More tests
Aug. 7th, 2010 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillSo, thinking about using epoxy plus sawdust to plug the cracks (and fill the pitch pockets) in the boat...
One of the things that was mentioned was that fumed silica makes the mix less likely to sag. So I got to thinking about sagging, and wondered how bad a problem it really was. I made another test piece, out of a single strip with divots gouged out of it, and filled the divots with different combinations of epoxy and sawdust and propped it up vertically to cure.
I had no problems with the epoxy sawdust mix collecting at the bottom end of the divot before curing, which is what I thought "sag" would be. However what I *did* note was that the mix tends to dimple in the middle of the divot. I believe what is happening here is that the wood is "drinking" the epoxy out of the mix, reducing its volume.
I'm going to try another set of divots, which I have "pre-coated" with a little epoxy-without-sawdust. It is annoying that I have to use another 3 oz of the epoxy mixture every time I run one of these tests, as the stuff isn't cheap. I don't feel like I can go buy a small amount of epoxy from the hardware store, however, because I need to know how *this* epoxy works. So I guess I will just have to waste some epoxy.
I don't want any surprises when I'm working on the actual boat, obviously. If I have to let 10$ of epoxy solidify in the mixing container to accomplish that, it's money well spent..
Also one of my friends was complaining about not being able to grab the sharing HTML from flickr.com; they've changed the interface but you can still do it. Click on the pic in your photostream; when you get the pic by itself, there will be two little tabs at the top "Actions" and "Share this." Click on "Share this" and you will see several options; "Grab the HTML" is about the 3rd one down.
One of the things that was mentioned was that fumed silica makes the mix less likely to sag. So I got to thinking about sagging, and wondered how bad a problem it really was. I made another test piece, out of a single strip with divots gouged out of it, and filled the divots with different combinations of epoxy and sawdust and propped it up vertically to cure.
I had no problems with the epoxy sawdust mix collecting at the bottom end of the divot before curing, which is what I thought "sag" would be. However what I *did* note was that the mix tends to dimple in the middle of the divot. I believe what is happening here is that the wood is "drinking" the epoxy out of the mix, reducing its volume.
I'm going to try another set of divots, which I have "pre-coated" with a little epoxy-without-sawdust. It is annoying that I have to use another 3 oz of the epoxy mixture every time I run one of these tests, as the stuff isn't cheap. I don't feel like I can go buy a small amount of epoxy from the hardware store, however, because I need to know how *this* epoxy works. So I guess I will just have to waste some epoxy.
I don't want any surprises when I'm working on the actual boat, obviously. If I have to let 10$ of epoxy solidify in the mixing container to accomplish that, it's money well spent..
Also one of my friends was complaining about not being able to grab the sharing HTML from flickr.com; they've changed the interface but you can still do it. Click on the pic in your photostream; when you get the pic by itself, there will be two little tabs at the top "Actions" and "Share this." Click on "Share this" and you will see several options; "Grab the HTML" is about the 3rd one down.
