The Epoxy Thread

[Core Shot]

Had been using orange hardman.

Now I’m a convert to G Flex.

Mostly since it’s easy to buy at the west marine. But I like it. Slow cure. Flexible.

It’s perfect for any ski repair.

[climberevan]

Pro tip: for really small projects you can weigh the parts with your handy .1g resolution coffee scale. Sometimes you only need 2 grams total. No waste that way.

[XXX-er]

Up here its systemthree that seems to be around building supply stores

If I was building a boat i would be using large amounts and it would be mission critical to get it absolutely right but we arent building a boat

So to mix some up to stuff into a ski i put a like-sized dolop of each on a piece of cardboard and mix it up with a tooth pick to meld for 5 minutes,

Yes i could be a waste but I'm never gona use the whole bottle anyhow

my kid will probably inherit the roach of that bottle

[rfconroy]

Pro tip: for really small projects you can weigh the parts with your handy .1g resolution coffee scale. Sometimes you only need 2 grams total. No waste that way.

"coffee scale"

[tgapp]

"coffee scale"

I call my coffee scale my drug scale. It's backlit, for all of those times I need to make coffee in a poorly lit parking lot.

This is the exact one I have:

AMIR Digital Kitchen Scale, 3000g 0.01oz/ 0.1g Pocket Cooking Scale, Mini Food Scale, Pro Electronic Jewelry Scale with Back-Lit LCD Display, Tare & PCS Functions, Stainless Steel, Batteries Included https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DGEWHN4...2TM8KYS9WZ5QJ0

It's been going strong for 6+years, and I've spilled plenty of drugs on it.

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[CHAIR_97]

Shout out Rfconroy for the awesome sidewall repair

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[halliday]

www.theepoxysource

Ive been buying my epoxy (Hardman Orange pack) from these guys. Great selection and free shipping if you buy the 10 pack. I think its .70 cents cheaper per pack vs the other known online suppliers.

[singlesline]

Pro tip: for really small projects you can weigh the parts with your handy .1g resolution coffee scale. Sometimes you only need 2 grams total. No waste that way.

yeah, I regularly mix 2 grams of gflex in the base of an upside down beer can. Perfect size and shape for mixing small quantities--no tight corners like those little plastic mixing cups.

but the coffee scale is mandatory as it is hard to eyeball volumes that small. Mine actually reads .01g

edit: but check the data sheets for mixing by weight. G/flex is 1:1 by volume but 1.2:1 by weight (resin to hardener). 105/209 combo is 3:1 by volume but 3.68:1 by weight. Acceptable range is 3.3:1 to 4.03:1 so if you were to mix 3:1 by weight you'd be well out of spec.

[XXX-er]

those little packets look handy but arent they all 5 min epoxy and don't we want slow set ?

we used to get these little packets of quik-set from the parts dept with no logo that always reminded me of a condom, to use just push the pack in with yer thumbs mixes the 2 parts togeteher and rip the celo cover off to use

[halliday]

The orange packs are 72 hour set.

[fleaches]

edit: but check the data sheets for mixing by weight. G/flex is 1:1 by volume but 1.2:1 by weight (resin to hardener). 105/209 combo is 3:1 by volume but 3.68:1 by weight. Acceptable range is 3.3:1 to 4.03:1 so if you were to mix 3:1 by weight you'd be well out of spec.

Thanks I actually didn't know that about gflex!


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[tang]

I have an epoxy-ish question, figured I tag on here...
So I cracked my Maestrales finally - after 3+ years of resort and bc use. I have a spare pair, but figured I'd try some fix, at least for the fun of it.
First, I drilled the end of the crack (see pic) which seems best practice to stop the bleeding.
Next was going to sand both inside and out, then saturate some fiberglass mat I have (fibers going every which way) with some poly resin, and then put 1-2 of those strips straddling the edge and hopefully adhering to both the inside and outside. From a little research, poly resin seems best with the mat, especially working around an odd shape like this. Versus say g-flex.
Any better ideas?
Again, this is more a hail mary. Thx for any thoughts or better ideas...

