Hints and Tips

We always suggest you do a test sample before commiting to a hint or tip on this page.
Tip:
You can bond epoxy resin to a cured epoxy laminate or polyester laminate. You cannot bond laminating resin to a cured epoxy laminate.
Tip:
When calculating how much polyester or epoxy resin you require allow equllivant amounts of resin per gram weight of the cloth whether it be carbon fibre or fibreglass cloth. eg 300gm of chopped strand matt = 300gm of resin

Tip:
To thin brush gelcoat add wax in styrene to make it sprayable.
Tip:
Citrus clean is a new product able to clean almost anything such as fibreglass, resin, epoxy and even silicone spills! It is a great multi purpose cleaning agent.

Tip:
If you want to pigment brush or spray latex you can do this by mixing in acrylic paints.

A tip for all clay and plasticene users:

If your material is a bit firm during the colder months use your hair dryer to pre condition it to get it pliable, this will save your hands from a lot of kneading.

This tip comes from Jonathon in Blair Athol, NSW....he writes:

Hi,
 
Thanks very much for that, Isopropyl alcohol is a key ingredient for cleaning vinyl LP records!! I make up a solution of 20% isopropyl alcohol, 80% distilled water plus two drops of Earth Choice dishwashing liquid. Works great!
 
Regards & Thanks
Jonathan

A great tip from Richard in Wattle Park, South Australia:
To clean dried latex from your brushes just soak in white spirits for 5 minutes, this dissolves all the latex for like new brushes again!

A tip from Steve:
If you have left over Rhodasil and no catalyst, Trade 26 catalyst will work in substitute of Rhodasil
Part B.

Alginate / Alginate Bonder tip
Alginate Bonder can be used both with Chromatic Alginate and all Accucast.  For example if your mould rips when de moulding you can use alginate bonder to stick it back together only when it is dry.



Below are some photo's from Steve Barker of North Haven, South Australia.



Steve made these rubber grips for electric starters for starting model aircraft engines, Steve used ultrasil to make them. The rubber grips are very grippy and wear very well. They are a cheap and effective replacement for the store bought ones.


For all Bike Riders:
Billy, an AMCS customer and keen mountain bike rider has used our Brush Latex to solve a puncture problem he had. Please click here to see the step by step "how to" article he did for his Mountain bike forum  http://www.farkin.net/forums/showthread.php?t=128521 Thanks Billy

Some great tips when using two part products:

When mixing any two part products, it helps to decant the mixture into a second container to ensure the two parts are completely mixed. To help with bubbles in your mould or cast, you can either mix with less vigor, e.g. folding the mixture not beating and pour into the mould from a height to "string" the mixture out to pop any bubbles on the way down. Once in the mould you can thump the bench or vibrate the mould to help bubbles rise to the surface.
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