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I tried my hand at some polyester and chopped strand mat work this last weekend. I am attempting to make some blocks to finally mount the re-boarding ladder.
I worked with epoxy, fillers and woven cloth before but this was my first try with polyester and CSM.
I have to say that for the price it is great! I like how it kicks a lot faster than epoxy and there is no need to measure precisely when mixing up the catalyst and resin. It is also really slick how the binder in the CSM dissolves in the resin and forms to any curved shape.
But this CSM is messy! Even just cutting it to shape dry I ended up with fibers everywhere. After I started doing the layup I ended up with tons strands on my gloves. This got worse as it was impossible to completely avoid getting them wet in the resin.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks for working with CSM? Would using a specific kind of gloves make it less likely to stick when dry? Should I use some tools to handle it (like tongs?) to help keep the mess off my gloves?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
I worked with epoxy, fillers and woven cloth before but this was my first try with polyester and CSM.
I have to say that for the price it is great! I like how it kicks a lot faster than epoxy and there is no need to measure precisely when mixing up the catalyst and resin. It is also really slick how the binder in the CSM dissolves in the resin and forms to any curved shape.
But this CSM is messy! Even just cutting it to shape dry I ended up with fibers everywhere. After I started doing the layup I ended up with tons strands on my gloves. This got worse as it was impossible to completely avoid getting them wet in the resin.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks for working with CSM? Would using a specific kind of gloves make it less likely to stick when dry? Should I use some tools to handle it (like tongs?) to help keep the mess off my gloves?
Thanks in advance for any advice!