Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Skinning ABS with polyester

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic6655.aspx

By carboncactus - 6/21/2013 2:55:17 PM

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.
By wozza - 6/28/2013 5:46:41 AM

Sorry just re read what I wrote and it wasn't very clear. Wink

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.Smile