Epoxy 101

IRM is an educational organization, and that's good, because we all have a lot to learn.  I think.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

I could certainly use some instruction on the use of modern epoxies.  Tim Peters is an expert and helped me with gluing up some of the third-rail beams we're making for the 36.  Due to the difficulty of getting good white oak in these sizes, the beams are made by gluing two pieces together, as seen here.  We actually have some product placement in the background, but it may be hard to identify.

 The supplier Tim prefers makes a variety of products.  There is the thin stuff, which we usually think of as epoxy, and then a putty-like substance that we see him mixing up here.  You can then mix the two types together in any desired ratio to produce varying degrees of thickness.  Here we are mixing up what Tim calls "pancake batter", which should work well for this application.  And it has just about the same color as pancake batter, too.  Mmmmm!  (Hint: don't lick the bowl.)

 After applying the epoxy and smearing it around with an old brush, the work is clamped together, and preferably the pancake batter starts to ooze out at the joints.  Tim is removing excess material and putting it back in any voids.  We glued up two of the four beams and left them to set up.

One of the boards was too short, so I had to make a ship lap to complete it.  We also glued the two parts of this together, as seen here.  Luckily our shop has a pipe clamp that can be extended out to 6' or more.I plan to insert a couple of vertical carriage bolts just to be sure.

And lest anything should go to waste, Tim applies what little is left over to one of the third rail beams for the 1024.  The CRT design is much smaller.

For much of the rest of the last two days, however, it was mostly more paint stripping and surface prep.  But the result was that I was able to put primer on four more sectors of the window posts, followed by first finish blue on six sectors of the lower siding, as seen here.  So that part is now more than half done.  As you may notice, it gets harder and harder to take a picture of the completed part.

And I also applied blue to the bumper at the #1 end, where it had been stripped and primed.

And here's another one of those oddities I finally noticed for the first time.  These windows are both as high as they can go.  The window tracks in the 36 have metal strips with steps for the latches, but they are of four different lengths, from 17" to 24", and there's no apparent pattern to the various sizes.  This is certainly the way the car came from the CA&E, but I have no idea why this should be.  On each of our other cars the tracks are all the same. 

Tim is continuing to work on the 1024, and making good progress.  The gates have been removed and stored, and the metal underframe is being prepared for welding where needed to strengthen it.  And the roof has been cleaned of all the hardware, old canvas, and other items.  This will really be a jewel when it's complete!

Yesterday's holiday luncheon was a great occasion to talk to old friends and meet new people.  A good time was had by all, as we have seen in Al's post.  You too could be part of this rambunctious group!