Removable Drum Head Procedures

by rhino2025 | May 25, 2026 | Customer Support, Equipment Maintenance, Technical Tips

How to Replace and Prepare a New Resin Drum (Step-by-Step Guide)

Swapping out a resin drum sounds straightforward — but skip a step, and you risk poor mixing, pump issues, or inconsistent output. This guide walks you through exactly how to replace a resin drum on your machine, from positioning the new drum to getting your pump back up and running.

Follow these three steps and you’ll have your new drum properly seated, mixed, and ready to go. You’ll also find the tools you need listed at the end, along with a time-saving tip about the removable drum lid setup.

What You’ll Need Before You Start

Gather these tools before getting started so you’re not hunting for anything mid-process:

½” electric chucked power drill
50-gallon Jiffy Mixer (PS-2 model)
13mm socket and impact gun
5-gallon bucket

Step 1: Position the New Resin Drum

Place the new resin drum on the B-side of the machine — that’s the blue label side. Once it’s in position:

Use your 13mm socket and impact gun to remove the bolt.
Slide the collar down the drum.
Remove the lid.

With the lid off, you’re ready to move on to mixing.

Step 2: Hand Mix the Resin Thoroughly

This step is critical. Resin settles during storage, so the solids sink to the bottom of the drum. Before the drum goes into regular use, you need to bring all of that settled material back into suspension.

Using your ½” drill with the Jiffy Mixer attached, mix from the bottom of the drum upward. Work thoroughly for 5 to 10 minutes — don’t rush this part.

Once you’re done mixing:

Unplug the drill.
Wipe the excess resin off the Jiffy Mixer.
Place the Jiffy Mixer in the 5-gallon bucket and set it aside.

Important: Hand mix every new resin drum before its first use. After that first use, daily agitation is all you need — no more hand mixing required.

Step 3: Reinstall the Drum Pump and Recirculation Lines

Now that the resin is properly mixed, it’s time to get the drum connected and ready for operation.

Reinstall your drum pump and recirculation lines into the new drum.
Bring the collar back up and tighten the bolt using the same 13mm socket and impact gun.
Run the agitator for 30 to 45 minutes to complete the mixing process.

At this point, your drum is fully set up and ready to run.

The Removable Drum Lid: A Time-Saving Feature Worth Knowing

One of the standout benefits of this setup is the removable drum lid system. Because the drum pump and recirculation kit stay permanently attached to the lid, you never have to disconnect and reconnect everything when switching drums.

Instead, you simply swap the entire lid from one drum to the next. It’s a small design detail that saves real time during drum changes and reduces the risk of connection errors.

Quick Recap

Here’s the process at a glance:

Step 1: Position the drum on the B-side, remove the bolt, collar, and lid.
Step 2: Hand mix for 5–10 minutes, then clean and store the Jiffy Mixer.
Step 3: Reinstall the pump and lines, tighten the collar, then agitate for 30–45 minutes.

Hand mixing is only required for new drums before first use. After that, daily agitation keeps the resin in suspension. Stick to this process and your equipment will run cleanly and consistently every time.

Cold Storage of Closed Cell and Open Cell Foam

by rhino2025 | Sep 14, 2025 | Customer Support, Equipment Maintenance, Foam, Technical Tips

Cold Storage of Closed Cell and Open Cell Foam: How to Protect Your Materials This Winter

Cold weather doesn’t just make jobsites uncomfortable — it can quietly ruin your spray foam materials before you ever pull the trigger. Proper cold storage of closed cell foam and cold storage of open cell foam in barrels is one of the most overlooked factors in consistent, high-quality applications. Get it wrong and you’re dealing with off-ratio sprays, poor adhesion, and wasted product.

The right storage temperatures for each foam type, how to prep your equipment, and the most common cold-weather mistakes that cost contractors time and money are discussed below.

Why Cold Storage Conditions Matter for Spray Foam

Spray foam chemistry is temperature sensitive. When material gets too cold, viscosity changes — meaning the resin and isocyanate don’t flow, mix, or react the way they should. The result? Poor cell structure, weak yields, and off-spec foam that fails in the field.

Getting your storage conditions right before you ever load the gun is the first line of defense.

Cold Storage of Open Cell Foam in Barrels

Ideal Storage Temperature

Open cell foam stores best between 60–90°F. This is a higher range than most people expect, and it’s worth paying close attention to — especially when barrels sit in an unheated trailer overnight.

