Amount of Epoxy?

[cdohrn1]

Hey,

Does anybody now how much epoxy would be necessary for a pair of skis w/ the dimensions: 195 cm 150x125x138 ???

I've heard something about 1 kg per pair of skis, is that about right?

//Christoffer

[Idris]

Normally I'd say yes, I've made a pair with 500grams, but they are big boards. Depends on how much glass you are using. I'd get yourself 1.5kg then mix a little at a time.

[hafte]

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ight=epoxy

Here is a discussion about that. I have actually cut my use down to ~54oz. by weight (~1.55 kg) for a pair about that size. And I should mention that I vacuum bag and the epoxy I use is water thin so it wets everything out every well and presses out of the laminate just right

I don't have my mixing schedule in front of me but it's something like this. I do my skis in pairs, BTW, and the measures are by weight.

6-8 oz. for the base and edges and vds
16 oz. for the first layer of glass
20 oz for the core and the next layer of glass
8-10 oz for the cosmetics (glass, silk and texalum)
2-3 oz for the fill coat and side walls after the cure. I just don't feel comfortable with the plastic topsheets and it would mute the colors of the silk.

[knightsofnii]

I use 25 oz (20oz resin 5oz hardner) by volume. Dont know what that is by weight. That covers up 155-159cm snowboards pretty well, I could probably go with less but I like having a little insurance. Its wierd because I want to use more to insure 100% coverage but less for weight and $$ savings.

With my old epoxy I'd mix 2 x 16oz (12oz resin 4oz hardner ie 3/1) so I was using 32oz, wow I never realized I had scaled back so much.

I get about 5 boards out of a gallon resin and equivalent hardner, with a little excess left over, not enough to make a board. I think in the 5gallon kit, those excess parts would be enough to make another board so 26 boards / 5 gallons.

[knightsofnii]

by the way go with QCM if you want to try something new. If you can afford to get a whole gallon or even 5+ is where they start to discount it. I just paid 300 for 5gallons = 11.56 / board. I think I paid more for Mr. Fiberglass and I know west system costs more than that for sure.
In fact I'll have some Mr. Fiberglass for sale soon since I'm not usin it and I have quite a bit.

[MontuckyMadman]

hafte, what's texalum?
do you mean graphics or textiles?
maybe you mean texalium? AL coated glass.

[hafte]

Acrap spelled it wrong its this stuff.

http://www.solarcomposites.com/composit ... html#Fiber

It really makes my dyed silk pop.

[MontuckyMadman]

so.
Top down:
Silk
Texalium
glass
core
and so on?

Provides a nice shiny backer for shiny brilliance?

[hafte]

That's it, I add a layer of 4 oz glass to the top to give the silk some protection and help with the layup some when I do the fill coat. I have less chance of hitting the silk as I sand it smooth.

Now that I can get colored texalium I can create some color shifts too, which can be pretty cool.

Hafte

[jvangelder]

Right now we are using bout 260grams of resin and 65grams of hardner from qcm per board. it takes some work to get it completely wetted out evenly however the weight savings are insane. I rode one of our 149's off and on today at Sunday River in ME and the board weights much less then my never summer

[nick]

What are the equations everyone is using in those spreadsheets to determine how much epoxy to use? I just want to mess with one to fiddle with it. I would love to make one but wouldn't know where to start.

[knightsofnii]

i just really guessed the first time, came out somewhat near where I want to be, and tweaked it from there. I was able to make one more 59 with what I had left over from a gallon, so I'm getting 3 155's and 3 159's per gallon of resin and quart hardner = 10bucks/board about

[cdohrn1]

thanks for the replies!

what are you guys using to spread the epoxy out? i've heard anything from a paint roller to your hands. what's the best method?

[Idris]

thanks for the replies!

what are you guys using to spread the epoxy out? i've heard anything from a paint roller to your hands. what's the best method?

A plastic or wooden scraper/spatula or a paintbrush

[skidesmond]

When I made my first skis I started with a 1/4inch piece of plywood an used that as a spreader. I wasn't sure if the epoxy was working into the fiberglass enough so I went to using my hands. That worked well but now my hands are cover in epoxy. Yes I was wearing gloves. But when I had to mix more resin/hardener things got sticky, literally. Luckily I had a big box of latex gloves near by and used 3 or 4 pairs during the layup. Now that I made 1 pair and know what to expect, I'll try going back to the scraper method next time. It's less messy.