MyCarta making question?

R

RHankins

Joined
Jul 14, 2007
Messages
190
Starting to have some success with a new batch of MyCarta made with "T" shirt materials and fiberglass resin.
However...:confused: I believe I am not getting the right amount of resin to fabric ratio.
Any Help out there?
Or Could it be all I need to do is drop the fabric in the resin, soak and squeeze out the excess before forming it???
Will post pics if I can get some help:D
 
Hi, my experience with it was just glob it in the center-ish of each piece. I'd say 1.25" wide on a 3" piece of cloth, run almost the whole length. It's relatively thick glops. 10oz of resin is just barely enough to do 16 layers of heavy cloth at 3"x8". This yields a slab a little over .250" - The whole thing gets sandwitched between two boards with wax paper on them then wrapped with wax paper and clamped, the excess flows out the sides into the space in the paper.

Hope that helps.
 
its one of those things that you have ot play with till it seems right . then you change fabric and wam you haveot learn it all over again

i used to ahve a yards of fabric= OZ epoxy btu then i chagned a few things and now im back at the getttign it right (last batch was epoxy heavy or not pressed hard )
see now i do mostly "burl/rag" blocks making it hard for me to say per layer or even how wet each strip before laying up

sorry i never got the scales out and sais 3 yards of canvas = 45 OZ i go heavy on the epoxy and presss out the extra
 
I've had success making a couple batches with both denim and t-shirt material. I just dip the strip directly into the bucket of resin, squeegee it between my fingers (latex gloves) and then lay and flatten the strips. I have been pretty happy with the results. Hope this helps.
-Mike
 
Kinda thought I was making the process harder than it needs to be.
See no need for a twenty ton press Etc unless one just happens to be handy!

Wonder how T Shirt material and Burlap would do together...

Burlap would seem to need almost no pressing
 
i think some pressure is important to make sure its held tightly together so the material is compact. it seems like if its loose and unpressed it would have a more rubbery texture of the epoxy. I only put my 100 lb. anvil and a 50lb. block of lead on the board on top of the mycarta. i think it worked great.
 
i need the press when i make my blocks

the blocks are 6x10x 2-3 inches tall and its rag style and i have to press all the voids out layers are a little different
 
I also think you need pressure, I've used a press and used C-clamps. I'd use woodworker's clamps if they were around, it's hard to get even pressure on the c-clamps, but they work fine if you tighten them all the way down.
 
1/3 resin to 2/3 cloth (by weight) is a good starting point. Some materials are "thirstier" than others, so a lot of trial and error is needed. Pressure is needed also, the less stratified and more stiff the materials, the more pressure required to make a unified block (eg- rag burl or twists).

I find the burlap benefits from pressure. Also, plain burlap seems to be the nicest, and the addition of other stuff never seems to come out as nice as I expect.

Keep in mind, that it is best to go heavy on the resin and waste some rather than risk not using enough and losing the whole block due to delamination.

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top