I guess we must be getting glass resin and hardener from the Chi-coms now. The shit dont work anymore for me. I've got one hell of a mess under the dash of my model A. After 3 attempts of laying in a 5"x8" piece, i'll have to forget it, acetone what i can get off and never touch the crap again. For fun, i mixed half and half resin/ catalyst...didn't even warm up much less blow up. I bet home depot and advance auto have never gotten a fiberglass return like there gonna get tomorrow. I'll spread this shit all over their store ;(
Fiberglass and metal dont work well together anyway. The best place to get good glass and resin is from a boat manufacture, or marine repair shop.
How all is your Products ? Hardener (MEK )has a shelf like of three years, and will go bad in direct sunlight. Resin bought from auto parts store's does not sell very fast at all. it can sit on shelf for years, from the date of manufacture. It will seprate, and jell. If you have a boat repair shop near you, just get some new Resin, and mek. Store everything in a cool dark place. Normally shelf is not a problem as the industal world, as it is sued before it becomes a problem.
no no. it's always the suppliers fault. I say burn down home depot and boycot advance auto. stone the employees just for good measure. Russ
Crow has the right idea!! *~* Shelf life is the problem, i went through the rack of catalyst and 2008 was the best they had. 2009 for the resin. NAPA had the same thing. Advance auto and Home Depot too. My 50/50 mix started to kick after 2 hours. Most people would have an explosion or fire after 2 minutes. It used to self ignite, didn't it? And let off a smoky gas. Mix too much catalyst and you couldn't hold it for the heat...
i've had old products go bad, it's not something i use that often so i try to buy what i need for each job. as said it was probably old stock.
it's not the same, they took the isocyanites out of the resin, but it should still set, never really had a problem. if you mix it and it won't set right off, use a heat gun, but don't overheat it, once it kicks the rest of it will kick. i've never heard of it catching fire, if you use the proper amount of hardner it will be fine
I have run into that problem myself. Part of the surface hardens, and part of stayed tacky. Sort of strange because I made damn sure to mix it well. I ended up coating with a second layer, and everything went well. I got mine feom a hardware store, and God only knows how long it's been sitting on their shelf. But I have noticed that if I use it in a confined area, I have better luck with it. In my case I filled the front floor supports on my OT 83 C10. I had replaced them twice and they were rusting out again. Three years later and they are still rock solid.
I have never ran into this problem with Fiberglass and i have used it many times ,mainly to fix small unused holes in firewalls .I always mix it as the instructions say ,so many drops of activator per ounces of resin.I have always used the cheap bondo brand of glass though ,even though i wont use their body fillers .No heat lamps ,but i use it in warm weather and make sure to mix the Hell out of it before i put the cloth in...
Got a good friend that works for one of the companies that manufacturer the resins that everybody uses in their products. The shelf life of the resin is one year. Should be able to determine from the date codes on the bottom of the can, although I noticed that the resin sold here in Canada by Canadian Tire doesn't have any codes at all. Got the following information from Evercoat (ie: Evercoat Rage) regarding their resins: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> The warranty on our products is one year from the manufactured date. The code would be on the bottom, 6 digits. First digit is the year, second & third digit is the month, last three is our internal number. Example 809112<o></o> 8 2008<o></o> 09 September<o></o> 112 internal number<o></o> Thank you for your interest in Fibre Glass-Evercoat products.<o></o> <o> </o> <o>Canuck</o>
The resin you buy at [x-mart] is generally of very low quality, even when it's freash. for any real "project" I buy a new can from here: http://www.uscomposites.com/ Always freash and they have a wide variety of cloths and resins to suit the needs of your particular project + great on-line service. Glad you've decided not to burn down Home Depot, cause I need some 2x4s to fix the fence. those are generally of serviceable quality there. Russ
Auto refinishing jobber for auto body refinishing products. Period. And beware of those great online deals for the same products you can get from your local jobber. And OldCrow, I am gonna disagree with ya about finding "serviceable" lumber at the big orange box, or any of the other colored boxes, at least around here. I get so tired of having to cull through 30-40 2x4's just to find a few that are straight, not twisted, and not full of knots. I'll pay the little extra per board at the local lumber company.
our local "auto refinishing jobber" has the same brand of junk resin found at Home Depot, so...... no thanks. Our local Orange Box store will have more knots and twists also, but the fact that they LET you cull through the pile is worth it to me. At the lumber yard you get the pieces on the top of the stack and that's that. must be site specific. Russ
Why didnt you cheat ,Apply a thin coat of bondo on front of matting and stick in place ,Let dry then soak in the resin ,Let dry for a day and then just coat over ,with filler or fiberglass of your choice ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Want to chime in on the lumber reply ,If you notice the racks all twist towards the back a little Thats why the lumber gets twisted ,When they start to dryout they follow the path of least resistance.........
Any more than 2 % catalyst by weight is wasting it its a catalyst not a hardner just an innitiator, the time for the resin to go hard is mixed into the resin not the catylist. The most expensive part of the resins are the chems to make it go hard faster (cobalt and DMA) called promoters, your buying your products from the cheapest place you can find it they are going to try to cut corners anywhere they can, connect the dots. You should always atleast do a test sample before doing a project to determin what promoters have been used. Putting a heat lamp on it should help if its cold out.I have even microwaved resin to make it go faster. The thinner the layer the longer it will take for it to go hard it has to do with mass and heat generation. If your bonding to metal epoxy is a better choice the shrinkage is less when it goes hard and its not as brittle these properies allow it to bond to metal better. Sorry to hear you have a sticky mess best to scrape or grind it off and start over there is no way to trust whats on there already. Paul
Cozee, the hamb is a very large forum. perhaps if you keep looking you'll find a subject you know something about. this obviously isn't it. US Composites, the company which I suggested, is a very reputable supplier of all types of composite materials, wile many "local jobbers" cary the same product as found in X mart. Russ
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