Dosing Epoxy Mixing Trays with Area Measurements for 5:1, 3:1, 2:1 Mix Ratios (Compatible with West System, Totalboat, Fibreglast and more!)

Generic 1:1 mix 5-minute epoxy is great for a lot of applications; however, it is rather expensive (per volume) and sometimes I would like to use a more specialized epoxy with a longer working time. The problem is that specialized epoxies typically have mix ratios that are not 1:1. This makes it challenging to eyeball the amount that you need, especially for small batches where it is impractical to use a measuring cup. My favorite brand of epoxy is the West System 105, which has a mix ratio of 5:1. The containers come with awesome dosing pumps that dispense the correct ratio, but only if you need to use more than 0.8oz (24g), which is one pump of resin plus one pump of hardener. This is way more epoxy than I need for a small glue-up. I used to save up several items to glue all at once to avoid waste, but that's highly inconvenient. The other solution is to use a scale to weigh out the epoxy by mass, but this is just annoying enough that I would sometimes put off using epoxy for a repair altogether. That was the motivation for designing the Area Dosing Mixing Tray ! I was surprised I couldn't find something like this online or commercially. The idea is simple: At room temperature, most epoxy resins and hardeners have roughly the same viscosity, and so a circular puddle of resin or hardener will have a volume proportional to its area. Therefore, all you have to do to have an accurate mix ratio is just dispense the resin onto the larger circle until it just flows out and touches the edge. Then do the same with the hardener on the smaller circle (don't worry if the resin spreads out past the line at this point; as long as you pour the two at roughly the same rate and stop as soon as the edge is reached, you can be sure that the correct volume has been dispensed). Just like that, you now have a perfect mix of <5g of epoxy for your project! In fact, this is no different than how you probably mix small amounts of 1:1 epoxy—we just make two puddles that are roughly the same size. This tray just helps you eyeball other ratios easily. In addition to the 5:1 mixing trays, I have also included 3:1 and 2:1 trays, which are the two other most common mix ratios for high-performance epoxy. For example, the Fibreglast 2001 system uses 3:1 and the TotalBoat High-Performance Series uses 2:1. Most generic epoxies you can find on Amazon will also be 2:1 (if not 1:1). As long as your resin/hardener viscosity is about the same, these trays will work fine, but I would still do a test before a mission-critical application. No need to worry about the small amount of resin/hardener that gets stuck in the groove. It's only 1 print layer deep, and the turbulence from the mixing action does a good job of ensuring this little bit gets incorporated. 📷 Image redacted — claim this model to add your own media The tray itself is by Magmabow. I really like it because the mixing stick has the same radius as the inside corner of the tray, allowing for better mixing and less waste. I have also designed a custom dispensing station for the West Epoxy system that can hold up to 12 of these mixing trays, along with 2oz portion cups and stir sticks for larger projects utilizing a full pump. The mixing trays and portion cups also double as drip catchers, so no more mess on your table afterwards. Go check it out below if you are interested!