Vac-Cast Epoxy resin ........ what have I bought !?

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Vac-Cast Epoxy resin ........ what have I bought !?

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TURK	TURK posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 101, Visits: 662	Hi all, I really need an answer on this guys ........... will pattern coat primer stick to wood ? just waiting for an answer to begin mixing and pouring ! If I 'block-out' the underside of the resin mold with wood to save on resin, will I be able to remove the wood block once the resin has cured ? Also, the pattern-coat primer and hardener is a 100:6 mix ratio - what does that mean ? Say I need 1904 grams of resin, how much hardener would I use ? Thank you TURK
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TURK	TURK posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 101, Visits: 662	How do I make contact with the administrators of this site ......... the guys in the know ! as in Matt, as he did mention a few posts back that he could help me once I got to the molding stage. His Message box is full, and there seems to be no other way of contact ? This place is called 'Talk Composites' ......... but there doesn't seems to be an awful lot of talking going on !? Really stuck here guys, need help. TURK
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Matt (Staff)	Matt (Staff) posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 680, Visits: 1.9K	Hi TURK, Sorry for the delay in getting back to you but I won't always be the quickest to respond to technical support issues due to the daily routines of running the business. Our technical support guys can be emailed directly on technical@easycomposites.co.uk and they will always get right back to you. In response to your questions; will pattern coat primer stick to wood ? Yes, Pattern Coat Primer will definitely stick to wood. Pattern Coat Primer is, essentially, a polyester resin. If you have any experience of polyester resins then you'll know that they will soak into and bond well to wood, Pattern Coat Primer is no different. However, looking at your post, I'm not sure that you actually mean Pattern Coat Primer. I think you might mean the Vac Cast Epoxy Casting Resin; this is a totally different product although the answer would be the same because Vac Cast is an epoxy and epoxy also sticks to wood. If I 'block-out' the underside of the resin mold with wood to save on resin, will I be able to remove the wood block once the resin has cured ? Yes, as mentioned above, the epoxy resin of Vac Cast would also stick to wood. To prevent the Vac Cast from bonding to the wood you could go for a basic (but fairly reliable) method of wrapping the wood with brown parcel tape. This type of tape is usually polypropylene and if it is then the epoxy won't stick to it. You can test a small area first to make sure. If you want a more professional approach then you could wrap the wood in Unperforated ETFE Release Film which the resin certainly won't stick to. Also, the pattern-coat primer and hardener is a 100:6 mix ratio - what does that mean ? Again, I'll assume you mean Vac Cast (not Pattern Coat Primer which uses MEKP as a catalyst at a mix ratio of 2%).... A mix ratio of 100:6 means 100 parts (by weight) of the Vac Cast resin should be mixed with 6 parts (by weight) of the Vac Cast hardener. Put simply, for every 100g of resin you need 6g of hardener. Say I need 1904 grams of resin, how much hardener would I use ? If you had 1904g of resin then you know you need 6g of hardener for every 100g of resin so 1904/100=19.04; 19.04 x 6 = 114.24g of hardener (or just calculate 1904*0.06). I hope this helps and, once again, sorry I didn't get back to you right away. It would be great if I could always do this Matt Matt Statham Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales Tags casting mould vac cast vac forming
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TURK	TURK posted 8 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 101, Visits: 662	Hi Matt, Apologies if the last posts sounded a little sarcastic or even rude, wasn't my intention ........ just getting a little frustrated that's all. Many, many thanks for all the your answers, they've answered all my queries, and some. And I'm also an idiot ! ......... but you picked-up on that, as I did mean 'Vac-Cast Epoxy Resin' ! Actually, it's good news that the epoxy resin sticks to wood. I'll try and explain what I mean by that, and maybe it'll help other people out when constructing mould boxes. Originally my idea was to construct a mould box, like any mould box, giving me adequate space between my plug and the mould box sides, 18mm is what I had, as in the photo on the previous page. But then I had a better idea ........ what if I reduced the mold box size giving me a 9mm thickness to my resin mould, but leave the wooden sides on the mould. So I chose to make the mould box sides out of 9mm MDF, this stills give a mould with 18mm thick walls, strong enough to withstand most day to day handling and a vacuum forming machine. As the epoxy resin will stick to the wood I won't treat the sides with a release agent for better adhesion to the MDF. The base of the mould I chose to use 15mm melamine, and will be waxed and treated with mould release. As the base of the mould box definitely needs to release as it's in effect the top of my mould when I release it, and flip it over. The final 'tooling' mould I end up with should be a female mould. I'll just have to drill some holes in the bottom of it for vacuum release. Many thanks for clearing up the mixing ratios, I did do a little research on that but just needed confirmation. I'm pretty knew in this game and it's a steep learning curve, mistakes can be costly ! The reason why I need to know very accurately just how much resin and catalyst I'll be needing is, I live in France and don't think you can ship more Vac-Cast Resin to me as the catalyst is corrosive. With only one 5Kg bucket I may just have enough to complete my moulds. Anyway, thanks Matt. PS; thanks for the link ....... no doubt that will come in handy someday ; ) TURK
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fgayford	fgayford posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 433, Visits: 1.2K	TURK (20/01/2016) Hi folks, As per the thread title ........ I'm not sure if what I have bought from EC will be fine for what I am trying to accomplish. I purchased some 'Vac-Cast' Epoxy casting resin as I read it was ideal for a tooling plug as it was an aluminium filled epoxy casting resin resistant to heat. I've searched on the forum on how to use it ( and on YouTube ), but can't find anybody that has used it ! I did find however, many casting tutorials on the net but they were for liquid Latex and others. Am I to assume it's exactly the same procedure ? I have also read some of the tutorials on here, but the guide very quickly deviates to mould construction for the use of vacuum infusion for carbon fibre parts. I simply need to pour the mixture into a vacuum formed part. Leaving me with a 'male' plug so I can vacuum form many other parts just like my original. Any information greatly received as I'm really stuck as to which direction I need to go. Thanks guys. TURK Hello If you go to this link you will find many videos demonstrating the process. https://www.freemansupply.com/ Fred
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TURK	TURK posted 8 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 101, Visits: 662	Excellent link that 'Freemansupply' Fred ........ many thanks. I had seen some of their how-to videos on youtube, but some of their articles are very good. TURK
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