WOW they just fell apart!!!!!!

[heybulldog]

Hey everyone, I just pulled the second set of skis that I have pressed out of their mold and they are completely delaminated. I can pull each layer apart by hand. I used 8 month old QCM epoxy and I think that it's the culprit. Being very new to this field of endevor I have no idea if epoxy has a long or short shelf life. The question is, What is the shelf life of an open can of epoxy and hardener?

[plywood]

with my epoxy, standard stuff from R&G germany, they say it should be storable for about a year. actually it matters how you store it - prevent light and temperature should be about 15° if i`m right...

i did use some significally older stuff for "crap purpose" such as glueing together some molds and repairing stuff and i had the feeling that the epoxy didn`t harden as much as it would have with new stuff... so maybe you`re right and it delams because of too old epoxy

[G-man]

Hi heybulldog,

What QCM products (resin and hardener) did you use? If it was a heat cure product, and if you didn't actually get the entire ski up to at least 160 degrees F for at least 20 minutes, then they would fall apart just as you described. I've used 2 year old QCM epoxy that sat in a paper mixing cup (covered with plastic wrap) for six of those months, and it worked fine. I've used a lot of resin that was over a year old (stored more appropriately) without any problems at all.

Improperly cured heat cure resin easily turns to powder, even though it may have set and looks like it is fully cured. You can crumble a chunk of it with your fingers. Try a couple of samples in the bottom of a paper cup... mix them and let cure. Then bake one of them in the oven for 20 minutes at 160 F, them test them. One will crumble and the other will be pretty much unbreakable.

Good luck

G-man

[heybulldog]

Hey Gman, thanks for the advice. It seems that the epoxy did not cure well. Curious however is the fact that the first pair of skis I pressed about 4 months ago are great. same epoxy, same design, just some width changes for a narower ski. I dont have the ability to heat up my press. It is made out of gluelam floor joists and metal decking produsts. I could throw a bed style heating blanket over the whole thing or maybe incorperate some heat lamps, but I think what I will do is find and use epoxy that cures at room temps.