When material drops below this range, it becomes harder to process and harder to heat evenly at the machine.

Spray Temperature Targets

Target spray temps of 115–150°F, adjusting based on ambient temperature and how the foam is performing on the substrate

Possibly use a smaller mix chamber to keep material in the heater longer, giving it more time to reach the right temperature

Monitor how the foam looks as it hits the surface — visual cues tell you a lot about whether your temps are dialed in

Practical Tips for Cold-Weather Open Cell Jobs

Use barrel blankets to maintain drum temps in cold trailers or job sites

Use space heaters to warm both the substrate and the rig area before spraying

Check substrate temps with an infrared thermometer before starting — cold substrates pull heat out of the foam immediately

Never use open flames in the spray area

Cold Storage of Closed Cell Foam

Ideal Storage Temperature

Closed cell foam stores best between 50-90°F. Closed cell material is more sensitive to temperature swings in a different way — getting too cold thickens the resin side significantly and throws off your mix ratio if you don’t compensate.

Spray Temperature Targets

Target around 120-130°F as your baseline spray temperature

For colder days or cold drums, increase the resin side primary heater by 3°F to offset the viscosity change — do not adjust both sides equally

Add a few degrees incrementally as needed; small changes make a big difference with closed cell

Practical Tips for Cold-Weather Closed Cell Jobs

Use self-adhesive LCD thermometers directly on the drums for a quick visual read before every job

Keep a quality infrared thermometer and moisture meter on hand to check both drum and substrate temps

Consider applying a closed cell layer to the underside of your rig — this protects equipment and gives you a consistent test surface

Equipment Precautions That Apply to Both Foam Types

Cold storage conditions don’t end with the drums. Your hose is the next critical point of failure.

Hose Care in Cold Weather

Keep hose off snow, ice, and concrete — all three draw heat out faster than your machine can replace it

If your hose is more than two years old, inspect the insulation carefully for cracks or breaks

Address any insulation damage before the season gets cold — mid-job failures are expensive

Temperature Monitoring Tools You Should Have

Tool	Use
Infrared thermometer	Check drum and substrate temps
Moisture meter	Confirm substrate is dry before spraying
LCD thermometers (self-adhesive)	Quick-reference drum temp at a glance
Barrel blankets	Maintain drum warmth in cold environments
Space heaters	Pre-warm rigs and work areas

Common Cold-Weather Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Mistake #1: Storing drums in an unheated trailer overnight
Cold nights can drop drum temps well below your target range. Always check temps before the first spray of the day.

Mistake #2: Adjusting both heater sides when compensating for cold
For closed cell, only raise the resin side primary heater. Adjusting both sides throws off your ratio.

Mistake #3: Laying hose on frozen ground Even short contact with ice or concrete pulls heat from the hose quickly. Get it off the ground and keep it elevated or coiled.

Mistake #4: Skipping the visual check
Your foam will tell you when temps are off. Stringy, inconsistent, or poorly rising foam means something needs to be adjusted before you cover that substrate.

Mistake #5: Using open flames to warm the area
Space heaters only. Open flames near spray foam materials are a serious safety hazard.

Quick Reference: Storage and Spray Temperatures

Foam Type	Storage Temp	Spray Temp (Baseline)	Cold-Day Adjustment
Open Cell	60–90°F	115–150°F	Increase spray temp; use smaller mix chamber
Closed Cell	50–90°F	~120-130°F	+3°F on resin side primary heater only

Conclusion

Dialing in your cold storage conditions is one of the simplest ways to protect foam quality and avoid wasted material this winter. Whether you’re managing cold storage of closed cell foam or cold storage of open cell foam in barrels, the fundamentals are the same: know your target temperatures, monitor your drums and substrates consistently, and adjust your machine settings deliberately.

Start each cold-weather job by checking drum temps before you do anything else. Keep your hose off frozen surfaces. And if the foam doesn’t look right — stop and troubleshoot before covering the substrate.

Small habits make a big difference when temperatures drop.

Monitoring Desiccant Beads and Cartridges

by rhino2025 | Apr 13, 2017 | Customer Support, Equipment Maintenance, News, Technical Tips

Desiccant beads are essential to the absorption of water vapor in your air system. They help prevent contaminants from entering your airline and polluting output. It is important to monitor desiccant beads often. A good way to determine when replacement is necessary is by its physical discoloration. This change in pigment can indicate that they have been contaminated by moisture, or possibly by the chemicals themselves.

