Category Archives: Techniques & Tips

Adding Pigments to Epoxy

By Bruce Niederer

We often get asked ‘What can I use to color my epoxy?’ The intended application is as varied as our customers. Often it’s simply to make it easier to paint over or to provide a color indicator between layers. Sometimes it’s to match a particular colored material in a repair. Maybe it’s for an art or craft project. The point is, people are often looking for a color other than the black 423 Graphite, 501 White or 503 Gray Pigments offered in the WEST SYSTEM® product line. What are some options? And what are the pigment’s effects on the performance of the epoxy? Continue reading →

Preparing a fiberglass laminate

A Better Way to Prepare Laminates

By Tom Pawlak

During a recent inspirational hardware store visit, I discovered a rotary wire brush made by Norton™ called the Rapid Strip Brush™. It is used with an electric drill and produces results comparable to bead blasting or a needle scaler. The package says it can be used to abrade metal, masonry and fiberglass. I immediately thought of a fiberglass application that I wanted to try it on. Continue reading →

Furniture Repair with G/5

By Tom Pawlak
I recently broke the leg off an old workshop table. The tabletop was made of particleboard covered with Formica®. The screws holding the leg in place had pulled out and taken chunks of particleboard with them (The problem).

I was desperate to use the table later in the day so G/5 Five-Minute Adhesive seemed perfect for the repair. This is a good method for repairing inexpensive particleboard or fiberboard furniture: Continue reading →

Testing Bolts Bonded into Concrete

By Brian Knight

The email exchange with Bob Warters in the article Installing a basketball goal is typical of the process we sometimes go through to answer a technical question. Most questions do not generate laboratory testing, but, in this case, the data we had available was limited. I was able to give Bob some shear strength data on concrete block from previous tests, but was unable to find specific data on fasteners bonded with epoxy into poured concrete. I suspected poured concrete would hold a bolt better, but another data point would be reassuring. Continue reading →

Avoiding Surface Contamination

By Brian Knight

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness” the old expression goes. This is certainly true when preparing a surface for an epoxy application. The surface has to be clean to begin with or there may be adhesion problems. But often, our good intentions with respect to cleaning a surface result in contaminates deposited on the surface. Below are some potential surface contaminates, ways to avoid them, and an almost foolproof method to determine if a surface is clean or contaminated. Continue reading →

Testing DCPD Blend Laminates

By Tom Pawlak

Gougeon Brothers recently did R&D testing for a manufacturer who wanted to know if WEST SYSTEM® epoxy could effectively repair injection-molded parts made with fiberglass and dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) blended polyester resin that included an internal mold release. The hoods and decks for many jet skis and snowmobiles are made with this material.

DCPD blends in polyester cause it to cure rapidly and cross-link thoroughly. This feature helps to reduce emissions from the resin but makes it difficult to repair Continue reading →

G/5 Adhesive Tips

By Tom Pawlak

Many of us at Gougeon Brothers experiment with WEST SYSTEM® products on personal projects at home as well as at work. We often push products and techniques beyond the limits recommended in our literature. Sometimes the experiment fails, sometimes we discover something very useful. Continue reading →

Testing large fasteners

Testing Large Bonded-In Fasteners

by Brian Knight

Epoxyworks 19

Cover Photo: The 154’7″ Bruce King-designed Scheherazade resting on her massive keel at Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, Maine.

Scheherazade is a 154′ 7″ Bruce King designed ketch under construction at Hodgdon Yachts, in East Boothbay, Maine. Scheherazade is 60% larger than Antonisa, the last Bruce King/Hodgdon Yacht collaboration, and is the largest sailboat under construction in the United States. We first looked at Scheherazade in EPOXYWORKS 17, Spring 2001, before she was rolled and set on her 153,000 lb ballast keel. On a March, 2002 visit, Scheherazade was resting on her massive keel (cover), while far above, surrounded by multiple levels of staging, work continued on her interior and deck (below). Continue reading →

Protective skin creams-do they affect adhesion to the surfaces we touch?

By Tom Pawlak

We recently completed adhesion testing for a boatbuilder who was concerned about surfaces being contaminated by workers who use protective skin creams. The builder wanted to be sure that residue from the protective creams did not contaminate objects touched by workers throughout the day. We tested five products: Derma Shield™, Gloves in a Bottle™, Unique Skin™, SBS 46 Protective Cream™ and SBS 40 Medicated Skin Cream™. Continue reading →

Scraper

Scrapers—Versatile Tools for Working with Epoxy

By Tom Pawlak

My first experience with cabinet scrapers occurred shortly after hiring into Gougeon Brothers. Bill Slaby, a wood/epoxy technician who specialized in mold building, routinely used cabinet scrapers to remove irregularities on cured epoxy coatings. I was intrigued with how quickly he could smooth up the epoxy with his scraper and particularly how he could get the epoxy to come off the surface in a continuous thin ribbon similar to wood shavings from a sharp wood plane. Bill was passionate about the benefits of scrapers and felt they were seriously underrated tools. He liked the absolute control you have in removing epoxy Continue reading →