Rep Power: 329

Last night, I layed up my 4th layer of glass on yet another amp mount. And for some reason, I was having a brain fart, and didn't put in enough catalyst (hardener). Now, I kind of have a problem. I went ahead and brushed on some additional catalyst after I realized what I had originally done. But, that had no effect. I had a fan on it all night trying to dry it. I stopped by to check on it at lunch, and it's still sort of gelled. It'd not thin like it was when I first mixed it, but it's kind of gooed up, and won't dry for ish. Need some advise as to how to cure this. I was thinking of mixing up some more resin with more catalyst than usual in it and brushing it on and letting it dry. My only fear with that is that there will still be those areas in there that aren't dry yet that will form air pockets. I knew I should have stopped at 3 layers of glass, but I went ahead and added an additional layer for extra rigidity. I still have some other pieces to graft onto is (wire shield/hiding device) and the new acrylic mounting plate, but it has to dry before I can do any of that. What should I do? (Just don't want to start over)

 
Rep Power: 338

go for the resin idea, cure it as hot as possible (maybe out in the sun rather than inside in the shade)

to make absolutely sure it hardens, make sure your resin is a finishing resin rather than a laminating resin. this will have a wax layer to ensure hte surface cures hard wiht no tackyness. if its laminating resin, you cna get wax surfactant ot add to your resin when you make it.

no worries, the layup with too little resin WILL cure! its jsut with less catylist, it will take longer tu cure, may take a few days or a week instead of overnight.

good luck

 
Rep Power: 0

yah rabbit is right no worries, put her outside and let her dry as much as possiible. resin doesnt really need the hardener, but it speeds the process up.

as a side note i love glassing, so relaxing......i just need some new projects...thinking about playing with carbon fiber a bit, but that is sort-a pricey.

 
Rep Power: 329

thanks fellas. I had it under a high heat (1200 watt) lamp that I use sometimes to speed up the drying process. Guess it's time to go brush on a more catalyst filled resin. I have never had any that took more than a couple of hours to dry, so it baffled me.