I have a stator that I'm planning to cast in vinyl-ester resin. Talking to technicians from US composites (where I bought the resin), I've heard some worrying warnings, and am looking for advice and safety tips from people who have cast with it before.
They told me the casting needs to be kept between 70-80 Fahrenheit. Since temperatures will be around 30-50 for the next few months, I was planning to cast it in an empty heated shed. They also recommended against filling the mold outside in the cold and then moving it into the heated space. If I do cast it indoors, would a particulate respirator be enough protection (I'd be in with the resin for 10-15 minutes)?
The mold I plan to use has an area of 200 square inches, and is 3/4'' deep. The technician I talked to warned that such a deep closed casting could lead to styrene from the catalyst getting trapped in the casting, and causing it to stink for months. He recommended casting in in 1/2'' layers. 3 months ago I cast a stator in the same mold using fiberglass resin (which uses the same catalyst), and the resulting cast stator doesn't stink. Should I expect vinyl-ester resin to work differently?
Any advice would be appreciated.
