Raka Epoxy

Ja, and the next step woul be to ask them for the insurance policy to provide a fail safe system included in the one gallon purchase packet...............

Asking for a lot is not forbidden, asking for all is everydays business, asking for a insurance against own inability is insane.

Regards
Richard

 

Tadadatadaaa!

Do you have any reseller around in Europe?


The prices looks competitive and with the different solutions it seems like Swedish customers could be interested.

 

landlubber, in regards to your question If I'm not mistaken polyester resins wont bond to epoxy resins. Correct me if I'm wrong please anyone. So as to getting the flow coat to look correct I would have no way of saying if you did the entire boat and only the small spot the epoxy is on doesn't stick right if it would still work or not.

Apex thank you for the support. I am an honest person and I found this site through a report from google that this webpage links back to us. As some might know google places high importance on it. I'm not looking for free advertising because even without me here our website was mentioned a few times and google loves it. I am doing it 100% for the company/customers mutual best interest.

Andrew, While I would love to have full ASTM test ran on everything I'm sure you could guess that it would get quite expensive. Even more so being as all our hardeners and resins can be intermingled. As far as testing in high humidity we haven't done any official tests, but the tests in our "lab" are carried out in approx 75F with 50%RH, with that said we have done several boat projects inside the warehouse, which happens to be in Florida. It's usually around 80+F and around 75-90% humidity. One of our boats so far can be viewed at our website. www.raka.com

nukisen Right now we don't have any resellers in Europe but we do have the ability to ship anywhere. If you want you can email me at Kyle@raka.com if you need any specific information about that.

 

Kyle, if an epoxy formulator wants to imply/claim that their product can be used outside the requirements of international standards then I think its only fair enough that this can be backed up with non subjective evidence.

Abdrew

 

I understand entirely Andrew. I would love to be able to give you exact numbers and have them be ASTM certified. The problem with that is a vast majority of the public looks at the numbers and not what they mean. In the epoxy business that is no different. All companies will publish only numbers that make them look good. For example standard testing for pot life would be a 3oz batch at 77F done by equivalent weight and not volume. If they had a slightly lower number it is common practice to adjust what the number say by just changing the temperature for say. Obviously lower temps will elongate the pot life. They will obviously say it is at a different temp but majority will only see the longer time and think its better. We don't quote numbers for that reason. As bad as this sounds we don't want customers that want us for the numbers, we want customers that use our products because they have found out for themselves that its better or more economical and just as good.
Loyalty is better. If we had to make numbers appear better then they are then seem then it doesn’t make us happy about it.
I know that sounds like a long wrapped around way to get around the question or something but that's just a little info we want to our customers to know. If it seems like a problem just talk to us and we will do our best to give you the facts about our testing between our products and our competitors.

 

Hi Kyle

Do you have a Canadian supplier?

I've been comparison shopping for a project and find your prices on epoxy pretty good. Your biaxial fabrics appear to be priced below a lot of other suppliers in the US. Your tapes (biaxial 12 oz) seems to be a bit high. If I'm reading your page correctly (http://store.raka.com/biaxial1200-12ozwnomat45x-45x12in.aspx) is $2.70/yd? In fact I didn't see the quantity on any of those tape listings so I'm assuming they're by the yard. You might also want to add the total length of full rolls (ie. 50 yrds).

That's about it. When I'm ready to purchase I might give you a jingle.

Regards..

 

Rick, As far as a Canadian supplier we do not currently have one but we do ship directly to residents all over Canada. As far as the 12oz biaxial prices the rolls are quit expensive these days it seems that 6oz tapes have been almost all but eliminated. If you give us a call we may be able to do some deals we are not bad about helping people out. All fiberglass quanity is done in linear yards (aka running yard, ie. 1yd by 40")

 

What do you want to tell us? Who said that the mentioned products are "outside" of classification requirements (you called them standards in your comment)?

It would be fair enough (to quote you), to leave a formulator, like the only one we ever had here, make his statements, show us the figures, and wait how we will butcher him then.

It is exactly your sort of approach, that makes these pro´s fear the direct contact with us.


But..........at the end, YOU, the homebuilder, need them!!!

You have never any chance to get proper developed and proven products at sensible rates, when you would ask them for more than they could provide.

Do´nt you understand what happens here?

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER SEEN A SUPPLIER OF MARITIME SUPPLIES ABLE, AND WILLING TO DISCUSS ON A OPEN PLATFORM!

Belts and suspenders, yeah?



Regards
Richard

PS
by so far I did not buy a single gram of resin from Raka, not likely I ever will, (I am too far out of their supply range) but we have to adore that they are willing to discuss in a open Forum!

 

Richard, the S in "AS4132 Boat and Ship Design and Construction", "AS1799 Small Craft Hull Construction and Scantlings" stands for STANDARD not CLASSIFICATION.
Kyle asked for comments and suggestions for testing, that is all I have done.
What pissing contest? how do you reach that conclusion from what I have said.

Kyle,
Your example of pot life inconsistencies is exactly why I said only ASTM or ISO methods will be conclusive, anything else is just too subjective.
Locally the most successful formulator is the one that provides mechanical data for their products and for this they are able to charge premium prices. So the experience here is that majority of customers do want numbers by standard methods. But you understand your market best.
From above comments I do interpret that you and Richard suggest that just because an epoxy formulation is non blushing that it is OK to laminate in high humidity ie over 80%RH. From reading text books and discussion with people in the composite industry the issue as I understand it is mostly to do with resin to fiber bonding and equally applies to non blushing resins such as PE & VE.
And as Richard and you may realize I recently have asked in another tread if anyone can point me to test data that has lead to the 80% RH max (rule, standard, requirement, guideline or what ever you want to call it). This is why I had great hopes that you would do the testing as it will not only benefit you and your marketing but every one else like Richard and my self that's outside your market reach.

Regards
Andrew

 

No no Andrew that was a misinterpretation.
Amine blush maybe a second concern, but technical properties are the key factor we ask for.

Regards
Richard

 

In >80% RH conditions, it is not really the epoxy that I am worried about. Most epoxy even cures under water, not a big deal. If it blushes, it is annoying, but nothing not to overcome.

If is the fiber I am worried about. getting good adhesion on relatively wet fibers (whether glass, aramide or carbon, or whatever else) is a challenge.

Although there are epoxies that do adhere well to wet substrates (usually wood or concrete)

 

I rate your epoxy very highly. In fact your product is what I currently use for everything. The price is so so against what is out there. Longer pot life would be a plus but will it cure within a week?

 

Thank you for the feed back. Our newest slow epoxy has a 1/2hr with our standard thin resing and atleast a full hour with our other 2 resins. we found that in thin layers on wood that it is sandable in approx. 24hrs. (again we tested outside in florida on unpreped wood in approx 80F with 75% humidity.)

 

That's it. Kyle has convinced me.

I'm going to test out some Raka epoxy and possibly use it for my whole boat. Will update once I order some and test it (in about a month)

 

Catbuilder here is a web site for you to view. http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Epoxresl.htm