Cooling West System

[Guest]

It's freaking hot and in the boat shed it's frecking hotter. Tapeing some bits and finding the West is going off way fast even using slow hardener, super shallow trays and mixing in only 2 to 3 pump batches.

 

I'm thinking possibly knot but anyone have any idea what would happen if I kept the resin and hardener in a fridge?

 

Just thinking that extra few degrees lower may give me a few more minutes working time. But is that a viable idea?

 

Just using standard West 105 (??), knot ATR's or anything gucci.

 

Any other ideas or tips anyone has would be appreciated.

[wheels 543]

Yes keep it in the fridge, but ensure the tops are screwed on so as you don't get moisture in the containers.

Another way you can do it is to float the mixed up stuff (obviously it's in a container, like an icecream container if you have one or two ) in a slightly larger container of cold water. Water that has been cooled down in the fridge is even better. Make sure you spread the mix out as much as you can. A metal baking tray that has low sides is great fro spreading out a mix. But hard to float and you have to thoroughly clean the tray after each mix to keep reusing the tray.

[Guest]

Air condition the shed?

[Guest]

I believe any recently cured resin in the new lot will help accelerate the process.

[wheels 543]

With Epoxy, only heat speeds up the process. With Polyester, it is a catalytic process and any "curing" polyester mixed with fresh new stuff will cause an even faster reaction.

[Guest]

I'm all empathy here KM, I hate the sh*t.

[Guest]

Sweet, a chillin we'll go. Already been out there this am and it's gonna be nasty today that's for sure. But it's OK as I got the last tapes on this morning so no more resin today. Off to rescue a 67 yo 18fter, we had a bad trailer day last week in Mahurangi and get new stove for boat.

 

Love to Mr X but it's a shrinkwrap so knot that insulated.

Must say I'm pretty damn impressed with the shrink shite.

 

I quite like it sorry Bbay. That with some timber and you can have some fun. Just an arse when doing small tricky stuff when it's way hot.

[chic014 0]

West do an extra slow hardener. 209 i think it is. Be careful as its a different mix ratio. 100:35 i think. Adhesive technologies stock it.

 

Water bath will also help your cause

[sow1ld 2]

Fill up the sink with cold water and sit th resin+ hardener in the water for a hour or so. They try and float so find away to push them down. That should solve ur problem.

[Guest]

Had to tweak a few things yesterday arvo and sat the resin in a tray of cold water with some ice cubes. Worked well and gave me those few extra minutes to get it down and sucked down nicely. Looking good this morning and it's easy to see which panel went off a bit slower leading to a bit tidier finish leading to less sanding..Oh Yeah

 

Thanks fellas.

 

Ok nice picture of the house, but wheres the boat shed?

Mancave left, white shrinkwrapped contains the boat, you can see it's arse. Far right is D1's micro-eco-dwelling.

[wheels 543]

I had to do the opposite today. I needed some mixed filler to set fast so I could then machine it in a Lathe. So once it had kicked off and was getting firm'ish, I dropped the thing I was working on in real hot water and left it an hr. Hard as a Rock and Machined up beautifully.