Thread: Need some encouragement...

Hi Colin,

Sometimes with tasks which feel so daunting you just have to try doing someting on a smaller scale first to both get the skills honed and convince yourself that a larger more complicated task will only take longer.

The time to do a task is proportional to its size and complexity. Don't expect it to be a quick exercise, especially your first.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

IMHO, give it a go. What is the worst thing that can happen? If you make a mistake, just try again. As Kev said, try something small first to get your confidence up.

As long as you add enough hardner so the resin sets, you will be ok. Check the mixing requirements and try to get it close.

go for it!

go for a long estimate of time, I mean long. That way you won't get discouraged after working 2 weekends on this

If you have the money, the time ... What do you have to loose?

Do you have AIM?

If you do, IM me @ exus28

I would be glad to help, I rather have a convo then just typing broad statements.

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys! One of my fears is that I actually don't have the money if I mess this up! But I appreciate everyone saying go for it! My buddy (no experience) is going to come down on Tuesday and try to help me out. We'll probably end up printing out instructions and tutorials and doing it VERY slowly.

Nexson, I don't have AIM, but I have MSN...

i think you can add aim users and vice versa, and i'd recommend talking to nexson after seeing his works.

That first site says to use spam on the blue tape... please don't do that.

The12volt is a great source of info.

The steps:

1 - Tape everything off with the blue tape (cause it has low stick),

2 - then use aluminum foil tape on top of that. The aluminum foil tape sticks like duct tape, that's why you have use the blue tape first. The foil is a barrier that will disallow the resin to seep through the tape and ruin the surface below.

3 - use turtle wax on the foil as a release

When mixing resin, use a scale. Most important thing is the catalyst. You'd rather use too much than too little. If you don't put enough it will never cure and you will be left with a sticky mess that always smells like resin. If you put too much it will def. harden but maybe too fast... you can always slow down the curing process and extend your work time by dumping some MEK or acetone into the mix.

Also, do small sections. You don't want to mix a ton of resin get a tiny section done, and be left with with a gallon of harden resin that you can't use.

Okay, I've seen people using aluminum foil on top and taping that in place. I think that's a smarter idea anyway. Can I put the pam on that instead? I don't have turtle wax lying around so I feel like pam will work. On the foil though. Got it.

I have had no problem using pam on top of tape. When you use foil, you lose the shape a bit and it is hard to work with because it is not stuck to your surface like the tape is.

When using Pam, some of the tape stuck to the mold, which really isn't a big deal. Now that I am more experienced, I learned you can just use MOLD release. Put on about 3-5 layers, while wiping off each layer before you apply enough one.