Matt,
Here
are a few tricks for cold weather fibre-glassing I gleaned over the years;
Hot
box for the resin is a must if you’re doing layups on a regular basis. If
not, save energy and leave the resin cold. When some is needed, dispense what
you need and stick it in the microwave oven for a few seconds. Eg, 20CC
of resin only needs 6 seconds in the nuclear oven.
As
Chris mentioned, a heat gun. I use a heat gun on all layups regardless of
temp. When applying micro, hit the back of the trowel with the heat gun
as you’re spreading.
Peel-ply
is your friend. I use is wherever I can. With peel-ply on you part,
you can cover it over with a plastic sheet and not worry about touching. Now
the real trick… cover the plastic with an electric blanket and then that
with an old quilt (for added insulation from the cold)
Build
a hot box out of 1” Styrofoam big enough for small parts. Add a 20w
to 40w light bulb and a cheap thermostat. A muffin fan doesn’t hurt
either. You can get a thermostat used for electric baseboard heaters from
Home Depot or the like.
Hope that helps.
Neil in Toronto
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Christopher Barber
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008
7:33 PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Heating
your Hanger ??
Our hangar has a heater that actually does a pretty good job
of warming it up a bit. Several degrees anyway with all the doors
closed. I used a heat gun last week to lay micro and it worked very well.
When I was still in my garage, I made heat tents to let the
layup cure. I would drape a thick plastic sheet over the layup with
stand-offs to prevent it from laying on the part and would put a small
electrical heater with a blower on one end of the tent. This worked very
well for me. I remember specifically for my canard and elevators.
Even a heat gun will really make a difference during the lay
ups if you want to work in the cold, which I did. You will have to wait
longer for cure. When hot, I have never not had a cured to the touch when
coming in the next day, however, when cold a layup may still be tacky upon my
return several hours later the next day.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December
05, 2008 5:30 PM
Subject: Heating your
Hanger ??
Hope you are doing well and just wanted to
let you know that I am enjoying the meetings and hope to get more involved with
the chapter.
But the real reason for my email is to ask
what you two do to heat you hanger when its to cold for glass work?
My right inside fuse layup went ok with
temps just above 70, but the left side is filled with voids after cure when the
temps were just over 60 and then it dipped into the 70's during the night.
I have just finished a heat box to keep my
epoxy warm between work sessions, but need some way to get a two car garage to
about 75 degrees to get any work done during the winter.