Checking for contamination can be done by examining the entire (or partial) cartridge containing the beads. If you notice fading and/or a brownish tint to the beads, this is an indication they need to be replaced. Typical reasons for pollution in the cartridge include: humidity in the equipment room, or Resin and/or ISO chemical splash. Splashing normally occurs while moving the drums to a new or different location resulting in chemicals getting into the small bung hole. When this occurs, the filter located on the bottom of the cartridge assembly will become plugged and will not allow the drum to breath properly or at all. This can cause off ratio issues with low pressure machines and error codes with high pressure units.

For optimal function of machines and equipment be sure to check your cartridges regularly. For technical questions please contact TechnicalGroup_dg@rhinolinings.com . To order new parts visit eorder.rhinolinings.com/ .

Graco® Fusion Gun Maintenance Tips to Prevent Bed Liner Issues

by rhino2025 | Aug 12, 2016 | Customer Support, Equipment Maintenance, Technical Tips

Quick Tips

Here are two quick and simple tips for keeping your Graco Fusion gun in tip-top shape. If you haven’t already, be sure to add these into your routine. These simple maintenance tips will not only increase the life of your gun and equipment, but can prevent bed liner blistering and other installation issues.

1. Check Gun for Leaks

With the valves below the gun turned off, pressure up your machine. Then, with the air to the gun on, crack the resin valve and look for a mist of air and resin. If there is mist and you are not getting just clean air, stop and close the valve. You have an internal leak in your gun. Bleed off pressure on the machine and fix your gun.

If all looks good on the resin side repeat this process on the ISO side. Again, if any ISO is coming out in the airstream STOP. You have an internal leak on the ISO side inside your gun, which needs to be fixed.

Ignoring this mist can lead to locked up guns and potentially blistered bed liners if the mist lands on the liner during application.

Other signs that point to a leak is if the grease in the gun becomes hard and crusty or if you find yourself frequently having to rebuild your gun, especially after a long weekend.

2. Seal Gun Nozzle from Humidity

After giving your gun a little shot of gun grease upon shutdown, smear some grease over the gun nozzle to seal it from air. This stops humid air from entering the gun through the nozzle and reacting with the ISO.

Need More Technical Tips?

Feel free to reach out to the Rhino Linings technical support team with any questions about your spray gun or other equipment. Or, if you’d like to see a specific topic addressed in a future technical article, email rhinomarketing@rhinolinings.com.Quick

12 Best Tips for Spraying Top Notch Rhino Liners

by rhino2025 | Jul 6, 2016 | Customer Support, Equipment Maintenance, Technical Tips, Vehicle Protection

12 Tips for Applying the Best Rhino Linings® Bed Liners

Consistent, high-quality bed liner applications don’t happen by accident. They come from disciplined habits, proper equipment care, and a solid understanding of how your materials perform. Whether you’re a seasoned applicator or still building your process, these 12 practical tips will help you raise your standards, reduce job failures, and keep customers coming back.

Set Your Foundation: Chemical and Equipment Basics

1. Store Your Chemicals at the Right Temperature

Chemical storage directly affects how your products perform on the job. High pressure chemicals and primers should be stored at 70°F. Low pressure chemicals need to be stored and dispensed at 80–85°F.

Storing outside these ranges can shorten shelf life and cause inconsistent application results. A simple thermometer and climate-controlled storage area can prevent a lot of headaches down the line.

Try this: Label your storage area with the target temperature range for each chemical type so any team member can verify conditions at a glance.

2. Wipe Down Container Lids After Every Use

Once a container is opened, contamination becomes a real risk. Always wipe lids and bung caps clean after use. For A-side products, apply a small amount of Fusion grease lubricant or petroleum jelly before sealing. This protects the product from air exposure and keeps lids from sticking or leaking.

Skipping this step can lead to degraded materials and wasted product, both of which cost you money.

3. Always Reference the Latest Product Information

Rhino Linings continually updates its formulations and best practices. Before mixing any product, check the product data sheets (PDS), safety data sheets (SDS), and container labels. Visit the Tech Center on the website for the most current information.

Relying on outdated instructions is one of the most common causes of preventable application errors. Keep your team informed.

Daily Checks That Protect Every Job

4. Run a Cup Check Before Each Spray Day

If you use a low pressure unit, run a cup check every day before spraying a truck. This confirms your ratio is within the proper range of .58–.63. You can log results on the low pressure ratio check spreadsheets available from Rhino Linings.

