Skinning ABS with polyester

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Skinning ABS with polyester

Author	Message
carboncactus	carboncactus posted 12 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 243, Visits: 1K	Hi all, I've got a large skin job to do, and due to time and money constraints, I'm looking to do it with polyester. I normally use EP519 from Alchemie and it works great, but I won't have time for lacquering as its quite a bit to do, It's all ABS plastic bits. I read on a boat building forum that polyester will make a chemical bond with ABS whereas epoxy will only make a (very strong) mechanical bond, hence poly being a better choice for skinning ABS plastics. The money issue isn't really the resin cost but the time to lacquer (I pay £13 a kg for EP519). I'm thinking of using surfboard resin for its clarity. Thanks in advance. Edited 12 Years Ago by carboncactus
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wozza	wozza posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 688, Visits: 5.4K	I don't do much skinning myself but a friend of mine does and I know that he often goes over the part with a blow torch to burn off any Styrene and release agents before skinning. He uses both poly and epoxy resins and the results are top class. Regards Warren Carbon Copies Ltd
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carboncactus	carboncactus posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 243, Visits: 1K	I've heard about torching abs when using epoxy. I just heard I need to seal abs when using polyester..... Edited 12 Years Ago by carboncactus
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wozza	wozza posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 688, Visits: 5.4K	Had another word with him he says he does it with Epoxy or Poly just to be safe. The reason being if the parts a newish then there can be release agents from the moulding process and if the parts are old they usually have had some polish or Back to Black type products applied to them over the years which usually contains Silicone. Carbon Copies Ltd
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carboncactus	carboncactus posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 243, Visits: 1K	Thanks for that, wozza. I didn't quite catch that. Epoxy or poly? I didn't think of that, like armour all sort of stuff. Edited 12 Years Ago by carboncactus
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wozza	wozza posted 12 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 688, Visits: 5.4K	Sorry just re read what I wrote and it wasn't very clear. What he said was he does the "Blow Torch" thing when using either Epoxy or Poly resins for skinning because of the high chance of contaminants, polish, Back to Black etc on the surface of the part. He says that often just degreasing and keying the surface often isn't enough to remove them causing delamination of the finished part. Hope that makes a bit more sense. Carbon Copies Ltd
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