Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

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jbo_c
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Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by jbo_c »

I thought they were the same thing, but putting an order together and noticed the bubbles are $8 a pound and the phenolic microspheres are $28 a pound.

Surely that suggests more difference than just a naming convention. ?

What’s the difference?

Jbo

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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by bklake »

Glass bubbles are glass. Phenolic bubbles are some kind of plastic. I don't know the specific properties that make one more suitable for a job over the other. I'm sure they both have dangers, downsides and upsides.

jbo_c
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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by jbo_c »

Facts I didn’t know. Looking forward to somebody coming along and telling us the functional differences and maybe some real life comparisons.

Thanks.

Jbo

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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by Jaysen »

I hate falling into the Google hole on things...

nothing earth shattering but best thing I found... https://www.cospheric.com/polyethylene_ ... ticles.htm
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jbo_c
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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by jbo_c »

The only functional comment I’ve seen specific to what we’re doing here was on a supplier website that said the phenolic balloons were a better choice for deeper fills. Otherwise, all the descriptions I’ve seen for the two could be interchanged.

It did cross my mind that sanding the glass ones would likely(?) produce dust that included silica, whereas the phenolic ballon’s might not. Pure conjecture on my part.

Jbo

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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by TomW1 »

The bubbles are basically used for fairing, mixed with the neat epoxy they make for an easy fairing compound. The phenolic spheres add strength when mixed with an epoxy compound say in a rounded section.
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jbo_c
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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by jbo_c »

Since now I’ve used both, here are some observations:

1) The glass bubbles take much more effort to get mixed into the epoxy. - like 3-4x as long. It’s a little funny to watch as you stir. They look almost like another liquid floating on the epoxy. You have to stir them by pushing them down and pulling the epoxy up and over them.

2) The phenolic spheres seem to get better coverage for the same weight. (But not 3x+ like the price might suggest.). They apparently have more volume than the glass beads, which I would have thought would make them easier to sand, but I don’t notice any real difference in that as noted below.

3) Given #2, I can clearly see that a pound of glass beads won’t last me nearly as long as the same amount of spheres.

4) I can’t tell any significant difference in how easy one is to sand vs the other.

Jbo

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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by pee wee »

I wondered if maybe glass bubbles weigh more than the phenolic, and that would account for some of the price discrepancy.
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jbo_c
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Re: Microspheres vs glass bubbles?

Post by jbo_c »

After some more work, I’ve decided that glass bubbles “harder” to sand - not significantly, but noticeably. It does feather out to a very fine transition edge.

Jbo

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