This quick daily check catches ratio problems early before they become costly failures on a customer’s vehicle.

Try this: Make the cup check the first step in your morning startup routine, not an afterthought.

5. Check Your TSL Bottle Every Week

The throat seal liquid (TSL) keeps your gun functioning properly. Physically inspect the TSL bottle once a week and replace it as needed. Don’t assume it’s fine because the gun seems to be working.

A depleted TSL bottle can cause tip wear and spray inconsistencies that are hard to diagnose after the fact. Rhino Linings has a technical demo video on this, SEE IT HERE.

6. Inspect All Air Lines for Moisture Weekly

Moisture in your air lines can ruin a liner. Check all membrane dryers, inline filters, and your compressor every week. Drain them as needed.

Don’t wait until you see a moisture-related defect on a finished liner. By then, the damage is done. A weekly five-minute check costs nothing compared to redoing a full application.

Product Handling That Prevents Failures

7. Recirculate Lines After Extended Downtime

If your high or low pressure unit sits idle for five consecutive working days, recirculate the lines. This brings fresh material into the spray hoses and recirculation lines before your next job.

Old, stagnant material in the lines can cause ratio inconsistencies and blockages. Build recirculation into your standard operating procedure for any equipment that sees irregular use.

8. Agitate New Drums Properly

Brand new drums should always be agitated on high speed the first time they’re opened. Chemical components can settle or coagulate during warehouse storage. The standard rule is one minute of agitation per gallon.

After that initial mix, switch to low or medium speed agitation for regular use. If a drum doesn’t contain pigment, mix thoroughly before transferring material to another container for pigment addition — again, one minute per gallon applies.

Skipping proper agitation leads to uneven mixing and inconsistent liner quality.

Application Techniques That Improve Results

9. Apply Primer at the Correct Mil Thickness

Primer application sounds straightforward, but the details matter. You must apply primer at the recommended mil thickness for proper adhesion. Too much primer means the liner won’t bond correctly — and failures will follow.

Environmental conditions like heat, cold, and humidity can all affect how quickly primer cures and how easy it is to work with. Mixing too large a batch at once can also increase labor time.

If you’re prepping plastics, vinyls, fiberglass, or existing bed liners, use Rhino Linings’ adhesion promoter designed for those surfaces.

10. Sand and Prep All Edges

Edge prep is a detail that separates good applications from great ones. Sand all fiber or wire tape edges before applying any coating. Then wipe those edges down with acetone — especially when using Rhino® Bonding Agent.

Unsealed or improperly prepped edges are a common starting point for peeling and delamination. Taking a few extra minutes here protects the entire liner.

Try this: Make edge prep a checklist item that gets signed off before spraying begins.

11. Shut Down Guns the Right Way

Proper gun shutdown is about protecting your equipment for the next use. Before capping or greasing the gun tip, follow all low or high pressure shutdown and purging steps specific to your equipment.

This process seals out air and prevents both chemicals from making contact at the tip — which leads to clogging. A clogged tip on the morning of a job is a frustrating and avoidable problem.

Finishing Strong: Protecting the Final Product

12. Apply UV Topcoat on All Colored Liners

Any liner sprayed with color needs a UV topcoat. Without it, the color will fade over time leaving customers unhappy and your reputation at risk.

A UV topcoat protects against sun exposure and extends the life of the liner’s appearance. The one exception is Rhino Solarmax, which does not require a UV topcoat.

Don’t skip this step on colored jobs. It’s the difference between a liner that looks great for years and one that fades within months.

Putting It All Together

High-quality bed liner applications come down to consistent habits across every stage, from storage and equipment maintenance to surface prep and finishing. Here’s a quick recap of where to focus:

Maintain proper chemical storage temperatures to protect product performance
Run daily and weekly equipment checks before small issues become big failures
Follow drum agitation and recirculation protocols for consistent material quality
Prep surfaces thoroughly, including edges, before any coating is applied
Always finish colored liners with a UV topcoat to ensure long-term satisfaction

Start by auditing your current process against these 12 tips. Identify the two or three areas where your routine has gaps, and tighten those up first. Small improvements in daily habits lead to measurable improvements in liner quality and happier customers!

Have an application tip, technique, or strategy that works well in your shop? Submit it via email for possible inclusion in a future editions of the newsletter, Surface Matters.