Use of epoxy for levelling

[njhussey]

As Neale says a steel guide bush is a useful tool if using profiled linear rail similar to this one I made...



I've shown how I did it (I used my pillar drill clamped to the machine bed) here...http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/2148-...-Planes/page40 and there's a video on the next page of my build....

[Neale]

Using a pillar drill would make an enormous difference - it's difficult to get the downward pressure using a handheld drill, then you wobble (did I mention the need for a few spare drill bits?).

Knurling the bush is just showing off. I just threw an odd bit of steel in the lathe. Should have done it before I had already drilled one and a half of the long X rails...

[njhussey]

Using a pillar drill would make an enormous difference - it's difficult to get the downward pressure using a handheld drill, then you wobble (did I mention the need for a few spare drill bits?).

Knurling the bush is just showing off. I just threw an odd bit of steel in the lathe. Should have done it before I had already drilled one and a half of the long X rails...

I knurled it because I did that one for someone on here, I even chemically blacked it for good measure

[Neale]

I did consider making a single bush with a hole for the tapping size drill at one end and a hole for the tap at the other end...

[njhussey]

I did consider making a single bush with a hole for the tapping size drill at one end and a hole for the tap at the other end...

But then there's not as much of the bush in contact so the chance of wobble is greater?

[reefy86]

cheers guys, im going to look for a decent pillar drill as i want this project to be perfect :) any decent ones to recommend ?

cheers

ash

[AndyUK]

Hi All,

Sorry to resurrect a four year old thread, but I'm trying to do a post-mortem of why my epoxy pour went so wrong.

I was using West 105 with the 209 extra slow, mixing 3.5 parts by weight 105 to 1 part 209 - in my book thats 350g to 100g.

The air temperature was about 21 degrees when I poured, which the manufacturer states: Pot life at 72°F (22°C): 40 to 50 minutes - we didn't get anything like that. The full description of what happened is in my build thread (here), but short story is we mixed 1.3L into one pot in 6 stages, stirring for a minute at each stage.

We then thought lets leave it for 10mins for the bubbles to rise, but we didn't realise the temperature of the mixture was rapidly increasing. By 8 mins into the wait, the whole thing was burning hot and we started to pour as the plastic container was melting. That kinda ties in with the manufacturers Pot life at 95°F (35°C): 15 to 20 minutes.

How do I get it to wait 72hours? Mine was rock hard within minutes, you guys are still leaving fingerprints after days! Was it just those few minutes waiting that screwed me, or should I mix a small amount, pour, then mix more and pour over?