Reduce it with Acetone......... Gives you more work time cause its already hot outside

2sav

Reduce it with Acetone......... Gives you more work time cause its already hot outside

2sav

You can also reduce with MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) and this will buy even more time (evaporates a little slower than acetone) if its a polyester based resin.

The hardener amount sound high, what products are you using, if you dont mind my asking?

My guess is its the Bondo brand , and the hardner sounds about right... I made it in 12 oz batches any smaller and it will take forever......

Also it helps if you have another person to help you out....(wifey)

2sav

Oh yea, the help part and mulitple mixing batches make it alot better 

If it is hot outside, put the resin in the frige for a bit, dont let it get too cool though, the only draw back to doing this is it sometimes cures a little "cloudy" but does buy more time, also if the hardener you got is old it will do exactly what you explained, the peroxide in the hardener starts to breakdown do to being photo (light) sensitive, (ever wonder why rubbing alchohol comes in a clear container and hydrogen peroxide comes in a brown container?) hardener is cheap.......

If the resin "gelled" and stayed that way for a long time before hardening, I would say definately time for more hardener......The Bondo brand stuff has a chemical in it that changes color when the hardener is added, did it change color (like yellow to green, or brown to blue)?

This is why I use the epoxy crap, you change the hardener for the aplication (almost idiot proof)

Good luck!

the help factor ain't gonna happen, she's pregnant and watching the boy, all he wants to do is help and as much as i love him, all i need is a 2yr old runnnig around the garage while i am doing this

it is amazing how fast you can work when you don't know shit about what you are doing or how much time you have , got the first coat on, will let that sit overnight and do a second coat tomorrow night, first pic is before, second pics are after the paint.

That is turning out really nice!

I like it!

Reduce it with Acetone......... Gives you more work time cause its already hot outside

2sav

2sav,  Acetone is for cleaning up, you add Styrene for thinning and work time lengthening.  NO MORE THAN 10% to 20%, and I would say 10% max.    Greg

 Once again, i call BULLSHIT........ read a can of Acetone.

Yes it does work well for cleaning

2sav

OK, so the can says thinner but that is the wrong product to use with polyester resin.  I don't care what the can says.  If you want the resin thinned for flow and penetration you use STYRENE MONOMER Polyester Resin Thinner.      I get it at Tap Plastics and it's not cheap.

Well acetone is cheap and that's why I use it..... and it works 

Don't tell him that, you have to be politically correct to fiberglass shit and use the expensive shit

2sav

Honestly I mix resent just by eye most of the time, depending on how hot it is etc.... but I've been working with fiberglass for a while

try      http://www.sunrez.com/        we use their products here at my company. its uv cured resin. if your indoors/garage you have an infinate work time. once uv rays hit it(the sun or special lights) it cures in about 45 seconds. doesnt matter if irs 120 in az or -10 in alaska, this stuff works!!!

that would be awesome...I will have to look into it!