Resin Spray Gun/ Impregnator?

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by CajunBoater, Feb 8, 2023.

  1. CajunBoater
    Joined: Jan 2023
    Posts: 2
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    Location: Louisiana

    CajunBoater New Member

    Looking for suggestions on what type of equipment I need to help with saturating the cloth while hand layup on an 18' mold. I'd like to get something external mix, as to help with cleaning equipment. Maybe an impregnator may be the way to go? But really liking the idea of spraying resin then hand rolling the glass out. Or is there another way to help with the process. I'm a 1 man operation
     
  2. wet feet
    Joined: Nov 2004
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    Location: East Anglia,England

    wet feet Senior Member

    Is it a production environment or a one off build?There are technical reasons,since the spraygun will need to be supplied with catalysed resin and the pot of most is a bit small-even with pressure pot systems,not to mention the risk of severe exotherm in a large pot.I have yet to see a simple spray gun used for laminating,but a chopper gun is quite common in a production shop and will have a feed from a resin drum and a catalyst pot that it mixes in the gun.It really requires several boats to absorb the cost and it makes the place pretty unpleasant for any other kind of work at the same time.They often crop up in the "for Sale" section.A word of warning however;they take a lot of cleaning and you need a large supply of compressed air.You are also unlikely to be competent instantly and will have to spend time getting used to the process,if you are to avoid skimped or over heavy laminates.For a one off build,its probably better to endure a bit of backache.
     
  3. Rumars
    Joined: Mar 2013
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    Location: Germany

    Rumars Senior Member

    You can buy a lot of infusion consumables for the price of a competent spray rig. "Infused" also sounds better in marketing and passing on the cost is way easier.
     
  4. CajunBoater
    Joined: Jan 2023
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    Location: Louisiana

    CajunBoater New Member

    I'll be building a couple boats a year. I'd love to learn the infusion process, but no one in my area does it.
     
  5. Rumars
    Joined: Mar 2013
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    Location: Germany

    Rumars Senior Member

    Look at some videos, buy some goretex infusion hose (that way resin doesn't get into the vacum hose and you can't screw up really bad) and do some experiments with your thickest laminate stack. Divide the boat hull into smaller areas by hose laying and do a test infusion. For a couple a boats a year it's easy to justify the increased cost of the consumables.
     

  6. wet feet
    Joined: Nov 2004
    Posts: 1,391
    Likes: 433, Points: 83, Legacy Rep: 124
    Location: East Anglia,England

    wet feet Senior Member

    Its always a good policy to use a small item for trialling a new process.Maybe try infusing a hatch or some other small part as a learning process and then progress to the bigger and more important items.The workshop environment will be much more pleasant with infusion in use and there is a very strong probability that the more effective consolidation will make up for much of the cost of consumables.For information,spray laminating tends to use quite a lot of resin and the cleaning and maintenance of the gun is quite time consuming.
     
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