This Arizona heat is giving me fits. 
Anyone who has worked with fiberglass knows that epoxy and heat tends to make life interesting. Epoxy when mixed with hardner produces an exothermic reaction, it heats up - a lot. And when that happens it hardens.
When its already 100, you have to work FAST to get things laid up. I had to cut the fiberglass cloth before mixing the first batch of epoxy. The trick was to get it brushed out on the vertical walls and get the glass on the wall before things start going thermal. Not an easy task when the shop is already sitting at 100. Then you mix another batch and brush on the epoxy to catch any dry spots. Then you squeegee the excess resin being careful not to starve the layup.
This morning at 04:30 - I got up and spent almost two hours in the shop doing layups because it was "down to" 83 in the shop. I am about 75%-80% done with fiberglass layups - then comes the sanding, micro, sanding, micro, sanding, micro, sanding, micro, sanding, micro. This will fill in the weave from the glass and give me a smooth-as-glass surface to prime and paint.
I'm thinking the morning layups are a better option because I can do the morning layups, and then after work I can do the noisy stuff like sanding, cutting, drilling, etc. I could micro in the morning when its cooler. Then after work when things are set up and dried, I can sand, etc.
I bought fuses for the fuse panel and tested out all of my electronics/wiring last night. Everything worked and there wasn't any smoke so that's a good sign. :ylsmoke:
Anyone who has worked with fiberglass knows that epoxy and heat tends to make life interesting. Epoxy when mixed with hardner produces an exothermic reaction, it heats up - a lot. And when that happens it hardens.
When its already 100, you have to work FAST to get things laid up. I had to cut the fiberglass cloth before mixing the first batch of epoxy. The trick was to get it brushed out on the vertical walls and get the glass on the wall before things start going thermal. Not an easy task when the shop is already sitting at 100. Then you mix another batch and brush on the epoxy to catch any dry spots. Then you squeegee the excess resin being careful not to starve the layup.
This morning at 04:30 - I got up and spent almost two hours in the shop doing layups because it was "down to" 83 in the shop. I am about 75%-80% done with fiberglass layups - then comes the sanding, micro, sanding, micro, sanding, micro, sanding, micro, sanding, micro. This will fill in the weave from the glass and give me a smooth-as-glass surface to prime and paint.
I'm thinking the morning layups are a better option because I can do the morning layups, and then after work I can do the noisy stuff like sanding, cutting, drilling, etc. I could micro in the morning when its cooler. Then after work when things are set up and dried, I can sand, etc.
I bought fuses for the fuse panel and tested out all of my electronics/wiring last night. Everything worked and there wasn't any smoke so that's a good sign. :ylsmoke:
