Many years ago, when I was the factory manager and board designer at Option Snowboards, I was approached at the Las Vegas USIA snowboard trade show by a technical sales representative from a small epoxy formulator who wanted us to try their resin in our boards. Being happy with what we were using at the time, I declined, but they offered to send us a few gallons for sampling. A few months later, when we were prototyping I decided to give it a shot, and pressed a few boards with it.
To say I was impressed with it would be a big understatement! Excellent, fast curing in the press, no post curing or post cure tensioning necessary like many resins, low odor, easy wet out with fabrics etc. Peel strength, impact resistance and shear characteristics were excellent too. In fact, it was far superior in most regards to what we were using and that shocked me as the other resin we had been using was a highly regarded Epoxy that was used by several of the bigger ski companies at the time. I immediately contacted this formulator and started working with them to make some subtle changes and tweaks to the formula and the net result is the epoxy we still use and sell today.
This exact formulation is not available anywhere else at retail - the only place you are going to get it is from Action Sports/SnowboardMaterials.com. Mixes 4 parts resin to 1 part hardener by volume. Approx 20 minute pot life at room temperature. Sets up in about 8 hours at room temperature (recommend 24) and approximately 22 minutes at 170 degrees Farenheit.
