Larry, Last week there was a mention on the KRnet of using alcohol to thin micro slurry. I have never done that; did not occur to me. However, with that thought in mind, I tried using Epoxy Reducer. I just happened to have some left over from trying to get the Smooth Prime to work. While we are here: Smooth Prime may work for fabric finishing, but it is expensive and I finally had to abandon that for micro slurry and get on with finishing my KR-2. Epoxy Reducer E-500 is produced by Poly Fiber and available from Aircraft Spruce. It contains Toluene, Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), and Methyl Isobutyl Ketone (MIK). The label is not kidding when it says to have ventilation. Lots of fumes here. To make the micro slurry, I mixed the West System resin and 206 hardener, then added micro, mixed and added more micro until the ball was like bread dough. I could pick the whole ball up out of the cup with the stirring stick. Then I added a few drops of Epoxy Reducer, mixed that, added a few more drops and mixed. (Here is where a West System pump in the Reducer gallon can really comes in handy.) Kept adding a few drops at a time until the mixture was like warm cake icing out of a can. Spreads on great. Need lots of ventilation due to the Toluene, MEK and MIK in the Reducer. After 24 hour cure at 68 degrees F, the micro with Epoxy Reducer sands very easily. Some of the cowl was done with just micro and epoxy; the extra epoxy in the mix makes for a much more difficult time for sanding. The extra epoxy tends to gum up and clog the sandpaper, especially with a power sander.
Bottom line: Highly recommend getting all the micro balloons in the epoxy that it can hold; then getting the ball to flow with Epoxy Reducer. Thin the slurry to your spreading comfort level. The Epoxy Reducer evaporates quickly and completely leaving the epoxy intact. Spread the slurry quickly. On top, you can pour it on and let gravity level it. On sides and bottom, gravity is not your friend; so you need a thicker slurry with less Reducer. A rotisserie would be handy for this application. Sid Wood Tri-gear KR-2 N6242 Mechanicsville, MD, USA > ------------------------------ > Sid, do you use alcohol in your micro slurry? Does that sand fairly > easily? > Thanks, Larry Bell >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Here is a picture of the new cowl for my tri-gear KR-2 with fresh >> fiberglass, micro slurry and air inlets. >> https://s3.amazonaws.com/expercraft/sidwood/158194715052ca11c154220.jpg >> >> Bernie Wunder provided lots of help above and beyond laying up fiberglass >> for this project. Thank you Bernie. >> >> Next up is sanding, cutting and fitting. >> >> Sid Wood >> >>
