[pianotech] Epoxy Filler

[Encore Pianos]

One of my favorite Red Green skits is the one where they are doing the Call
In Advice show for guys.  So one guy calls in and asks, "What should I say
if my wife asks me, Honey, do you think I look fat in this dress?"  Their
advice?  "Say No and leave the room as quickly as possible."   :-)

Will


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Delwin D Fandrich
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 4:47 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Epoxy Filler

I'm reminded of an old cartoon in which God and St Peter (or someone
similar) are standing together observing Earth in its perpetual state of
self-destruction. God is handing St Peter a roll of duct tape and telling
him to go down there and fix the place. A challenge, I'm afraid, beyond even
the powers of duct tape.

ddf

Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Design & Fabrication
6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA Phone  360.515.0119 —
Cell  360.388.6525 del at fandrichpiano.com — ddfandrich at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Encore Pianos
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 1:21 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Epoxy Filler

Duct tape dams?  That calls for a highlight feature on the Red Green show!
That surfaces periodically on PBS around money begging time.  It's about  a
couple of good ole boys from back, back, backwoods Maine, whose solution to
everything is duct tape.  They once made a wide body SUV by duct taping two
old Econoline vans together.  

Will

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:27 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Epoxy Filler


To whom it may concern, or anyone interested,

Yesterday, I filled a set of rib mortises out in the shop, preparatory to
routing new mortises for a new and considerably different rib set, and
installed a cutoff bar, fish, and further belly rail bracing. I used
thickened West System epoxy. In the past, I'd used maple floor (band saw and
sander sweepings) for a filler and thickener. It works nicely to increase
the volume of the epoxy, but I don't like how the epoxy drains out of it as
it sits. Adding something of a smaller particulate, like high density filler
or colloidal silica tends to keep the epoxy in the wood flour, but it seems
like a waste of materials when all I want is a cheap filler and volume
increase that doesn't separate and doesn't kill the strength  and toughness
of the epoxy altogether. So yesterday I tried good old non-exotic general
purpose wheat flour. I used my wood flour for bulk, and enough wheat flour
to make a peanut butter viscosity mix for bedding the cutoff bars and
bracing, and more like yogurt to pour into the mortises and plate lag holes
with my highly sophisticated duct tape dams. It handled beautifully, and the
epoxy stayed suspended in the filler with no indication of it settling out.

When I leveled everything this morning, I was very pleased with the texture
of the cured mix. It's less brittle than straight epoxy, but still quite
tough, and works as well as anything I've tried, better than most, and
cheaper than almost anything.

If you have a need, I recommend you give it a try. Self rising? You're on
your own.

Ron N