neuxstone said:
Sorry for not making it clear on the website. This is not my Day job and it is very difficult to update the website. After hearing this forum's gripes I will certainly take this into consideration as soon as I can find the time it takes to do so.
The best reason for not naming the resin I spec, is everyone including my competitors will then spec it. There is something to be said about flying under the radar.
I have a Composite Architectural element company; Architectural Masters. We occupy a 30000 sq foot building here at 4506 Mercantile Ave, Naples FL (google earth our address). Our day job is Huge Architectural Composite Contracts.
We don't hand lay the glass but use the latest low VOC chop equipment. I'm not entering a debate about what is better; just letting on how we stay competetive...
I have requests for tanks of various styles but I have to make sure there is a market because I will have to sell 2 dozen or so before the tooling even pays for itself. Moreso most of these tanks have underdrafts which necessitates a multiple part mold. After demolding, the parting lines have to be removed and much work is needed to sand, smooth and buff the part. We also have a tough time finding vendors for the antique filler necks and caps, and with the international devaluation of our dollar and shipping from overseas, the cost to the customer becomes burdonsome. I hate going to a forum where the same folks that requested a tank copy, (not understanding the cost of such an endevor) have a beef with the price...no good deed goes unpunished...!
I also read some of the thread about the "caswell type sealers" THEY SIMPLY DON'T WORK. The chemist of my distirbutor tested every coating I sent him in a quest to find one that works.
Time for me to get back to work now, so if anyone wants to get ahold of me my direct cell number is listed on the Legendary Site. I probably won't win any popularity contests here but I find it difficult to monitor forums as they are mostly just opinions and I am a busy man.
Bearing in mind the fact that there have been an awful lot of problems with GRP tanks related to modern fuels, it seems strange you have not bothered to provide accurate information about your products on your web site, and do not denote the exact terms of the warranty you provide?
In regard to resins that work perfectly for production of GRP tanks which will be used with modern fuels, these are easy enough to find in resin manfacturers tech data sheets.
Polyplex 490 terepthalic is UL1316 approved, and in terms of cost the terepthalic systems are not much more money than a common or garden iso:
http://www.fgi.com.au/files/images/stor ... rResin.pdf
Your tooling must be awfully costly to make, and if so this seems to mean the capacity to make small numbers of tanks or one off specials using rough skin moulds is very much reduced?
In terms of resins that are resistant to alcohol fuels and would seem appropriate for use as fuel tank sealer's, like those denoted with a high degree of resistance against ethanol in resin manufacturers data sheets, these are numerous and under laboratory conditions will be highly resistant to ethanol.
However the inside of an old motorcycle tank which may well not have been properly prepared, and issues to do with vibration and heat, means that lab chemical resistance tests are pretty meaningless in relation to tank sealer's, which is something that seems to have been validated by the fact that failure of sealer's based on very highly resistant resins are according to users very common.
The only sealing product that seems to offer some degree of long term success are the polysulphide materials, which have been used industrially for many years, and retain a degree of flexibility when cured, which precludes problems to do with failure caused by cracking, which are generally the main reason the snake oil sealing products fail at some stage.
