Laminating Equipment Rental?

I currently work in the industry and maintain an entire facility of Magnum Venus Products spray equipment as part of my job, because frankly, I don’t trust anyone else with vital process equipment.

It donned on me. No one rents this equipment for one-offs and home builders. I’ve been trying to find someone to rent me a 1:1 unit for spray silicone for a reusable infusion bag project, but I have been unsuccessful.

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So a question ;

If a company rented airless laminating equipment, would you be interested in renting it for your next project?

I am entertaining starting it as a business. I am looking at two manufacturers currently.

Both units will spray resin or gelcoat.
Both units are internal mix with solvent flush.
Both units output about 1 gal of catalyzed material per minute.
Both units are set up for peroxide initiated resin systems, no greater than 6000 cps viscosity.4

Spray heads included would be;
Non-spray, Pour/injection dispenser (~3 cfm to run, great for infusion and low mess)
Spray dispenser (for gel or wetout) (6 cfm to run)
Spray dispenser w/ chopper motor (17 cfm to run)

So, a cheap 2.5 hp 110v air compressor with a 26gal receiver will get you spraying.

The unit would be shipped in two pelican cases, and use 5gal pails for material. Simple video instructions would be available online for usage, as well as cleaning information for return shipment.

Crunching rough costs, the fee would be in the realm of about $60 to $90 a day. With a chopper motor and roving, laying up laminates of 1/4” is quite easy, and can be rolled out with minimum effort thanks to the lack of binders/emulsifiers.

Thoughts?

 

The daily fee is too low, and your risk of it coming back in a non functioning condition is high.

At 60-90 bucks a day I’d jump on it if I needed it for a project.

 

That’s what $$$ deposits are for, and insurance if someone decides to be a thief.

Also, I can rebuild just about anything. My record so far was an mvp patriot pat-ls-12270 fluid section left loaded with waxed gelcoat for bilge coating in it... an abandoned process. For 3 years. I was able to get it back up working again with no hard parts damaged.

 

How many people are normally allocated to roll-out the output of such equipment ?

 

We usually staff pieces from anywhere from 1 to 6 people.

It is perfectly possible to lay up a large piece solo. It is actually easier to spray solo instead of bucket mix because you don’t need to stop to mix resin or gelcoat. I usually try to work no more than one meter square at a time. The secret is to maintain a wet edge and spray no more than what you can roll out within the resin’s gel time.

The primary resin I work with is a 40min, so it’ll vary from about 35 to 45 minutes depending on laminate thickness.

Thinner laminates ; more DDM9
Thicker ; less DDM9
Same for temp. Hotter, less. Colder, more. Most sprayup is around 1.5% initiator for resin, 2.25% gelcoat.