I have been using brownells bedding and am wondering what you guys use? Thinking of divorcing myself from it as it always seems to have small chunks and is difficult to mix

I mostly use Brownells. Small chunks? If it is in uncontaminated resin, just heat it up in a water bath before using. Those chunks disappear, having "re-melted". Let it cool before using.

If it is because resin has been contaminated before use with the hardener, You are SOL on remelting the "chunks". Only thing to do is scoop it out, throw the whole lot away, or use as is. Probably the latter won't make a difference in efficiency.

I've never seen it in the hardener, unless I somehow got resin in there. See above.

How do you find it difficult to mix? Follow portion directions and stir..... Are u using the regular stuff or the gel?

I've not found anything easier to use, myself.

I have been using MarineTex with no complaints.

Go to the Brownells Steel Bed. 50/50 mix and really tough stuff that beds really well.

G-2 epoxy, brown pigment, and mini-fibers. I used it in boat building, seem a natural .

Las
Not contaminated, but yes the chunks stay and do not mix. I asked Brownells and they informed to microwave while that took care of the chunks it al;so made the bedding unpredictible and maybe brittle.

Please explain on your hot water bath, do you put it in a bag and dip it in hot water?

Maybe it just needs to be stored in a warmer environment/

Marine Tex

ProBed 2000 by Score High Gunsmithing. -Al

Permatex Cold Weld.

Work quick!

Don't microwave it for long on a high power, don't ask how i know, I would use the water bath.. For a bath just use hot tap water in a bowl and let the container sit in there for a bit. When you can stir it and the chunks go away you are good to go. I've had this issue with Brownells that I let sit on the shelf for a couple years. Defiantly get rid of the chunks before you use it or it will never harden all the way. If you have contaminated with some from the other container just throw it out.

Used Devcon for years but switched over to Marine Tex when Devcon got so pricy, I would not switch back even if they were the same price. Both are great but I like Marine Tex better.

Ditto - to all of that... Been using it for over 20 years and won't stop now...

What did you like better about Marine Tex? I use Devon due to less shrinkage, but have considered the switch based on others.

Instructions include heating it if gritty. I have used it as is,or heated it and found no problem of it being brittle or unpredictable.

Had a better shelf life and was a darker so if some did show at the top of the action, you did not stick out as bad like the silver/light gray color you get with Devcon. That and the cost is about half what Devcon is.

Thanks.

Marine Tex ...

You can nuke (Microwave) the stuff if chunky as well - but don’t do it for long.

Leaves most bedding compounds in the dust. I have yet to use Devcon before I say it is the absolute best.

I heat the Acraglas in hot water when required and have been satisfied with the results. I no longer bed as many as I did in my busy years so I don't keep as much on hand. GD

Understand, no one makes the epoxy, they only package it. That likely includes even Devon. They buy it in 55 gal (45 imperial) drums from the manufacturer.

You can pick which formulation you want, pot life, mix ratio, strength. You can then add stuff, like Carb-o-sil , a thickener and firmer, mini fibers, another thickener and strenghtener, or fiberglass, another thickener and a even greater strengthener.

I use earth pigments to get the brown. Burnt Umber. The local plastic dealer has a rack of dyes for fiberglass, I imagine they would work for epoxy.

Leaves most bedding compounds in the dust. I have yet to use Devcon before I say it is the absolute best.
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I've used Acra Glas, Marine Tex, Probed, and Devcon, I now use Devcon only

If no one makes the epoxy it just magically appears? Laughing!

There are multiple manufacturers. IIRC you advised G-2 which was a spectacular formulation by Industrial Formulators there in Canada, eh. It was such a good company West bought them a number of years ago and now makes their best formulas under their "System." Plain old carbon black strengthens epoxy a tremendous amount and better black does an even better job.

I have also used them all and now go with Marine-Tex... They all work well.

Boy, this is a hard crowd

I thought the Portland outfit, System Three had bought them, and not West.

West is System Three, or owns it. Originally West was the company IIRC, and then branched into System I and so on from there. They bought IF quite a while ago now.

Be careful putting Devcon (and maybe others) in a microwave. I worked in aerospace for 20 years and we used Devcon to set tooling with. We would buy it in 5 gallon buckets, we used so much of the stuff. In order to "speed things up" a few guys started microwaving Devcon. It cuts the cure time from 24 hours to about an hour, but it makes it very brittle. Long story short, they got caught doing this and got fired. In doing testing in the Q.A. lab there at work, they found that microwaving Devcon that it lost a lot of strength as compared to using it in standard procedure.

One of the reasons I like the Pro Bed is how it cleans up. I normally get into the recoil lug mortise with a small end mill...clearance the sides and lightly radius the back wall to eliminate any minute edging that remains. Pro Bed just cuts nicely and doesn't try to roll around the end mill...you can hear it as it cuts that's it's staying intact.

Lots of good products out there and huge advancements since the original AcraGlas and AcraGlas Gel days, that's for sure. I still use AcraGlas Gel for bedding scope rings because the Nylon in it gives it just enough flexibility to help conform to the scope tubes without leaving any marks at all. Feel free to connect those dots accordingly as it applies to bedding an action.

H.S. Precision used to have a product called 'Accu Bed' that was really ahead of it's time in terms of shrinkage...less that 1/2 of 1%. Now, that's the expected shrinkage number on any quality bedding product. If the mfg. doesn't/won't supply that...or the person doing the bedding can't tell you what the shrinkage is on what they're using...keep looking.

A quality, long lasting job is always a good thing.

Just my view from the cheap seats.... -Al