I read a lot about glass-bedding, do you guys still use Acra-glass for regular bedding, or is it just an expression?

I use acragel, marinetex, and steelbed... I only use glass when it MUST be runny or super thin.

jeffe

Most people don't use Acra-glass for bedding any more as the gel is a lot easier to work with. The term "glass-bedding" came from the use of fiberglas resins as bedding compounds before specialty products like Brownell's Acra-Glas were available.

quote:

Most people don't use Acra-glass for bedding any more as the gel is a lot easier to work with.

Lets not generalize.
The consensus on this forum seems to go with the Gel.

I for one hate Acra-Gel and use regular Acra-Glas mixed with floc to thicken.

The term glass-bedding is indeed derived from the fact that fiberglass is used in the process.

quote:

Originally posted by ShopCartRacing:

quote:

Most people don't use Acra-glass for bedding any more as the gel is a lot easier to work with.

Lets not generalize.
The consensus on this forum seems to go with the Gel.

I for one hate Acra-Gel and use regular Acra-Glas mixed with floc to thicken.

The term glass-bedding is indeed derived from the fact that fiberglass is used in the process.

To each his own, Acraglass Gel works great for me. IMO, Acraglass is way too runny for most applications. I see no point in thickening Acraglass when the Gel can be used as is.

That's what I like about Marine-Tex. It stays put in any position yet it won't harden so quickly you have to hurry.

What I don't like is that it only comes in white and dark grey, neither especially great for wood. Has anyone tried dying the white version brown?

For what it is worth I use the gel and got the dye kit with a little practice you can match most stock colors, OK with a lot of practice you can match the colors

Tig-I ordered the white version of MT this week. THe tech guy at Brownells said it would take acraglas dye. I had been using th egrey, but wanted to make it brown or black. I'll let you know if it takes dye, hopefully after this weekend.

As for what I use, I have started using Marine Tex just this year. Still use Acraglass gel. Use regular acgraglas for finishing stocks and things like that. I have steelbed in the shop and I think I did use it on one gun this year. But I won't buy any more of it

I like the Acragel and my only wish is that it would cure hard enough to allow me to break the action out a little quicker.

OK, thanks, everybody! Good to hear.I used Acra-gel for many years. I do not know this Marine-tex, but lately I have bedded hundreds of rifles with Brownells Steel Bed and am quite happy about it. But, I have found out there are simmilar stuff out there a lot cheaper, so I guess I'll stick to that in the future. IMO, and as you guys, acra-glass is great for special operations.

IMHO,
the marine tex cures faster than more of the rest, about 4-6 hours and you can gnerally take the stock out, and can shoot the rifle 12-18 hours later.

I guess I need to order the white and a dye pack. can always use the grey (or white) full strengh under the woodlines, i guess
jeffe

I believe that there is a difference between the two colours of Marine Tex and remember that the grey is the one to use for bedding rifles.
I find most remove the barreled action from the bedding before the bedding compound is fully cured. I keep the temperature of the area I'm bedding in at 80 degrees and leave most compounds to cure for 5 days before disassembly and cleanup.
Acra Glass can be used if you carefully mix extra floc in .I have used it to do a paint coat on bedding and stock repairs where it works best. It can slightly shrink over a couple of years I believe even if cured at 80 degrees.
At one time I used gallons of Acra Glass gel. I mix ss and aluminium powder to reinforce and modify the thickness.
It works very well but I set the guard screw tension with a torque wrench and dial indicator after bedding to compensate for the slight compression of this material. I find that it's easy to dye this compound in most colours.Working time after mixing was long enough to do two bedding jobs at the same time . Did a lot of Brown Precision stocks with this.
Devcon Titanium was interesting-very stiff when mixed.
I did pillars with this in an older laminated benchrest stock but when I did the action bedding I had a hard time to get the metal into the stock because it was so thick and did not want to flow at all like other devcon products. I did a paint coat with acra glass on this one because I did slightly stress the bedding the first time as I had to stand on the action to get things to the right depth in the stock. Great stuff if it was just a bit thinner !!
I find the gel and similar thickness compounds are best mixed on a flat surface such as a glossy magazine cover with a good puddy knife. Another benifit is that the material sets up slower giving you more working time when its thinner.
Glenn