REFLECTOR: Epoxy question

[Lou Stedman]

I just had something unusual happen to me with epoxy. I am repairing my right rudder bell horn. I removed the bell horn and then I opened up an area in the rudder about 1/2” wide and the length of the bell horn. I removed about another 1/4” of foam inside the rudder so the the new epoxy would have a good surface to adhere to. This created a area where I could pour in epoxy and then insert the bell horn and wait for it to dry. I am using West Epoxy with the West 105 quick dry hardener. I decided to mix in some flux to strengthen the mix and stiffen it up a bit. I mixed everything up as usual and poured into the rudder. I let is set for a couple of minutes and then started to insert the bell horn. About that time the epoxy mixture began to expand just like expanding insulation does. It was very hot and began to omit fumes. The inside was too hard to get my bell horn in so I quickly removed all of the epoxy before I got too hard. I have never run into this before. Not sure what I did wrong but I would like to hear from anyone with suggestions. Maybe I should have use the slow cure hardener?

Lou Stedman
Velocity SEFG
N7044Q
Olean, NY
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