West system epoxy

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Kehoes23

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I have been doing some research about west system and I must say this is very exspencive, I bought my first high power fiberglass rocket, Super DX3 and I will more then likely not buy another FG rocket and I don't build many rockets, is it worth buying the west system for just one rocket and what is the shelf life of west system? Are there others that are cheaper?
 
You could build your Super DX3 with "plunger" type two part epoxy found at Home Depot and you would be just fine. In the long run though, buying epoxy in bulk gets you better quality and is cheaper per ounce. There are alternatives to West System. I use US Composites 635 resin with medium hardener found on this page. Epoxy stored in a dry, cool environment will last years.
 
West 105 is a laminating epoxy. I use Bob Smith 30 minute for most construction. It's in all the hobby stores, comes in small quantities, and is reasonably priced.

I did find that West System is often carried at building supply stores. If I pay cash at one local store, I get a quart of 105 and a can of hardener for $48. When I say building supply stores don't mean Lowe's or Home Depot. I've only found it at the local stores. One carries it all the time, one will order it.

Kevin
 
If you are looking for West Systems you can also find it at West Marine (or any other boating-supply store).
 
A cheaper alternative to West Systems is from Raka, Inc. You can get it in small quantities, or a 12oz sample pack with 2 different hardeners for $18.00

https://store.raka.com/epoxy.aspx

Thanx ckreef! I knew of Raka brand from tfish's videos, but had never visited their page. I think my next 'large' epoxy order will come from them!
 
West Systems epoxy is a laminating epoxy, as mentioned above, and you'd need to use additives in order to make it thicker for typical gluing purposes. I use the typical hobby store brand of epoxies in the small bottles for construction purposes because it's cheaper, and use the WS for laminating purposes.
 
I found that Giant Leap Rocketry sells aeropoxy at a reasonable price, I ordered the aeropoxy pint cans and the adhesive kit which comes with 4 mixing cups 4 mixing sticks 4 pairs of gloves and a few brushes for around $7
 
I just got some West systems 5 min. expoy form Wildman, I like it very well, also for my long cure West I purchased some black carbon powder from West it works very well to make the expoy black for the colored tubes.
GP
 
I got the Aeropoxy Pint kit for $23 from GLR. If I had known about that, I would never have used those plungers. $10 bucks for a plunger, or $20 for a heck of a lot more?

You know what I do.
 
I've been using some Proline I got from Wildman Rocketry and it works just fine, Tim includes it in his warranties along with West Systems.
 
West System wasn't just developed for boatbuilding, in particular it was intended to bring wood boatbuilding into the modern age. Wood saturated and sealed with it is not affected by water liquid or even vapor and thus becomes an "engineering material" with predictable characteristics. That it can be used for almost everything in that kind of construction, including laminating carbon fiber, is a plus. I doubt even the Gougeons imagined whole boats made of pre-preg epoxy and baked in a big oven to cure. They built scows for racing on the great lakes, fast lightweight boats for calm water.

While West may have been improved on, it is a standard but I would be most biased towards it still for wood and it is great for it. Too bad it doesn't come in a Bob Smith sized pack! (maybe even a little silica thrown in for $20 ?!) .. Googling west system I did come up with Total Boat 5:1 epoxy kit for $32 humm, still silly big.
 
West 105 is a laminating epoxy. I use Bob Smith 30 minute for most construction. It's in all the hobby stores, comes in small quantities, and is reasonably priced.

I did find that West System is often carried at building supply stores. If I pay cash at one local store, I get a quart of 105 and a can of hardener for $48. When I say building supply stores don't mean Lowe's or Home Depot. I've only found it at the local stores. One carries it all the time, one will order it.

Kevin

West Systems also has G-Flex, a high strength construction epoxy that comes in two plastic bottles... as with BSI and many others. They also have a 5 minute version.
 
I use G-Flex quite a lot for internals and things like that. Self levels very nicely, a bit flexible bond so it's not brittle. Messy though and has a long cure time.
Fillets are a bit trickier as it very slowly oozes for a few hours.

The "Total Boat" brand has a similar (same?) epoxy called "Flex-Epox". I can't tell any difference except the price.

-Hans
 
West System is good stuff, and it's nice that you use the same for laminating and bonding. (I used the 404 filler for most bonding.) It's also quite easy to dispense with the pumps. I switched to Aeropoxy a while back (because it's stronger), but West is a great system and beats Bob Smith epoxy.

I did some testing and came to the conclusion that it was better to use separate systems for laminating and bonding:
jcrocket.com/adhesives.shtml
 
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