Making your own Micarta

K

Kiwi303

Joined
Feb 13, 2005
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Re the title... is this possible? Maybe by using a cureable under pressure anaerobic epoxy to lightly soak canvas strips and then placing them in a waxed mould under pressure to exclude air bubbles?

I just like experimenting and making EVERYTHING myself :eek: oh... I do draw the line somewhere, I won't go mine the ore and smelt the rocks to get my own iron...

Yet anyway :cool:
 
It's very possible, and in doing so you can do a lot of very interesting Damascus-ish stuff. Check out this thread for one example.

I've had pretty good luck with it myself, just laying up canvas/denim and epoxy (I used West System, spreading it on between layers) and clamping it between steel plates.

hkr_skinner.jpg


One thing I found is that leaving it clamped longer seems to make it more stable. One piece I left over a weekend hasn't moved nearly as much as one that was clamped for less than 24 hours.

Also, Gougeon Bros. makes another epoxy called Pro-Set which is more oriented toward laminates and is less viscous, whereas West System is primarily for bonding and filling wood, and is thicker. I'm gonna try Pro-Set next batch and see if I like it better.

-Allin
 
Micarta is about the same as smelting. you have to ask yourself WHY? Its a quality vs cost issue. Some things are better off left to fractories. I salute you in wanting to do it all. use the $$ on more shop tools. :D
 
I'm currently in the middle of a composites manufactuing class at college, ans we do this almost everyday.

Fifty bucks will get you a couple gallons of binary epoxy and the measuring pumps to use it correctly.

I owuld recommend using a vacuum bag setup instead of a physical clamp to hold things together. Vacuum bagging does a wonderful job at removing air bubbles and ensuring a quality finished part.

A nice vacuum bag setup is cheap to build (<<$50) and will make great panels or parts.

If you would like I can get you the vendors and part numbers for all the stuff that you will need. It's a very easy and efficient process.
 
Fishbulb, I'm interested in knowing more about vacuum bags. My girlfriend is a boatbuilder and has mentioned them, but she doesn't work with laminates and can't tell me a whole lot about them.

How, in a "bag," do you keep the part flat, and how do you keep everything from sticking together?
 
if it's just the "one-time-use" bags you can just grind them off when it's hard, but keeping it flat is a good one.....
maybe clamp it down as normal then vacuum the bag?
Steve

edited to add: I just use a couple boards about 12x12x1 and wrap them in plastic wrap, then I start layering the fabric on the board, top it off with the other board and clamp the he!! out of it with c-clamps and a couple square tubes to even out the pressure.
The last batch I made turned out perfect, but it took a little longer to dry than normal.... make sure you do it outside, the smell will fill your whole house in a matter of minutes, it's very strong stuff (polyester fiberglass resin) and wear your respirator!
I took the can in with a bit spilled on the side and it stunk up the whole place, I had to take the can back outside and open all the windows... :barf:
 
certainly sounds doable :) I've done fiberglass before, motorcycle fairing and boat repair :P blew the motor on the bike but the boat aint gone and sunk yet :D
I was thinking that maybe micarta had special epoxies required, but if normal expoxy will do, I can get non-shrinking marine epoxy at mates rates from a boatbuilding place if they have a couple of litres left and want to open another 60 litres each of epoxy and catalyst :P their stuff will aparently work equally well on fiberglass, wood and metal, and he's always complaining about his pockets getting glued shut, so it should do canvas and denim too :)
Do you chaps know just HOW much epoxy there is in a boat!?! a 30 footer is close to 150 litres of mixed epoxy.
 
elvenbladesmith07 said:
does the epoxy contain formaldahyde? cant you use a poleyester resin for micarta
Click to expand...

#1, IDK #2, Yes

And it's pretty easy, even I the tard was inspired to try after seeing Ariel's threads. It came out pretty good, but then I realized I have no use for it.
 
Polyester resin is some nasty stuff. The binary epoxy resin that we use is odor-free and relatively easy to clean up. It is also safe as long as you don't eat it or do anything dumb. No respirators required.

The vacuum bag is very simple. For flat panels we just leave the bag under a heavy metal plate while we pull a vacuum and then wait for the resin to cure. 3D parts are a bit more tricky, but generally the bag will press your laminate flat against whatever you are using for a mold, as long as the mold is rugged enough not to get crushed.

We build up the panels between two plastic release sheets before placing them in the vacuum bags. These sheets don't stick to the resin, so everything just peels apart easily once it cures.
 
