Fairing fabrication -3M alternatives to west systems 105

[oren_rokach]

dear builders!
need your help here:
I am building in Israel, and seems like no distributor of west systems.
I believe most builders are using the west systems 105 and hardner to fabricate the fairings.
I already own a pint of 3M dp460 (https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...y-Adhesive-DP460/?N=5002385+3293241275&rt=rud)

Can I substitute the west systems resin with this one?
in general, what is considered to be a valid epoxy for this task?
Any known 3M epoxy alternative?

Thanks!
Oren

 

[9GT]

What you have is a structural epoxy adhesive. I would not use it to wet out fiberglass. Any common boat building epoxy will do just fine for this application.

 

[oren_rokach]

What you have is a structural epoxy adhesive. I would not use it to wet out fiberglass. Any common boat building epoxy will do just fine for this application.

Thanks David!
never worked with epoxies before. Can you maybe explain the difference between adhesive and the west systems 105? (resin?)

have triend to google, but they say its basically the same

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-epoxy-adhesives-and-epoxy-resins

Can you please shed some light?

Oren

 

[rvbuilder2002]

Epoxy adhesive - Meant for bonding two materials to each other. Such as wood joinery in a wood structure aircraft. It is typically of higher viscosity to give it some slight gap filling properties.

Epoxy Resin - Meant for wetting out composite (glass, carbon fiber, etc) cloth.
Typically lower in viscosity than an epoxy adhesive would be so that you can get it to soak into the cloth easily.

 

[oren_rokach]

Epoxy adhesive - Meant for bonding two materials to each other. Such as wood joinery in a wood structure aircraft. It is typically of higher viscosity to give it some slight gap filling properties.

Epoxy Resin - Meant for wetting out composite (glass, carbon fiber, etc) cloth.
Typically lower in viscosity than an epoxy adhesive would be so that you can get it to soak into the cloth easily.

Thanks a lot!
Makes sense now...

BR,
Oren

 

[svyolo]

Pure "epoxy" is very thick and difficult to use. Everybody starts with the base, and adds things to it for whatever they plan on selling it for. Laminating epoxy is epoxy that is thinned. Structural adhesive epoxy has additives that make it thicker and stronger. You can add micro balloons or wood flour to laminating epoxy and make your own lightweight fairing epoxy.

They also add plasticizers, solvents, all kinds of stuff to make the epoxy tailored to specific applications. But it is still epoxy at its base.

Your local boat chandlery will probably have several brands. I use System 3 for most laminating and fairing. I have used a lot of West in the past. Its all good.