Not enough Hardener in the mix.....

[DadofThree]

Well, last night I did the rear end of the car with the rest of the hsrf. It had the same color appearance as the front. But as I came out today to do the sanding, i noticed it was still soft. The only (big) difference in the front and back mix is the amount of time that is sat to harden. The front was 10 days, and the back was 18 hours. The color appearance is the same (to me).

So I decided to take it up, and try again. what a mess. They say that you can always undo what ya did wrong....boy I hope so.

Photos and Video to follow:

After 18 hours:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8856/28923409833_1187c89a62_z.jpg

https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8350/28923409823_1187c89a62_z.jpg

This photo shows the mix with hardener (top) and the hsrf without hardener (bottom)https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8385/29546279545_84455b97e2_z.jpg


Video:
Not Enough Hardener (https://youtu.be/W1XxnLjhFSQ)

[sbak]

That does look like you didn't use enough or mix it in well enough. If you keep having issues, check the date on your epoxy. I had some WestSystem that was old; I did some stuff with it, it worked fine then a month later did some more and it never would cure out completely. Not sure about what you're using. Usually if you get too much hardener it gets really hot and goes off fast.

[edwardb]

Definitely not enough hardner. The instructions are admittedly and little vague. "1-1/2 inches of hardner to a golf ball size of resin..." I don't play golf and I don't usually mix up quite that much at once. It hits before I can use it all. But it should have more of a blue/green color like this. This starts to stiffen in 10-15 minutes, and can be tooled and rough sanded not much later. I try to minimize sanding HSRF because it's just so hard. But if you catch it before it cures completely, you can save some time and effort.

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab234/edwardb123/Factory%20Five%2020th%20Anniversary%20Mark%204%20R oadster/Body/th_IMG_0545_zps47itwuk7.jpg (http://s867.photobucket.com/user/edwardb123/media/Factory%20Five%2020th%20Anniversary%20Mark%204%20R oadster/Body/IMG_0545_zps47itwuk7.jpg.html)

[Gumball]

Trial and error - that was the key to my bodywork education. Don't forget that humidity and heat will also play into the mix (pun intended).

[Duke]

I haven't used that 3M product before, but for 'structural' seams I was taught to typically use Evercoat short strand: https://www.amazon.com/Fibreglass-Evercoat-632-Everglass-Reinforced/dp/B0000AYHHN/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1473372723&sr=1-1&keywords=evercoat+short+strand

There isn't any one right-way to do it though.

It was my go-to when doing filler on patch panels for rust or body modifications.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/r454duke/Camaro1.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/r454duke/media/Camaro1.jpg.html)
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/r454duke/side315.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/r454duke/media/side315.jpg.html)

[Jeff Kleiner]

Yep, not enough hardener. What you had that didn't set was way too white. Now you know :(

Jeff

[mikeinatlanta]

If you haven't taken it off, you may want to give it about eight yours under heat of about 160f. That may be all you need, but like Jeff said, not enough catalyst.

RE Shelf life: All vinylester products have a short shelf life, however, old product tends to get lumpy and has a much shorter work time.

RE Evercoat: That is a polyester product and not well suited to a Factory Five vinylester body.