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Thread: help with epoxy

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Aug 2012
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    1

    UN-Waxed cups

    It is absolutely CRITICAL that you use UN-Waxed cups. This was mentioned in another reply but I feel that it did not stress how critical that is. I have quite a bit of experience with different epoxies including FPL-16 and T88 in gluing wood. A friend came to me asking why his Tailwind rib joints were not staying together. The culprit was the WAXED bathroom cups he was mixing in. The epoxy picks up or absorbs the wax and as it cures, forms a very thin film on the wood surface. The Tailwind ribs could be disassembled with very little pressure. The joints came apart with virtually no fiber breakage of the wood. It would have been disasterous if the error had not been found at this early stage. He was sharp enough to realize he had a problem when he broke joints getting a rib out of the jig after a 24 hr cure!

    Epoxy depends on a molecular link to properly cure and achieve the manufacturers design physicals. Therefore it is very important to get the ratio correct. (Polyesters depend on a catalyst action as opposed to the molecular link and are not as critical. A drop of hardener will cure a gallon of Bondo, although very slowly!)

    I cannot find a reference for a ratio by weight for FPL-16. I like the suggestion of the syringes from the Farm Store and plan on checking them out. Good luck with your project!

    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

  2. #12
    I think the easiest way BY FAR is to buy a cheap postal scale, set it to grams, and mix away. You can reuse plastic mixing cups that have hardened epoxy in them by zeroing out the cup each time before adding epoxy. Note that mix ratios are usually stated by volume, not by weight. Here's the way to convert very simply, if the viscosity of the materials are about the same, use the same ratio when weighing. If the hardener is thicker, use less hardener (the manufacturer can give exact ratios, sometime on the label or MSDS.Example: in the 3:1 epoxy I using right now (thick hardener) I pour resin in the cup first---always zero the scale when you place your container on it--if it turns out to be 75 grams, 25 grams of hardener added will work just fine but is actually too much because of the greater viscosity, I use about 22 in this case but if a little extra drips in, it is not an issue.

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