Epoxy reducer sounds good, Sid. Thanks, Larry
On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 1:43 PM, smwood <smwood at md.metrocast.net> wrote: > 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 >>> >> >>> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. > To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to KRnet-leave at list.krnet.org > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html > see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change > options >
