I've got a kg of EL80 and I've been having a little play with some offcuts of cloth to see how it cures.  One thing I did notice is that its fairly viscous.  Is it OK to warm it a touch to thin it down a bit?

Would a review of my test pieces be of use?  If so I'd appreciate a few pointers of what people woould like to see.

Right, hopefully this will be a reasonably comprehensive look. 

The resin itself is fairly easy mixing.  It doesn't hold air too badly and is a pleasant pale golden colour.  It does have an amine smell so ventilation is needed.  Its fairly thick compared to EL2.  I found its viscosity to be quite sensitive to heat.  I warmed it and it thins down reasonably.  Laying it into a cold mold and I found it thickened up to near bonding epoxy consistency and would not penetrate fabric!  Workshop heater went on after that!.  The texture of the cured test pieces is like soft-touch buttons on remotes or in cars.  Its quite strange.  It looks smooth / shiney but is quite grippy to the touch.

I made up a few trial pieces with some offcuts of 600g twill.  2 layers is very flexible.  Bending it right round causes bulges on the fabric tow but it restores flat when you release it.  3 layers is similar but slightly stiffer (as you'd expect).  This piece highlighted the effect of weave orientation.  All 3 layers were aligned and the piece twists remarkable easy.  This is like bending at 45 deg to the weave.  5 layers is very rigid but with a very slight bendability.  Its more of a tough laminate at this thickness.  This same toughness can be achieved by laying the cloth at 45 deg rotations.  This results in a tough rather than flexible laminate.  The finished piece is sandable but I've not attacked it with the polisher yet to see if it polishes. 

My first part is a splitter for my waggon.  This was made in an open mold as I wasn't too stressed about weight and its a flexible resin.  The viscosity gave me a little issue with the surface and I have the odd small bubble / pin hole in it (should be fillable).  The part required a rigid centre with flexible edge so I keyed the back and laid in a layer with EL2.  It took the key and bonded to EL2 just fine.  This was finished with a second flexible layer over the top.  Again an easy enough bond was made.  The finished part has that strange plasticy smell I associate with Toys R us.  I'm sure that will subside as it reaches full cure.  The part is suitably rigid in the centre and flexible at the edges.  Its more of a toughness than a rubbery nature to the finished part.

It will be interesting to see how the finished part wears / weathers when in use.

thanks for that information! could you add some pictures to show how it bends and how it looks?

Matthieu Libeert
Founder MAT2 Composites X Sports
website: www.mat2composites.com