Blaster you know what grinds my gears!

[NJrider]

My first mod ever ona ski was the 650sx pump swap in my fx1. Yes, very big mod for a newb but everything worked out great and the ski lasted 3 full seasons afterwards up until I sold it.

But now, im trying to lay glass underneath my blaster due to holes and what not. But for some reason when I mix the resin and hardener, this is like water, and when I first layed glass about 2 weeks ago the is still not hard. I dont know what is going on, I used pumps with the west system so there is no way the mixture is incorrect. can anyone please give me an answer to what the heck is going on here? I miss riding 2 foot surf : (

 

[linden]

Did you use enough hardener it should 1 qt of epoxy resin to 8-10cc mek

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

[chad]

are we to understand that you are using 3 + year old epoxy? maybe its bad??
you are using epoxy and not polyester right ??
and thats what grinds my gears ... back to you Tom.
gotta love family guy

 

[NJrider]

Linden- pumped 5-5 resin and hardener and it didnt seem right while i was mixing so i did add some hardener but not sure if it helped the process..its still moist.


chad- nice catch with the family guy. lol Sorry, no, I was just stating my previous experience with glassing. I am using epoxy. can the stuff go bad??

 

[aramis]

are you sure you're using the right pumps? I seem to remember my West pump kit coming with 3 or 4 pump heads and some tubing adapters, depending on what size cans of resin and epoxy. Maybe you're not getting the right ratio because of that?

Using the pumps has always worked for me. Heck, 5 squirts was way too much in a plastic cup, I couldn't use it fast enough. Because of how fulll the cup was, it heated up within 10 minutes and literally smoked. The cup ended up as a puddle.

 

[chad]

I usually use all mine in the same season , But I am sure it could go bad , Like aramis said , i can usually feel the heat it generates pretty quick .

 

[NJrider]

Now that you mention it, I dont think these pumps are right for these size cans so I think its not mixing it right. I just glassed a small peice the other day and just poured strait into a cup and eye measured it and it worked fine.

 

[WaveDemon]

I used pumps with the west system so there is no way the mixture is incorrect.

pumps are probably the least accurate way to measure resin. I'm not saying that is your problem but don't assume it's mixed correctly.

 

[Lival]

The west pumps suck anyway. Also, make sure you have the one labeled resin and the one labeled hardener in the right can. Not trying to be insulting however, it is an easy mistake as the pump kit has 3 pumps. 2 are hardener and 1 is for resin. If you are over catalyzing the west system it has a tendency to get hot and then just stay mushy. Are you using the slow hardener or the fast one? Also, what is the temp where you are doing the work? That will affect pot time and work time.

 

[D-Roc]

too much hardner will not work the way one would think either. It will actually have not enough resin to harden, if that makes sence.

 

[OCD Solutions]

I switched to mixing using weight earlier this year and have had much better luck since. I pre measure multiple small volume cups of each and have them staged, ready to go. This keeps the cup temps down and lets me do larger jobs with no delays for mixing.

 

[Matt_E]

Meh. I've had great results from measuring via volume cup vs the pumps.

 

[Waternut]

US Composites recommends mixing by volume but that's really difficult and often led to screw ups. I've been using a food scale for a while now and haven't had a problem since. When I get to the bottom of the resin bottles, it actually works out to be about even.

You can try adding heat or putting in the sun for a while in hopes that will make it harden but I've had to bite the bullet before and scrape it all off in the past. It really sucks.