wheat flour epoxy additive

I can't be the only person using this stuff as an epoxy additive.

Works well for glue or filleting and saves me $20 every time I don't have to buy some overpriced stuff at a boating supply place.

It also blends to an exact color match to fir plywood.

 

Yes, it works when used as a filler for wood. But because of the protein and sugar it is not very long lasting. With talcum powder as a filler the quality is much better.

 

Ive uses rice for reall heavy filling that wont be seen. But talc is real cheap --as cheap as flour.

Here its 30 cents a kilo.

 

Why would protein and sugar make it short lived?

 

Unless you are trying to escape from an island prison, $20.00 is nothing on the overall cost of a boat. If you are trying to save money, paint is a better target.

 

Good advice. Qaulity paint can be found at the hardware store...no need for 100 dollar a can marine paints

 

Ive used maple flour, pine flour and pecan flour all bought from epoxy suppliers and the main reason you use them is to make a filler of a certain color, i dont see any reason not to use wheat flour if it does what you want it to do, it gets sealed in with unfilled epoxy when your done anyway. As for saving a buck, its a cumulative think just like saving weight, no one thing is insignificant.

Steve.

 

Geeezuz Gonzo--- Give people a break --if you dont have 20 dollars then you don't have it.

No one is escaping from prison . Your posts are absolutely non forgiving, if you cant afford then you don t have it . Some things you may never have experienced.

We don't all own our own boat yard.

 

I too have no problems working with regular flour, however... I usually use talc as it is a bit heavier and doesn't dust up as much. Kind of a counter to the Cabosil I normally mix with it to add some thixotropic properties.

 

Talc and wheat (or corn or rice, etc.) flour are quite different in physical properties, once incorporated into the matrix. Talc offers relatively smooth and limited surfaces, for which the epoxy can bond or mechanically key. This is why it sands and bulks out epoxy so well. It should be used like any other light weight bulking agent, such as balloons and spheres. The grain or wood flours materials, are fibrous and absorbent, offering lots more surface area and bond opportunities for epoxy, making it a stronger and tougher filler choice.

Wood and grain flours should be used to improve the strength, stiffness, bond, adhesive and color qualities of the thickened goo. While talc should be used as a light weight bulking agent to make sanding and smoothing operations easier.

 

How do you deal with the oils in grains? Also, flour often in high in humidity compared to fumed silica or other fillers.

 

Flour has to be handled carefully. The wood and nut flours typically used as epoxy fillers are dried to about 5%, before packaging. If left sealed, moisture content will remain low, unless you mix epoxy in the rain. The oils and other stickum's that can be found are "cooked" off in the drying process. Pine and the nut flours need special attention, but the fibers are essentially sterile when they come out of the drier.

It's true they are more sensitive to moisture then the minerals like silica, talc and calcium, but with good sealing containers, not a problem. Here in Florida, the summer months can be brutal on these types of fillers, but I use gallon plastic jars with screw on lids. I usually run the flours through a sifter first, before dropping into some goo.

 

what about the mice and rates, after they finish with your soy based wire insulation will than turn to your epoxy fillets...

 

I don't understand the reluctance. We're joining panels of an organic product with a 10% moisture content together, not steel plates. I think I'll mix up some for some strength tests.

By the time a homebuilder has bought the fumed cilica and microspheres, coupled with the gallon of epoxy, and fiberglass he's been held at gunpoint for $300 he needs to build a "wooden" boat.

 

Flour as in the stuff I make my muffins from?