heating a drum of resin

it just turned chilly here and I have a full drum of polyester resin that will no not flow through my GS gun,, I have a band heater but don't like to leave it hooked up over night!. What are some safe ideas I can use to make this workable?

 

Build a box around it out of something cheap like osb,insulate it with 1/2 or 3/4 inch foam, not polystyrene but the foil faced stuff should work fine and then rig up an incandecant lightbulb in a trouble lamp which you just lay on the floor under the drum, you dont need a very big bulb, they put out a fair bit of heat, try a 40 watt. Presumably the drum is on its side in a cradle so your box will only have 5 sides with a slot cut in 1 end to sit down over the spiggot. The only thing you have to watch is when on 24/7 make sure the bulb dosnt die without you noticing as its easier to keep the drum warm than to get it there in the first place. I use an old fridge with a small bulb to keep epoxy and paint warm, i buy the things without the guts from one of the recycling places.

Steve.

 

Dont laugh but a single electric blanket and 1inch of foam over the top is ok !! turn on low and leave it on 24 hrs . make sure the drum is on some solid wood up off the floor !!theres usually no need to heat the drom just warm it and keep the cill away . its all we ever used in one company i worked and they lasted more than 3 years .

 

Thanks Guys I will make both suggestions work !,, My drum stands verticle on its round end ! so I like the OSB box ,, very kewl thanks!

 

I use an electric blanket too.

 

Why not the band heater? These are designed for it...

 

You can get used electric blankets at the used shops for 5 dollars or so. I guess I am cheap

 

I have a band heater and it was expensive It gets so hot I don't like to leave it on even thought it has a t stat

 

I totally agree !! I do remember being in one company and finding a old band heater that had exsploded and great chunk of the band was missing . Another place had a band heater ans was so hot could feel the heat a couple of feet away !!
The electric blanket thing does everything its required to do . you only need to have a few degrees of warmth thats all and most important get the drum up off the concrete floor an old wooden pallet with a piece if 18mm plywood on top to sit the drum is ideal can also keep your gelcoat tins in the same place as well and keep them warm to !!
South Korea and here in China we gets down to minus -15c in the winter but we have inline heaters fitted on the gelcoat and the resin guns . Its just a matter of cycling the pumps a few times and getting the warm product to flow to the gun head before you start then slip the pin back in for the catalyst pump and set the catalyst ratio and away you go for a days work . If the heaters are set low then they can be used for nearly 4 months of the year . They only there to warm the product and lower the viscocity so you cet a nice spray pattern thats all !!!.

 

These band heaters presumably had no thermostats. Also they come in various temperature ranges, they limit their output themselves, at a certain temperature.

Only the ones with an adjustable dial are thermostaticly controlled. Buy the right ones, not the cheapest ones.

And about the exploded one:
on the band heater it probably said "only connect power when installed on a barrel". It needs the cooling from the barrel to prevent overheating. But who reads safety warnings anyhow...
and second, what is broken hardware doing in a shop? Waiting for it to self-repair? Workshops should be clean and organised, and broken stuff should be repaired or tossed.

Even better is to heat the workshop in total. This prevents condensation problems, curing problems, etc. Below 15C one should not work with MEKP. Even if the resin is heated, the tool is not.

 

Here we go --health a safety raises its ugly head just to warm a drum of resin.

It will explode Oh no

Its no wonder China powers ahead.

 

Good to keep your home brew on the go in winter too

 

Warm water concrete floors being amoung the best.

 

At what temperature are you are laminating?

Minimum temperature to work with polyester resin according to many standards is 18°c/64°F . Tooling and everything that
you are laminating or coating to, has to have reached that temperature preferably 24 hours before you start. It is also
important that the fibers have reached the shop temperature without any plastic wrap around it.
I have never done any testing of strength or bonding when laminating at lower temperatures, but I wonder if anyone has.

My shop has geothermal heated concrete floors and the only disadvantage is that the radiant heat
from the floor does accelerate the gel-time on the side of the mold facing the floor.

Axel

 

What water ( or liquid ) temperature are you running through the floor?