Preparation
I decided for financial reasons and ease of access to start my build in the garage of my house. This meant displacing my mini-van and converting the space to a build area. I only had a single workbench in the corner so I had to get ready following the guidance from the plans and other's website examples. I salvaged 2 old wooden top workbenches with old file cabinet supports to create 12 ft of bench top in the center of the available work area and an old computer table as a staging area for materials etc that I expected to accumulate over time for the project. I then built a fold down cutting table typical of what I saw others doing that would fit in a convenient wall space between where cars would normally park. Because our other car was a compact, we had room for the small car even with the table in the down position, but I'd try to keep it "up" when not in use. I've not built it yet, but the rolled glass will be stored in a cabinet between the table and the wall. I'm waiting for the actual rolls to arrive to fit check before final assembly.
I started to build the epoxy heating system with metal cans and heating pads like I saw on other builder's sites but found that just measuring by weight with a small scale set to grams was adequate for the layups I've done. Even when doing larger layups like the turtleback worked fine for me with batches of 20-40 grams at a time. It really helps, however, if you are working with MANY small batches like this to have one person mixing epoxy while others are doing the layup. Big layups I do with at least one son's help, so this has been good for me. After a while you get pretty good at judging how much epoxy you will need before you start mixing. I've never had a batch of epoxy gel or "kick-off" on me other than in Chapter 3 (where I made a 50 gram batch and had a lot left over in the mixing cup: after an hour it started to kick off and got hot enough to crack. Lesson learned. I pay attention to the temperature and have worked with MGS 335 50/50 fast/slow in the winter and 100% slow in the summer. I store the epoxy and hardener at the in the house where it's ~68F in the winter and up to 80F in the summer. I don't do layups in less than 65F in the garage and these layups are done with epoxy that's at least 70F (heating pad on cans in the house and then use them in the garage). The warmest epoxy day I've done is 95F but it was not a big layup, and again the epoxy is not that warm when I start using it. So far, I'm not having any problem with cure times (very typically 3.5 to 4 hrs to knife trim). I'll knife trim if convenient, but as others note with the Dremel Multi-tool and Blade Runner (see tools at bottom of this page) are nice for trimming after full cure too. Note added 2 years into the build: After the first quart of 50/50 mix was used up, I shifted to 100% slow hardener with MGS and have been happy with it. Layups are not cured sufficient to "move-on" for 24 hrs, but in most cases that's not holding me up if I plan accordingly and have multiple things to work on.
I also applied insulation to my garage door (R13 Fiberglass), and rented an attic insulation blower with fellow Cozy Builder Ben Bennett and we both helped each other insulate the attic area of our garages to reduce temperature excursions in winter (should help in the summer too). There's no question it's extended the build days for me (even here in relatively mild Austin). I really admire the folks who are building further north...
I started to build the epoxy heating system with metal cans and heating pads like I saw on other builder's sites but found that just measuring by weight with a small scale set to grams was adequate for the layups I've done. Even when doing larger layups like the turtleback worked fine for me with batches of 20-40 grams at a time. It really helps, however, if you are working with MANY small batches like this to have one person mixing epoxy while others are doing the layup. Big layups I do with at least one son's help, so this has been good for me. After a while you get pretty good at judging how much epoxy you will need before you start mixing. I've never had a batch of epoxy gel or "kick-off" on me other than in Chapter 3 (where I made a 50 gram batch and had a lot left over in the mixing cup: after an hour it started to kick off and got hot enough to crack. Lesson learned. I pay attention to the temperature and have worked with MGS 335 50/50 fast/slow in the winter and 100% slow in the summer. I store the epoxy and hardener at the in the house where it's ~68F in the winter and up to 80F in the summer. I don't do layups in less than 65F in the garage and these layups are done with epoxy that's at least 70F (heating pad on cans in the house and then use them in the garage). The warmest epoxy day I've done is 95F but it was not a big layup, and again the epoxy is not that warm when I start using it. So far, I'm not having any problem with cure times (very typically 3.5 to 4 hrs to knife trim). I'll knife trim if convenient, but as others note with the Dremel Multi-tool and Blade Runner (see tools at bottom of this page) are nice for trimming after full cure too. Note added 2 years into the build: After the first quart of 50/50 mix was used up, I shifted to 100% slow hardener with MGS and have been happy with it. Layups are not cured sufficient to "move-on" for 24 hrs, but in most cases that's not holding me up if I plan accordingly and have multiple things to work on.
I also applied insulation to my garage door (R13 Fiberglass), and rented an attic insulation blower with fellow Cozy Builder Ben Bennett and we both helped each other insulate the attic area of our garages to reduce temperature excursions in winter (should help in the summer too). There's no question it's extended the build days for me (even here in relatively mild Austin). I really admire the folks who are building further north...