epoxy resin

[Osage]

G'day all
I've gone down the epoxy resin road for filling knots gum veins etc and also for glueing boards together for table tops as this method eliminates joint creep , I was hoping to hear from other forum members on there prefered method for applying epoxy resin ,I had a little trial run with the west 105 &207 clear hardener all went well but I thought it would have cured alot faster than it did all I can put it down to is the cold weather ???, anyone with some good info please fell free to comment.
cheers osage...

[Master Splinter]

Yes it's affected by the temperature - you can warm it up with a hair drier if you want to coax the cure along.

If it's not solid after two days, you did something wrong (most likely resin/hardener ratios, which should be mixed accurately and not by 'near enough' - 5:1 by weight or volume for 205 or 206 BUT for 207 its 3.5:1 by weight or 3:1 by volume) so you get to learn how messy it is to remove gluggy epoxy....

And mix for a good minute or two!

[Osage]

Cheers ms yep the epoxy is rock solid so I guess my mix was ok I've also heard putting the containers in a bucket of warm water helps aswell I also left a bit in the measuring cup to see what colour it hardened to,very yellowish is there any other product that dries totally clear?

[Christos]

I have also used epoxy as a gap filler with some black dye. One tip that I will share is not to over fill as it can take a while to flatten. I ended up using a scraper with very light touch then sand paper.

I have also used casting resin for some turned bowls only one with no colour it was clear or clear-ish.

[soundman]

The thing to remember about all the modern marine epoxies is.....they are nothing like retail epoxies...thank goodness.

They are intentionally slow curing..this give time when working with larger pieces.

Start laying up meters of glass mat or sheets of laminate and you will be glad the stuff cures slowly.

If the cure speed is a problem either way, there are slower and faster acting hardeners...never change the mix ratio....this is epoxy not any other type of resin...the mix ration is fixed regardless.

If you are using it as glue or filler remember you need to add some sort of thickning agent or filler.....there is a wide choice.

cheers