[tenB]

I like the hail mary attempt here. Could last 100 days, might last 100 seconds, either way kudos on the attempt. You might want to try some gflex 655 on the inside of the boot inside the crack. 655 has a thickener and is exceptionally strong and useful for fixing cracks and breaks. It’s most likely stronger than the plastic.

The key areas are both ends of the crack and you could use a toothpick to build up a thicker smear at both ends. Compressing the crack even slightly while the resin cures makes a big difference in the strength of the repair. A tie down strap with minimal engineering to add some forward pressure should do it.

I’ve used gflex 655 on marine fiberglass, plastic, ski delams and teak and the repairs have never failed, unbelievable stuff.

[tang]

^^^ Excellent. Maybe I go gflex on the crack first per your rec, let it cure, then do the fiberglass mat + resin layer over the top. Double up. Thx much

[tuco]

Not sure what you mean by resin, but your first post says poly, which leads me to believe you're talking polyester resin. Polyester and epoxy are not the same. Do not use polyester on ski shit.

[tang]

Well, let me clarify, from what I understand. The fiberglass mat needs poly resin to break it down and saturate it, and make it pliable strips that will then harden up. It doesnt work with epoxy.
So first step, I was gonna go epoxy 655 in and over the crack, and cure. Then next step, layer a strip of the poly resin activated fb mat over it, to bridge the area. Its like a marine/boat application (hull holes), with a hardener you mix in.
But again, I'm open ears if something in that sounds outright bad on a pair of boots. I do imagine I'd need to rough it up some to make sure it sufficiently adheres.
Success here would be 1) just seeing if it works for future repairs and 2) extending these to act as beater boots for late spring days with lots of rock walking and the like. We'll see.
Thx again

[Westcoaster]

Well, let me clarify, from what I understand. The fiberglass mat needs poly resin to break it down and saturate it, and make it pliable strips that will then harden up. It doesnt work with epoxy.
So first step, I was gonna go epoxy 655 in and over the crack, and cure. Then next step, layer a strip of the poly resin activated fb mat over it, to bridge the area. Its like a marine/boat application (hull holes), with a hardener you mix in.
But again, I'm open ears if something in that sounds outright bad on a pair of boots. I do imagine I'd need to rough it up some to make sure it sufficiently adheres.
Success here would be 1) just seeing if it works for future repairs and 2) extending these to act as beater boots for late spring days with lots of rock walking and the like. We'll see.
Thx again

I don't think glassing a boot will be very successful. The boot flex will break the mechanical epoxy bond to the scaffo very quickly. Gflex creates reasonably flexible laminates though, but perhaps riveting + glassing would work better.

A light twill or weave would be the right glass, csm has the binder issue with epoxy, but plenty of csm is compatible with epoxy these days. Regardless there's no point in using csm on a boot. Don't mix polyester resin with epoxy.

[tang]

Duly noted, thanks both. I'll prob just try to gflex route then and see if it survives a single run, a day, or multi days

[Core Shot]

Yeah. What they said.

The only way to fix plastic is with a welder

My brother fixed a poly kayak with a blowtorch and a scrap of plastic. YouTube for the win.

[XXX-er]

back in the day ^^ I've heard of borrowing the road cones, lighting them up and dripping the plastic into cracked WW kayaks & canoes

I have used 2 part epoxy & FG mat on a thule and it worked fine until someone stole the Box and the car it was attached to

I really don''t think trying to stick a maestrale back together is gona work for very long I think its a humpty dumpty repair

[tuco]

Ive been wondering about a friction weld for this, but plunging soldering iron method to fuse the crack back together the full depth would probably work best.
Grilamid is weldable

[tuco]

This technique. Cut in to the 7min. mark

[Dkla52]

I recently destroyed the existing holes for the Rossi FKS binding while trying to install holi coil for binding freedom inserts. I haven't used epoxy to fill in holes to re-deill them in almost 10 years. From what I remember West Systems has been the best in the game. Now the question is should i use G-Flex 650 epoxy or Six10 Thickened epoxy or something else? From what I'm reading it sounds like Six10 is better but I thought I get someone else's input who knows way more than I do about epoxies

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[sb]

G-flex is West systems.

Who is six10?

[Dkla52]

https://www.westsystem.com/specialty...poxy-adhesive/

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