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Thread: help with epoxy

  1. #1

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    help with epoxy

    Hi! I am working on the wooden ribs for my Baby Great Lakes project. The pieces are glues together with FPL-16A Hughes Glue which is an epoxy that mixes 10:1 by volume. Does anybody have any exerience with this type of epoxy? Any hints? Most important however, anybody have any suggestions/tips on how to mix small batches of epoxy in a 10:1 ratio? Thanks

  2. #2
    FlyingRon's Avatar
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    You can get small graduated plastic cups (I get them at West Marine) for the resin and nyquil cups. West System also sells some nice plastic popsicle sticks which are round on one end and square on the other that are real handy for a number of reasons. For the actual mixing, I tend to use greek yogurt containers that my wife retains from her lunches, etc...

  3. #3

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    Forest Products Laboratory -16 glue has been around since the '60's. Good stuff for gluing wood together. I think they changed the formula slightly with -16A version to get rid of toxic components.

    I woud just use non waxed paper cups like Dixie brand. Put 10 units in a cup, mark it with a sharpie and measure it with a ruler. Mark other cups based on that measurement. Same for the 1 unit cups. When mixing glue, pour the smaller volume into the larger. Wet out the cup before starting. That will give you plenty of accuracy and you can just pour directly into the cups. When you make small batches it's difficult to keep the ratio accurate so try to avoid 10 drops to 1 or something like that.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pacer90A View Post
    Hi! I am working on the wooden ribs for my Baby Great Lakes project. The pieces are glues together with FPL-16A Hughes Glue which is an epoxy that mixes 10:1 by volume. Does anybody have any exerience with this type of epoxy? Any hints? Most important however, anybody have any suggestions/tips on how to mix small batches of epoxy in a 10:1 ratio? Thanks
    Does the product have a "mix by weight" ratio? I'm more comfortable with that and have a set of cheap balance beam scales to ratio epoxy. I believe that is a more reliable process for me than mixing by volume.

  5. #5

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    Go to your local farm store, they have syringes graduated in any amount you like.

  6. #6

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    For what its worth, your local auto paint store has clear plastic mixing cups that have ratios marked on them. Some paint is mixed 3:1 paint to hardener, some 6:1, etc. Its all printed on the side of the cup so you put paint in up to the 1 line, then add catalyst up to the next line, etc. As idiot proof as they can make it.

    That said, using West System with the pumps that just provide the right ratios is about as easy as it gets.

    Best of luck,

    Wes
    N78PS

  7. #7

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    I didn't like the West System pumps. Seems they get air in and it takes a few pumps to get a full shot.

    Instead, I pour a line of resin on sheet of cardboard 5 inches long and a line of hardener 1 inch long next to it and mix it up.
    (West System is 5 to 1)
    Last edited by Bill Berson; 08-12-2012 at 04:44 PM. Reason: clarify

  8. #8

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    Thanks for all the good advice. When you say "wet out the cups" what does that mean?Thanks again.

  9. #9
    Aaron Novak's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WLIU View Post
    For what its worth, your local auto paint store has clear plastic mixing cups that have ratios marked on them. Some paint is mixed 3:1 paint to hardener, some 6:1, etc. Its all printed on the side of the cup so you put paint in up to the 1 line, then add catalyst up to the next line, etc. As idiot proof as they can make it.

    That said, using West System with the pumps that just provide the right ratios is about as easy as it gets.

    Best of luck,

    Wes
    N78PS
    Wes,
    We have had a lot of issues with the West pumps, mostly from a limiting collar on the resin pump that shifts. Since then we have gone to the measure by weight system. Just too risky using the pumps as you never know if it has dispensed correctly until its too late.

  10. #10

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    I built a small scale for weighing epoxy. It works just fine for 1:1 or 2:1 but it might need a little calibration for 16:1 use.

    I started with a straight piece of wood about 1 x 1/4 x 18 inches. I cut a groove across the wood (in the center) and glued in a piece of wire to act as a pivot point (fulcrum?). Then I measured out points on either side of the pivot (on the other side) to reflect positions to place little waxed paper cups from the grocery store. Each point becomes a line drawn across the board. If you want 2:1 you place two cups - one on the left and the other on the right twice as far from the pivot point. Start with the material you need more of (resin?) and pour the amount you want in the cup closer to the pivot. Place the other cup on the position further along the board according to the ratio you want. Dribble in the material (hardener?) until the board moves from one side to the other. I do this on a piece of waxed paper on my bench, but I don't think I have ever had a spill of these small amounts of stuff.

    This might not work as well for 16 to 1 because the weight of a single cup might be significant. Perhaps you can calibrate it by using known weight samples in sample cups (for example a single an-365 nut against 16 of the same size nut) to find the proper position for the cup nearly 16 times as far from the pivot.

    I never reuse the cups. They are easy and cheap to replace at the grocery store. The kind I use are intended for bathroom drink cup dispensers.

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