keeps the resin off the floor?
Wet out the middle down to the top of rails. Set your squeegee down and use both hands to flip the laps up on to the top. The lap is dry at this point. Now pour a line of resin down the lap and make a light pass with the squeegee (longwise. This will wet out the lap.
Set the squeegee down again and with both hands gently pull the lap down. It should be all wet out but may have a few strings hanging. Snip them with scissors. Now you can tuck the laps under as usual. it’s really quite easy. kind of hard to do with thick gloves. I use disposable ones. If I knew how to do the utube thing I would show ya. RB
Kg5672, I use an old cooler and put a heating pad in the bottom wired to a thermostat. I put some cardboard on top of the pad to set the resin on and use the low or medium setting on the heating pad. I adjust the t-stat for about 78 degrees. It takes a day or so to get to temp and I pretty much leave it on all the time until its summer. I only put the resin in not the hardener. Mine sits on a concrete floor so I am not too concerned about a fire hazard but would probably be more concerned if it was on a wood floor. You can run the power cord in through the drain hole. I put the resin back in as soon as I have mixed what I am using. Right now mine has gallon jugs of KK, CE2000 and Green Room simmering.
As far as wetting laps sdrepairmans thing with the bucket is what I do. I use a quart or 16 oz plastic container and lift the cloth and let the lip squeegee the excess as I move along wetting with a 1" disposable brush. I like to wet the flats and then come back and do the rails with fresh resin. Its thinner this way and not frothed up if you are doing color. This works good with KK because it gets thick quick and if you are not fast its pretty thick when you are trying to get the excess out of the laps. With KK I will wet the laps on one rail and lap and then do the other rail.
Thanks , I think I will try both ways. Thank you guys for your detailed responses… Much appreciated!! I will let you know how it works out for me with the new methods…
That cooler idea is pretty sick… I might have to try that, I go through periods of not glassing too much due to life getting in the way…but then streaks happen of 5 or 6 boards in a 2 month span… I think I might have to fire up a cooler box for those times…
I like the cooler trick. We used to wrap an electric blanket around resin drums. My glassing stand is built on an old beauty shop chair base and it can be raised and lowered with the foot pedal. I also put a light on the wall down low. These two things help my 63 year old eyes and back. Makes cleaning up the laps less of a hassle.
That’s a sick setup. My wife is a hair stylist, I’ll have to steal her chair! I tried heating the resin tonight, hot coated a 6’ 2 fish I built. Using kk…I figured I’d mix 9 oz, with using 6 cc additive f. Flowed nice down the stringer line using a 4 inch brush, but got thick again towards the rails. Still good enough to level itself out and look really smooth, but I don’t remember having this issue with CE. I want to use less resin but realize now it’s better to be a bit heavy. Especially since I’m not in production. But who wants to waste! Stuffs not cheap. Probably my technique! I do like the quick curing times though. Take the good with the bad.
After watching my shaper mates down the road glassing boards for a couple of years I thought that was the only way to do it, the first time I saw someone on UTube pouring oodles of resin over the side of the board to wet the laps I was stunned at the waste, whatever works best for you to get the job done right is good though I guess
I use epoxy and I haven’t tried it yet but I was thinking of painting the rails with resin then setting the laps, epoxy soaks into the cloth a lot easier it seems than poly resin and you don’t need to work it as much. It’s not hard to do the fold up method though, just thought this way might be a bit cleaner/less messy.
I’ve been using 4 inch foam rollers for epoxy hotcoats after seeing it mentioned on here
works very well hardly any goes on the floor and spreads nice and even.
Did a single 4oz over the deck of a buckled board i’m fixing last nite was about ten deg C here heated the
resin buy half filing a container with hit water from the tap then floating another in side
Poured resin and pigment in and by the time they were mixed it had thinned nicely remove from water and add the hardner. Pays to dry the bottom of the container before you go near your board
Not sure what the resin I’m using is exactly has psi ultra clear on the tub also said it was kk on the docket, definitely needed heating as it was like honey before hand
Thanks for the detailed response. I like that alot. Seems straight forward and quick. Strands are the worst. I gues it is just a regular 4 inch soft paint roller??
White cotton four inch. Also have used the little red handle throw aways that Home Depot sells. They are three inch I think. When I use UV I just bury them in a pot of UV resin and put a towel over it for re-use. I don't recomend foam rollers. Might contaminate your lam coat. Sometimes you get a little fiber off a cotton roller, but it just saturates and disappears.
Nobody ever mentions it; but disposable rollers work great. Flip the dry rails up as Cleanlines mentioned and use a roller to wet the rail of the blank, then flip the cloth down and wet it out with the roller. Finish every thing off nice and tight with a plastic squeege. Very simple. Throw the roller away or take the cover off and throw it away and save the handle. I don't use a roller for catalyzed poly but have used a roller both for UV and Epoxy. Fast wet out and fewer strings. I don't friggin' like to even deal with snippin' wet strands/strings. So I usually flip my glass up out of the way and run a roller around the rail before I start pourin'. Then once I start to pour; the glass at the rail will stick to the blank under the rail. It's easy to saturate the rail with the roller. Make sure everything is wet ( using the sqeege and the roller) and then take off the excess with the squeege. Learned this technique from a friend at the "Chicken Ranch" in AG Calif. when we first started playing around with UV. Works good for Epoxy as well.
