Aeropoxy... How do you dispense it?

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ttabbal

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
1,085
Reaction score
26
It's in what looks like paint cans. I was wondering how you get the stuff out to mix it without a big mess. I was thinking about getting some of the squeeze bottles hobby epoxy comes in and trying to load it those. But I'm all for better ideas. :)
 
Go to one of the online vendors of boat building supplies. all you need is dispensing pumps or the same used for dispensing condiments. If I remember correctly; it's a 3:1 mix ratio. so pump the resin 3 times for every time you pump out some hardener.


JD
 
It's in what looks like paint cans. I was wondering how you get the stuff out to mix it without a big mess. I was thinking about getting some of the squeeze bottles hobby epoxy comes in and trying to load it those. But I'm all for better ideas. :)


_______________________________

The particular Aeropoxy I use is a 1:1 ratio. I went to a restaurant supply store and got a couple of 1 liter size pump bottles. Works great.

Bret
 
Large syringes (enlarge the hole since it is so thick). Easy to measure appropriate volumes for the task.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to try them out. I'm just getting into glassing and wanted to get something better than the hobby store epoxy I've been using. I didn't realize it came in such an unfriendly container. :)
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'll have to try them out. I'm just getting into glassing and wanted to get something better than the hobby store epoxy I've been using. I didn't realize it came in such an unfriendly container. :)

What type of Aeropoxy are you using? From what I remember laminating epoxy comes in "bottles" (the best way I can describe them), and the structural epoxy comes in the paint can looking ones. You want to use the laminating epoxy, which is thin enough to soak into the glass. I just pour mine into small measuring cups and measure out the amount I need.
 
For dispensing Aeropoxy Structural Epoxy, I went truly low-tech. I bought a bag of plastic spoons at a local dollar store. I use two fresh, clean spoons (one for each component) for every mix. I measure out the resin and hardener in rounded spoonfuls. In order to get everything out of each spoon, I scrape the component out of each one with separate craft sticks. This method has been working fine for me for the past four years and it has been the only dispensing system that I have ever used for it.

MarkII
 
Last edited:
What type of Aeropoxy are you using? From what I remember laminating epoxy comes in "bottles" (the best way I can describe them), and the structural epoxy comes in the paint can looking ones. You want to use the laminating epoxy, which is thin enough to soak into the glass. I just pour mine into small measuring cups and measure out the amount I need.

I have the structural, laminating, and filler versions. I was ordering stuff from Giant Leap and figured I had uses for all three types. They are in different types of containers depending on the type.

I like the low-tech plastic spoons. :) I never seem to think of the simplest solution. :)
 
If I remember right, they also give ratios by weight (I know West & Fibreglast both do; can't remember for certain with AeroPoxy).

That means a digital postal scale works well, too -- I tare my scale with the mixing container on it, then add the right weight of each part directly into the container.

That's how I measure most of my epoxy, unless I'm doing really big batches, in which case I do full pumps.

-Kevin
 
I've been weighing it with a .1g accurate scale that I got at topline. It's accurate enough to allow mixing of very small batches - I mixed up 3.3 g of 2032 with .9 g of 3660 several times in the past few days with good results. My postal scale is only accurate to 5 grams so I can't make such tiny batches with it.

It's very cool that the West System pumps fit in the Aeropoxy containers - sort of. West gives you three pumps - one for the resin, one for the 3:1 (by volume hardener, and one for the 5:1 hardener. Aeropoxy 2032/3660 is 3:1 by volume (100:27 by weight) - so it seems that it's all good. but no... The West hardeners use different size openings to make it impossible to use the wrong pump - it turns out that the West 5:1 pump is the one that fits the opening in the Aeropoxy 3660 bottle (3:1) - So, you can't use the pumps to measure. But, the pumps are still really helpful because they allow you to dispense very precise quantities into a cup sitting on your precision scale without any dripping or running.

Mike
 
How about these? I got something like this for my ES6209 Aeropoxy and just cut the tops large enough to allow easy dispensing.
 
I got some squeeze bottles like Viperfixr is talking about. I had no idea how thick the structural adhesive is though. This stuff is like tar. Cut the tops large and it's not too hard to use though. Mixes well, and has a really long cure time compared to the 30min stuff I usually use. It's nice to have it workable for an hour though. And it doesn't run nearly as much as the other stuff. Should be really nice for fillets and such.
 
Back
Top