Clean up after glassing

[BoatingCop]

It seems that every time that I get done glassing, I always have to throw my brush and the bucket I used for my resin away. I try soaking the brush in acetone or paint thinner, but it doesn't work. Also, how do you clean out your bucket that you used for the resin? I've tried acetone and paint thinner on that with no luck. I just bought a fiberglass roller and a corner roller and would like to use them more than once. I would also like to get more use out of my brush as well.

Also, will a roller get most of the air out from between the wood and the layer of cloth after it's wetted? I've never used a roller before so I don't know what to expect. Thanks!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Clean up after glassing

that is why i used paper cups, and roller pan liners, cheap brushes.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Clean up after glassing

It's much easier and less costly to just throw it all away after each use than to try and save anything, when you use the metal or plastic rollers designed for fiberglass they need to saved though.

Use plastic buckets, when the resin hardens it will pop right out, buy cheap brushes and chuck em. If you want to use F/G rollers (not just paint rollers), then get a small can with a lid and fill it about a quarter of the way up with acetone, keep the rollers in that while you're working that day. At the end of the day the acetone will probably be very dirty, so get rid of it and refill the can with fresh acetone, you can leave the rollers in the can so they're ready for the next day, or you can clean and dry them very well, then put them away if they won't be used again any time soon.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Clean up after glassing

If you're using epoxy, you can pull a lot of the same tricks with vinegar as you can with acetone for poly resin. The vinegar will keep the epoxy from hardening so you can clean and re-use items.

But... some of the epoxy still sticks around. It makes brushes less flexible, rollers jam up, and it makes a mess (and your work looks less good).

So what I do is use disposable foam rollers, chip brushes that I buy in boxes for 50 cents each, and lined trays. I get the white poly liners for paint trays and use them for rolling epoxy... when you want to mix new, just pop the liner out and set it to harden somewhere. The epoxy will later come out like a skin, and the tray will be cleaner than when you started.

Same thing with mixing... you can get a "handy cup" thing in quart size, it's a plastic cup with a rubber handle that takes clear plastic liners. You use the liner for mixing epoxy with whatever fillers, then pop it out and put in another when needed.

For shaping putty I use pieces of ice cream bucket lid... it's polyethylene, and you can cut any curve you want for shaping, then hardened epoxy just pops off.

Sometimes you need to use something that won't clean or dispose easily (or cheaply) and for those I clean with vinegar, or else avoid using them as much as I can.

I measure epoxy by weight (after calibrating using volume) into cheap plastic cups... if you use a scale, you can just mix in a sleeve of disposable beer cups.

If you use lined buckets, cups, and trays you can keep environmental impact down, cleanup work down, and your generated trash volume down too.

Erik

 

[Bondo]

Re: Clean up after glassing

I just bought a fiberglass roller and a corner roller and would like to use them more than once.

Ayuh,... I Agree with what everybody is saying,... Think Disposable...

My Bubblerollers are made of Metal,....
After the resin hardens,...
I burn it off with a torch,+ just clean up the ashes...