Fishbulb: Do you have a brand name for the binary resin you use? I have never met a resin/epoxy that didnt smell very bad for you. :eek:

I have made my own micarta and it came out well. When using fiberglass resin I had some problems. First, it has a very short working time which made it hard for me to get a thick enough slab of fabric built up. Second, it did not want to work on cotton and just polyester stuff (really not sure why?). So I got some epoxy from home depot used to put a thick coat on top of picnic tables. About $15 for a quart of it and it had I would guess a 2-3 hour work time. So long that I didnt think it was going to set up but the next day it was hard.

My process: Cut up the fabric into the size you want with the colors you want in the micarta. I take a piece of aluminum foil and lay it down and then mix up the epoxy. Then I just start dipping the cloth into the epoxy with rubber gloves on and sqeeze off the excess and lay it down and keep doing it until I have the thickness I want. I then lay it on a 3/4 inch plate of steel that is sitting on my press and put another piece of aluminum foil on top and then a steel plate and press down on it forcing out the excess resin and air bubbles. I would assume you could do the same thing but drive your truck over it or clamps or something to put pressure. Most of it has come out good and with the custom colors I want. The last batch I made though I wonder if I might have forced out too much resin as it seems more 'grainy' and 'powdery' when I grind it but it is still very hard. If anyone has more questions let me know and good luck!

Ryan
 
Thanks for the info!

West Systems is the thinnest stuff I had for my epoxy 'tests'. Looks like a good choice, but I have the 10 min working time. That's not enough time.

I like the vacuum bag idea Fishbulb! That's enough to make me want to try.

Steve
 
The stuff that we use is on this page:

http://www.shopmaninc.com/epoxy.html

Item # EPOX-635314

Medium Speed Thin Epoxy

If anybody's interested I could do a more detailed writeup about the vacuum bag process when I get some time. Just let me know. I would be interested to see how it turns out.
 
I'm Definately interested!!. can we use a normal freezer type bag with a vacuum pump to deflate it and then sealed with a solid tie? or does it need special sealing bag?
 
The vacuum bag setup that we use consists of a long roll of bag material with a clamp for each end. It is effectively just a flat tube of plastic film.

You cut off the bag to the length required for the part(s) that you are making and place the part (with a plastic release sheet on each side) inside of the bag.

On top of this you put a flat "breather sheet" that is any loose fabric material, like what you would use to stuff a quilt. This breather sheet serves two purposes:
-it permits the vacuum to be pulled evenly throughout the bag
-it absorbs any extra resin that is pulled out of the part

After this, we cut a tiny "X" in the bag and install a barbed vacuum fitting. It is important to make sure that this fitting is located over the breather sheet so it can pull a good vacuum, but far enough from the part that you don't suck resin into your pump.

Finally, we clamo the ends closed and pull a vacuum inside the bag. We use a $15 Harbor Freight venturi pump attached to shop air, but really anything should work. I am working on an adapter that will permit me to use a Shop-Vac at home, as I am planning to make up some composite panels for use on my car.

We leave it under vacuum for an hour or so until the resin is well set, and then unhook the vacuum line and let the bag sit overnight. The next morning we pop the part out and go from there. The bag and vacuum fitting can be reused, the brether sheet and release sheet get thrown away.

It'll take a bit of experimentation to get the results that you want, but this setup is ridiculously simple and produces very satisfactory parts once you get the hang of it.

We've done work with glass, kevlar, and carbon fiber; as well as 3D molds and honeycomb sandwich panels. With minor modifications this setup was able to do it all. Really, you are only limited by the size of the bag you have available and how much product you can get laid up before the resin starts to harden.

With a bit of creativity anybody should be able to make something similar for cheap.

I hope this cleared things up a bit, please let me know if you have any questions.
 
i was lookjing at some o.d. cotton tees, will the weave of the cloth yeild good results? anyone ever used cotton t shirts before?
 
fishbulb said:
The stuff that we use is on this page:

http://www.shopmaninc.com/epoxy.html

Item # EPOX-635314

Medium Speed Thin Epoxy

If anybody's interested I could do a more detailed writeup about the vacuum bag process when I get some time. Just let me know. I would be interested to see how it turns out.
Click to expand...
I wonder if this stuff would work on japanese wraps?????
 
elvenbladesmith07 said:
i was lookjing at some o.d. cotton tees, will the weave of the cloth yeild good results? anyone ever used cotton t shirts before?
Click to expand...

I've experimented a bit with denim panels.

As long as you don't need much structural strength they should work out OK. As the handle on a fixed blade is essentially just taking up space rather than supporting a load, cotton would probably work. Certainly worth a shot.

As far as using epoxy for handle wrapping, I honestly don't know. I've never tried a legitimate handle wrap myself, but I'd certianly say that it's probably woorth trying if somebody had the materials and the knowhow.
 
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