Infusion help?

JohnC · #1 05-20-2020, 08:06 PM

I made a few infusion test parts with E-Bond epoxy. It wets out a few layers of 6 oz weave nicely but it seems slow in wetting out 1708.

My problem is that I want to infuse thicker parts and I don't know if I can get there with this resin (which I bought 15 gallons of).

Does anyone know how thick is too thick for infusing 3 or 4 layers of 1708 and a core? The viscosity for my E-Bond is stated as 700 CPS with the slow hardener. Does it make a big difference if I leave it in the sun for the day to heat up? Just a thought.

My resin runs about like warm honey. I looked online and the System 4500 from FiberGlast is 320 CPS (I imagine that's water-thin) and the Freeman Araldite infusion resin is 580 CPS. Both of these are way more costly than the stuff I bought. I don't know enough about the viscosity values to know if I can work with what I have or if I need to re-buy some thinner stuff. Any help would be appreciated.

fredbrad · #2 05-20-2020, 08:16 PM

No good e bond for infusion,no

FLexpat · #3 05-20-2020, 10:25 PM

I use resin at 100 CPS for infusion. 700 is more like a laminating resin. Make sure you use infusion media/mesh. I started a thread about infusion but haven't added the recent list of success and scar tissue to it.

flyingfrizzle · #4 05-22-2020, 07:03 AM

Yea, too thick. I have thinned epoxy before to spray it out with acetone from a gun but not sure how your results would be trying to infuse if you thin it down. I would do a test piece if you try that if you want to try to use what you have. I would go after something thinner designed for infusion. I don't think thinning it would be a good idea like when you spray epoxies as in open air the acetone can evaporate somewhat where infused it is more contained. Most stuff has a % limit on how much thinner you can add and you need to go down a fair amount.

JohnC · #5 05-22-2020, 05:23 PM

Thanks for the input guys!
I would rather use epoxy where I can. I just can't justify the cost of the infusion resins that I found, especially since I'm a hack at this stuff. I didn't think of thinning it, that makes me nervous but I will do some homework on it.