Amazon epoxy vs brand name epoxy?

[starcmr]

How much stronger and how much better is the adhesion for a higher quality epoxy such as west system or totalboat vs cheap epoxy from amazon?

I recently used some of the amazon stuff to build a custom evaporative cooling unit for my greenhouse. It seemed to adhere extremely well and the 1/2" radius fillets were hard as a rock, but a couple of them cracked down the middle Rent an apartment in Mar Mkhayel. They were made with silica filler. I sanded them down and made much larger fillets with silica and wood fiber and all is good now.

Which brings me to the question, would adding milled glass fiber or some other kind of fibrous filler prevent cracking? What other fillers prevent cracking and improve the overall strength of the finished product, without adversely affecting bonding strength?

Is a more flexible epoxy a good solution for things that may thermally expand and contract?

What is the impact of adding microspheres on the strength and bonding?

ya I am asking what brand do peaple prefer?? and why?? I just got some NHP30 Has any one used this type?? did you like it ?? I plan to use it on my 1st high power and woud like some feed back on it befor useing it on a $ 60.00 kit if you know what I mean!! Thanks

 

[fallguy]

I’ve used Systems 3 Silvertip and MAS and Raka and West.

I prefer West and Systems 3. I prefer the cure times of Silvertip over all the others where fast is wicked fast and slow is not too fast and they offer a 2 hour tropical.

I used MAS for a canoe and loved it. But MAS is a local company and would not support a large project that used hundreds of gallons of epoxy because they are sort of a boutique supplier.

I used Raka on a ply deck repair. The substrate was outgassing terribly. I’m not sure if to credit Raka, but I used others on ply without problems.

Hundreds of gallons of Silvertip. Never one blush event indoors or out. I did have microvoids under high vac pressures and some early frustrations with them, but overall my preferred product for large jobs and early on they were supplying 5 gallon jugs. I was frustrated their tds could have had demold times, etc.

West Marine with pumps is the way to go for many jobs and super great for small jobs. Their fast is a bit slow for me and their slow is a bit too fast. I have hundreds of gallons of experience and my criticisms are accurate.

The one thing about Silvertip I did not like is they have a color variation in their hardeners. The color changes always threw me off because when you mix a lot of resin; you start to expect a certain color.

 

[starcmr]

I’ve used Systems 3 Silvertip and MAS and Raka and West.

I prefer West and Systems 3. I prefer the cure times of Silvertip over all the others where fast is wicked fast and slow is not too fast and they offer a 2 hour tropical.

I used MAS for a canoe and loved it. But MAS is a local company and would not support a large project that used hundreds of gallons of epoxy because they are sort of a boutique supplier.

I used Raka on a ply deck repair. The substrate was outgassing terribly. I’m not sure if to credit Raka, but I used others on ply without problems.

Hundreds of gallons of Silvertip. Never one blush event indoors or out. I did have microvoids under high vac pressures and some early frustrations with them, but overall my preferred product for large jobs and early on they were supplying 5 gallon jugs. I was frustrated their tds could have had demold times, etc.

West Marine with pumps is the way to go for many jobs and super great for small jobs. Their fast is a bit slow for me and their slow is a bit too fast curseforge minecraft mods. I have hundreds of gallons of experience and my criticisms are accurate.

The one thing about Silvertip I did not like is they have a color variation in their hardeners. The color changes always threw me off because when you mix a lot of resin; you start to expect a certain color.

thank you so much for your suggestion