What are your comparisons of supersap clr and FGH aluzine?
I am about to run out of epoxy and would like advice on what to get next. I used super sap clr fast for the last 7.5 gallons. I live on big island so FGH is my go to so far. Do I have any other options?
The super sap took up to 6 hours to flip, milks on me sometimes, never gets to hot(can have in cup for 30-40+ min,)seems to be ok strong. It cost about the same as aluzine. Is super sap less toxic?
I used aluzine with a friend and it was FAST. It can get HOT! It seems strong. Is aluzine more toxic? What is the difference in flip time in the slow and fast? Thanks, Clinton
I’m back on Hawaii-nei and about to purchase some supplies.
Peter from the Surfboard Factory on Wahiawa (and town) was willing to sell me an epoxy kit consisting for a formula from Endurance Technologies. But I don’t have any feedback with its application.
I’m also considering FBH’s Aluzine and will check again with them if they plan to stock RR’s Ultra formula. But late last year I checked with FBH regarding RR, and they did have some in stock but they priced their Aluzine formula better.
Note, although I do have experience working with the West System epoxy building spearguns, I don’t have any experience with surfboard epoxies and can’t comment in this regards. My interest is in finding a formula with good cure times in the temp/humidity where we’re at - East Hawaii. And still provide decent modulas/adhesion while allowing allow wood art to show. Hoping it’s not a lot to ask for…
The FBH Aluzine is good stuff. The trick is to get it out of your bucket quickly. Once its on the board it will take a while to dry. The epoxy from Peter at the Factory is also good stuff and cheaper too.
I have always used RR. I now use RR Quick Kick with optical brightners and love it. I have dabbled with Green Room and liked it as well but I was used to RR and went back to it. Acqua Glassing (here on Sways) is a strong proponent of Green Room West Coast Fast for his production use. But for me as a garage guy, RR is almost too fast in Florida heat (80 to 95 degrees) and I have to be speedy. But I really like the way RR handles in the B stage and how I can come back and stick an errant tab of glass 10 to 15 minutes after I have finished the lam. And a few other things I have come to apprecitate with RR. But do use one of the high end surfboard specific epoxies. Don’t worry about a few dollars in price one way or another. It works out to pennies per board and besides, if you are skilled, you are losing only a few drips over the edge to the tray anyway. Literally.
Do any of these recent epoxies stay white for any length of time? I abandoned epoxy a few years back and one of the many reasons was the boards turning amber within 6 months.
Usually turning amber quickly is caused by either not mixing thoroughly or over-working the resin (the latter on laps, most cases). Or using epoxies that aren’t designed for UV exposure, but I’m assuming you were using surfboard-specific epoxies.
Mixing is very different from poly - we use power mixer to get it done quickly and thoroughly. And of course don’t scrape sides of container, etc. but you probably already knew that.
The Resin Research epoxies we use stay clear for years, we’ve got the boards out there to prove it…
Sure, Mark. The material on the sides of container is never going to be completely mixed, unless you somehow got in there and scraped all the sides during the mix.
Much better to be sure that everything that goes into product is mixed well, it’s false economy to try to use every drop of glue and then have it create problems down the road.
We don’t use very much resin, so the “waste” is less than what most people are doing anyway.
Mike I have had good results by scaping the sides of the resin bucket with my sharp edged stir stick four times during mixing and each time scraping the stir stick back into the bucket (all four edges of the stick). My stir stick has a flat tip for doing the same on the bottom of the bucket. When I pour onto the blank I scap the sides to get every last drop. I also recently measured the drips onto the tray and found less than an oz wasted. I watched GL and Sam do it enough to understand how to be efficient and frugle.
We’ve all read those posts where there are soft spots, spots that ate gummy, spots that yellow or discolored.
Spots that have unexplained fisheyes zits, and the like.
All can be explained by unmixed epoxy.
If you want to see real clearly, try hand mixing some dark tint into white paint. Pour out the can, and then scrape the sides. Unless mechanically mixed for longer than the minute most guys take, there is always some white or lighter colored paint on the side and corners. There is a reason the guys in the paint store mix even a quart for five minutes with a mechanical mixer.
Maybe you are saving the job by squeegee mixing once poured out, maybe lucky, but the tip of the day just came from Mike.
What’s all this talk about speed all of a sudden. Kwik Kick is still faster than any of them. We still sell more 2000/2100 to the US market because KK is too fast for most. When your in production and finish a rack of 4 boards and you can sand the first one, that’s what you want. We’ve had that for 8 years.
I work for a factory that make hi tech composits parts, they use a mechanical mixer and they manualy scrap side of buckets too. Then they use all the mix that come out of those buckets. I do the same, about 150 boards with différent brand of resin and i never have curing problems.
At 25°c and more Green stage of KK is really short.
Uv yellowing is still a problem of polymère but high quality specific epoxy like most of those sold for Surfboards are better know. Automotive uv protect varnish are expensive but really effective against yellowing.