[pianotech] Epoxy Filler

Douglas Gregg classicpianodoc at gmail.com
Tue Jan 24 18:36:08 MST 2012


The use of wheat flour with epoxy makes me wonder why you are using
epoxy. You might as well use wood dough.  Wheat flour is basically
starch with no fiber (lignin) and as such has no inherent strength. It
functions more as a fairing agent in this application; which it will
do nicely but gives up much of the strength of  the epoxy. A better
choice is to use the fairing agent that is used in most body putties
and some epoxies- talc. It is cheap and you can get it at any dollar
store for near the price of  flour. It is likely the primary  fairing
agent in West System 405 filler-but that is a trade secret. Talc is
ground stone and does not take up the epoxy and starve the joint by
absorbing the epoxy as sawdust will do. There is some reduction in
strength but it is minimal.  It is easy to machine down and powdered
pigment or stain can be added to the epoxy and talc mixture to get a
color that you would want. Coloring  does not work well with sawdust
as the sawdust usually comes out too dark to start with once it is
wetted with epoxy.

I will be giving a  presentation on adhesives in Seattle for more
detailed information and how to make the  best choices based on the
science of adhesives. It will not be overly technical but very useful
for daily choices of adhesives.

Douglas Gregg
Classic Piano Doc
Southold, NY


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