"Help!" for: Fiberglassing, Resin, & Bondo

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As for sanding:

I sanded a bit today, and it was pretty easy to sand down, I don't know why everyone hates it so much. Anyways when I was done I had bondo dust all over me and I was wondering what I should do next time to minimize my exposure to the dust without my respirator on. When I came in I changed my clothes and washed my hands and arms but I still smell it a bit and I can almost feel bits of dust going in my nose, even though none is visible on me. Am I being paranoid about my safety or is there something I should do to clean myself after a hard days sanding?

Also, how dangerous is this dust, I feel like if I breathe it for 5 minutes I'll get cancer.

What about Bondo dust?

You should use a respirator during resin, bondo and sanding. While the dust may be chemically inert, it wreaks havoc to you lungs. I don't think you were imagining or being paranoid. I had difficulty breathing because I accidently inhaled some of the dust. Now I double-layered the respiratior just to be safe.
 
What about Bondo dust?

Bondo is nothing but resin with stuff in it, kind of like mud (=water+sand), so the same applies for Bondo dust. You'll need particle filters. The cheap, white masks work, but since you probably already have a respirator, I'd recommend getting particle filters for that.

As for the first part, by "in a bag" do you mean buy the little packs of fiberglass that come in the baggies for 5 bucks?

That may have been a little unclear of me, I forgot that a lot of you guys buy the mat and cloth in bags as well. What I mean are actual bags, cans, or whatever with prefabricated chopped fibres. I tried cutting up fibreglass cloth (doesn't work with mat) myself, too at first, but the results were less than optimal. You never get the length right, it produces lots of glass dust (scratchy on objects!) and the fibres are all separate afterwards, which I don't like. Prefabricated chopped fibres are a lot nicer to use, they all have the same length, are relatively dust-free and due to the way they are produced they are nicely grouped into little bundles when you get them. Looks like this. I don't think you can get them at DIY stores or Wal-Mart, you'd have to look for a more specialised shop that deals in reinforced plastics. Smooth-On sells the stuff as well, I think.
 
@Darkrider9, i mix the same amounts of resin and hardener as ive done hundreds of times before, the usual curing time is around 8-10 minutes, after 2 days its still not cured and is still tacky, i rang the manufacturer with my problem and they said they've not had any other complaints from the rest of the batch. My thought was that it was a dud batch.
 
If it only happened once then I'd say you probably messed up on your hardener measurements. However if it has always happened when you use that can then it is most likely a dud batch, like you said.
 
Where can I buy spot putty? Is it like the other products where it can be found at like a Walmart or is it only at specialized stores?
 
Um well I'm working on my Assault Rifle Pep and I just want to ask someone who's done one before. How did you harden the outside of the piece without it warping? Did you harden it is one piece, part by part, or did you seperate it into smaller pieces, resin it and then joined the pieces?
 
but is it better to remove the paper for bondoing?

Leave the paper in. Just think, paper is made from fiber-it provides additional support for your model.
Um well I'm working on my Assault Rifle Pep and I just want to ask someone who's done one before. How did you harden the outside of the piece without it warping? Did you harden it is one piece, part by part, or did you seperate it into smaller pieces, resin it and then joined the pieces?

You completely pep the rifle. Apply resin on the outside. You may want to put another layer of resin. Once harden, drill a hole and pour some rondo inside. This will harden inside. Any warping use bond. You may want to look into scratchbuild cardboard rifle. Pep rifle usually lacks detail.
 
Okay another question. When using the resin for hardening do I need to use safety glasses? I know I need to do it for when I'm actually using the fibreglass mat, but would the fumes do anything to my eyes?
 
Okay another question. When using the resin for hardening do I need to use safety glasses? I know I need to do it for when I'm actually using the fibreglass mat, but would the fumes do anything to my eyes?

I opt to wear glasses when applying resin. In relation to your eyes, I don't think the fumes from resin is an issue (remember to wear a respirator for breathing though). Although fumes aren't really a concern there is always the potential of the actual resin coming in contact with your eyes. If a wayward drop flings from a brush or a dropped cup splashes some resin around I'd like the glasses in place, just in case.
 
I think i need some help with resining. I am new to all this, recently built several pep models and now onto the resin stage which i've never done before

Got all the materials - resin, catalyst/hardener, gloves, respirator, brush, stand with foil to put model on, syringe to accurately measure amount of resin and catalyst and foil lid to put resin in

I used Cray Valley polyester resin with catalyst. The catalyst is measured out at 2% by volume. I first did a test model before putting on my actual pep builds to try it all out. I just measured 10ml of resin in the syringe and mixed with 0.2ml of catalyst. It doesnt seem to be working though i dont know what im doing wrong (unless its ment to end up like this) I dont know if i maybe havent put enough catalyst in but i measured it all out correctly. I tried putting a small amount of resin on the brush like in videos but doing that nothing went onto the paper so i had to put more on the brush to get it to go on. I just went to look at how it was doing and it doesnt seem to be hardening at all, its just like paper with a plasticy surface, with a slight transparency look to it. From what i've seen on videos this shouldnt be normal so i dont know what im doing wrong. Also i've heard you get 10-20 mins of work time with resin before it becomes unusable and forms a sticky blob. Mine hasnt done that. It went kind of solid on the upper layer and when i touched it with my brush liquid resin comes out from underneath that. This shouldnt be normal either. Heres a few pics of how they look:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/2/2672882/P1040846c.jpg

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/2/2672882/P1040851c.jpg

http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/12/2/2672882/P1040850c.jpg

I know ideally it needs a day to cure but this still doesnt look normal to me at this stage and i dont know what i've done wrong. Any help would be appreciated. I want to get on and get my models done but until i can get this process worked out i cant continue any further with those until it works on my test models. Im sure i got the amount of catalyst in right so i dont get why it hasnt turned out how i expected it to
 
Anyone? I want to get on with this but i dont know what has gone wrong with the resin. Its been 20 hours now since i put resin on the test model and its still the same as it was last night. Its not hard (not that the resin hasnt dried it has its just not hardened the paper) its given the paper a plasticy finish which is still flexible like paper and has gone almost transparent in places (the paper) I dont know what to do with this, i didnt expect to have any problems putting resin on. I dont see why the brand should matter but if i cant improve this then im going to have to buy more, maybe even import the proper bondo brand that most people here use and hope that actually works. Any help here would be appreciated
 
Its not hard (not that the resin hasnt dried it has its just not hardened the paper) its given the paper a plasticy finish which is still flexible like paper and has gone almost transparent in places (the paper)

That's what's supposed to happen. Add a second coat on top of that if you think it isn't strong enough to survive hardening, otherwise proceed with the fibreglass. Resining the outside is not supposed to actually make the model hard, just a bit more resilient.

I assume that the leftover resin is cured as well?
 
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