Keeping the goo where it belongs. Expoxy containment Question

[Quilbilly]

I am teaching a wooden boat building class in our high school. The kids are building three glued plywood lapstake Atkins skiffs. We are using WEST system and I have their bigger pump, not the gear one and they will need to add various fillers. My request is for pictures and/or ideas for an epoxy mixing station. These are high school kids after all and though they are pretty good at following directions they are high school kids after all, and anything I can do to make mixing and using epoxy, cleaner, safer, less sticky would be appreciated. For example has anyone tried making dispensing bins kind of like how they do bulk coffee beans for fillers? Anyway any ideas you'd like to share I'd like to look at. Thanks Todd Miller

[Thorne]

How much goo at one time?

Could you try for the empty tubes and a caulking gun method, or maybe fill cheap ketchup squeezebottles -- both would have to be tossed afterwards or cleaned heavily with vinegar.

[Ross Faneuf]

I realize you have an investment in West, but you might have a glance at System 3's latest system. They are packaging some epoxies in tubes with mixing tips, which you use with a conventional caulking gun. They require no mixing at all - you squeeze directly on your joints.

I have used System 3 for about 25 years, with excellent results. I use their original system, which I typically measure with a scale, not a pump. But that wouldn't apply to your situation.

[Commissioner]

The best mixing container I have found is the clear plastic wide mouth highball glasses you get in the party goods section of the grocer or big box store. The best stir sticks you make from cedar shims from the builders stores. They come bulk wrapped in a plastic film and are about 1" wide. I run the whole pack thru a bandsaw into 1/4" strips. They stir great and are pretty good for applying goo. The fillers I leave in the containers with a plastic spoon in each one but those big cereal dispensers with the angled openings would be cool. Also suggest bulk rubber gloves, everything done over newspaper, cheap paper painters tarps on the floor maybe even shoe covers like you see at real estate open houses in case kids step in the drips . . .

[JimConlin]

There are some sketches of an epoxy mixing cart in the Gougeon book, p. 31. See also the photo on p. 41.

For small batches of epoxy, i use disposable 9 oz. plastic cups- the blow-molded kind, not the injection-molded kind. I buy my most-used fillers, cabosil and microspheres, in 5-gallon mud buckets and scoop 'em out with one of the same cups. They don't pour well. My standard stir stick is a tongue depressor ($5/500 at drug store), and the WEST #804 stick is good for close-up fillet work. They can be re-used.
For larger batches, I use paint shop 1 qt. pots and paint shop stir sticks. Both are re-usable. Clean the sticks with a belt sander,.

[Concordia...41]

Clean the sticks with a belt sander,.

Yankee ingenuity at its finest!!!

(I thought I was bad [read cheap] wiping tongue depressors off off with a paper towel, drying and reusing).

Quillbilly - If you haven't already, you should probably check the MSDs on the stuff. Some of it is pretty toxic and gets airborne quick. The mixing station should be in a corner away from fans, open windows, doors, etc. Definitely rubber gloves on the kids at all times and a stated plan for skin contact.

If anyone wants to know what gets epoxy out of hair, the answer = scissors

I use measuring spoons to dip cabisol and microspheres - they're cheap, deep, and easy to control - vs a regular spoon, tongue depressor, wrench ... DAMHIKT...

AND WHATEVER YOU DO, don't tell the kids that a few years back cabosil was used in one of the anthrax scares

Have fun and keep us posted on your class project.

- M

P.S. Anyone still have a link to Norm's albums and the grandneighbors' boat building projects?

[JimConlin]

I'm profligate.
I only re-use the paint sticks and quart cups.
The small cups, tongue depressors and gloves get tossed.

Jim

[Tylerdurden]

The caulking gun w/ mixing tubes are trick but not cheap. I use several epoxys with this system and nothing beats it. On short runs I mix by hand in small cups like above. If you go with mixing tubes buy 5 to 1 so you dont waste epoxy. I have thought of going with a pnuematic caulk dispenser with that system, would be a blessing when the arthritis hits on cold days.

[Concordia...41]

I'm profligate.
I only re-use the paint sticks and quart cups.
The small cups, tongue depressors and gloves get tossed.

Jim

I had to go look up "profligate" but having done so, I have a new word for the day.

Profligate: adj. Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant

And Jim, you most certainly are. Around here quart cups and tongue depressors are reused. Gloves get tossed (at the end of the day).

- M

[Thorne]

This has been discussed here before, but the really cool chemical for removing mixed epoxy from hair, some tools, skin etc -- is a cheap gallon jug of white vinegar.

Don't use it on the wood, or in containers you will re-use, as it can cause the epoxy to never cure, but for uncured epoxy nuttin' beats vinegar for cleanup.

The nitrile gloves are the best, but I've heard of some people being allergic to the powder used in the gloves, so you may wish to provide some of the unpowdered ones as an option to anyone who might be having problems with the powdered kind...

Good luck!

[ErikH]

If you will be doing a lot of repetition (e.g. "three pumps, 1.2 ounces of silica") then you can don a tyvek suit for an hour (or have a student do it). Then you can portion out your "standard" filler additions into something like a Dixie cup ("Here, Ed, just add 1.2 ounces to every cup"), and just store the cups in a flat Tupperware storage tray for $10.

You're better off adding your fillers by weight anyway and if you're in school I bet you can find an accurate scale somewhere.

[DuncanvdH]

As these kids may be new to using epoxy, you are (hopefully) be able to set the standard for their future epoxy uses.
I think it is therefore important that you teach them.
1) Always where eye protection when using any kind of hazardous liquid, either paint , varnish or epoxy
2) To NEVER mix epoxy thickeners like cabosil or microballoons WITHOUT RESPIRATORY protection
3) Always where gloves when using any kind of hazardous liquid, either paint , varnish or epoxy.


I still people around me violating these rules around me, probably because they have been shown by others how it is not supposed to be done.

Duncan

[tc42]

I always cover my mixing table with a disposable table cover which can be changed when the area gets too messy.


Tim. C