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Old 12-16-2005 | 08:23 AM
  #29  
da Rock
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From: Near Pfafftown NC
Default RE: Glass Cloth over Silkspan?

Both of my LHSs have West Systems products for sale. They both have what looks like the complete line. It appears to be products selected for marketing to our slightly narrow requirements. Or maybe it's better to say that they're offering a simpler set of components.

Their selection and sizes look like West Systems was fairly sensible and made good choices for what to sell. I've not used any of their stuff yet so can't comment on how it works, but their pump dispensers do look like a very good idea for anyone who builds year round. They also have a couple of brochures that provide some good info on what they're selling and how to use it. I didn't see any glass cloth or any other cloth for sale in their displays. I'm just guessing that they only market the resins.

....and a bit of hint/discussion/thoughts....... Someone mentioned that they thought the silkspan would sag from the chemicals in the resins. Mine didn't but I used epoxy. Polyester stinks because of the very strong chemicals in it, some of which are solvents. I'm not altogether positive that epoxy is free of solvents, but it appears to me to be just two components without solvents.

Also.... I used HobbyPoxyII because it had the longest pot life I could find. I wanted to brush it on, and thinning epoxy with alcohol weakens it measurably. I also thought the alcohol might hurt the silkspan's tightness. Slightly heating the resin does a great thinning job but shortens the pot life, so I used a long pot life epoxy.

Also.... Almost all of the strength of a layup comes from the cloth being locked by the resin. Almost all of the weight of the layup comes from the resin. So a "dry" layup is preferred. But I wanted light (which suggested light cloth) and dry and had no idea how strong the silkspan was going to remain while applying the epoxy. One technique to get lightness is to blot off the resin until the layup looks somewhat dry. Blotting over the silkspan that was over the holes was scary at first. If you find a very bulky, thick, soft toilet paper and use it to blot, it works great. Don't unroll it. Blot with the intact roll. Gently press and lift. Pull off the saturated layer and you got a "dry sponge" again. It takes a touch, but what do we do in building our models that doesn't?

Also.... People often layer to achieve their desired strength goals. If you let each layer cure to hard, you're "making plywood". If you schedule your layering so that each next layer goes onto the previous after it's kicked, but before it's hardened, you will be creating one solid layer from bottom to top. But, hey, plywood is strong too, even if under some conditions it delaminates.

I hope your testing works and look forward to reading about your results.