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my 105 epoxy resin... slit my throat

4K views 22 replies 15 participants last post by  Boatsmith 
#1 ·
so i folded like a lawn chair and bought the 105 and all its goodness with it. take it home- apply with a slow hardener, its been damn near 24 hours and its still tacky... wtf is going on here, the boat is outside- low was 75 last night and its been near 100 degrees all day. I mixed the hardener just as it told me too. what im afraid of now is that i have coated all this crap and now its gonna be near impossible to get off. any suggestions here
 
#4 ·
Did you use the right pumps? sometimes people get the wrong pumps and the mix is off.

Pot life at 72°F (22°C): 20 to 25 minutes
Cure to a solid state: 10 to 15 hours
Cure to maximum strength: 1 to 4 days
Minimum recommended temperature: 60°F (16°C)

what did you use it on? paint under it will make it stay tacky forever.
 
#6 ·
first as for drips let it cure then scrape it gently, it will take some paint with it.

as for the cure try a hair dryer on it, although at 100 degrees it should have cured. You could take and add a thin layer over the tacky stuff with a little mixed resin with fast hardner. some will say no, but you can try a small area and see what happens. as for the pumps i hate them, almost every set of pumps i have bought where off. i use measured mixing cups, add 5 oz of resin one of hardner then mix. sense using measure cups i have never had a problem but i did lots of times with the pumps.
 
#7 ·
ditto on the problem with pumps. I also usually 'purge' each pump a bit before I take a metered amount.

Also, I use a 2 cup system to mix to ensure thorough mixing of the hardner and resin: Meter to the first cup and mix; then pour the first cup to a second cup and continue the mix --- seems to get a more consistent mix that way and avoids having an inconsistent mix of hardner/resin if you use only one cup.

As regards your thin slow curing layup, definitely increase the surface temp to accelerate the cure; for every 20 deg. C increase you 'double' the cure time rate.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I don't do pumps as i work in a filling plant and see many bad ones

I use mix and measure cups and after 4 gallons so far its all kicked


What harder # as even slow should be hard by now ,i have found the medium to be a good all around one

Acetone and paper towels will clean it up with a bunch of caution
 
#9 ·
It's pretty obvious that the epoxy resin to hardener mix was wrong, for whatever reason. In temps above 75˚, getting a decent working time, even with slow hardener is difficult. Personally, I think West Systems epoxy is over-rated and over-priced. I generally recommend and use epoxy from Progressive Epoxy Polymers in NH: epoxyproducts.com. Paul knows his stuff.

Like Tommays, I don't use mixing pumps... they're convenient but can often give you the wrong ratios, especially the initial few pump strokes.
 
#12 ·
Personally, I think West Systems epoxy is over-rated and over-priced. I generally recommend and use epoxy from Progressive Epoxy Polymers in NH: epoxyproducts.com. Paul knows his stuff.
SD, I have to disagree with you- I use nothing but Gougeon Bros. products, dispensed with pumps and have never had a bad batch. I won't ever do business with Progressive, no matter how great the product or how cheap the price- Paul's unprofessional "I am the expert and everybody else is just ripping you off" attitude, clumsy website and message board insults instantly lost my business.
 
#10 ·
I never go by volume for epoxy, I weigh the components. Pumping just wastes valuable time, and is prone to errors. When weighing materials, read the directions, because the specific gravity of the two components may differ. I do believe West is a 5:1 mix both by volume, and weight. System three, however, is a 2:1 mix by volume, but only 44% by weight.
 
#11 ·
LOL, i had the same problem with the west systems epoxy: my micro-thin layer applied to the bottom of my new wood floors took 10 days to cure.

When i contacted my cousin, who builds/retores boat professionally, he said: "you measured the 5:1 ratio BY WEIGHT, right?".....Ha ha ha; joke's on me and next time I know better.
 
#16 ·
I'll second that. However it seems the hardner pump faults over time. I give a few priming pumps into containers before mixing.

If your epoxy resin hasn't set I'm afraid you're in for a lot of work.
 
#15 ·
A trick that worked really well for me was to spread out the epoxy as thin as possible and float it in a shallow bath of ice water......gives you lots of extra time that way.
 
#18 ·
refrigerating the bottles of hardener/resin or putting them in an ice bath works wonders for extending working times.
 
#19 ·
I have used the pumps for twenty some years now and love them. I have had one failure. Even then the epoxy went off ,it just took longer. I don't use the in the can pumps very often. I use the lever action pumps that pump from reservoirs. I like them because they will dispense a small amount of epoxy quickly and accurately. I also have a rotary pump that is much better when a larger quantity is being used. When really large quantities are being mixed we will use the 209 hardener and mix by volume in measured containers. We will also refrigerate the resin and hardener overnight and mix with a drill and have several bodies on hand to minimize the risk of losing control. e will sometimes have to apply 10 gallons of mixed epoxy when gluing an interior into a hull. This is in South FL and the air temp will be high 90s. We do these big glue jobs early in the morning when air and surface temps are at their lowest. It is still a puckery operation. We use a lot of the fast hardener here because we get fast turnarounds and can process parts faster. It does require that one lays out the work and mixes small batches and spreads the epoxy out to a thin layer.
 
#20 ·
Wow Boatsmith 10 gallons!

What is the largest amount you would recommend mixing at one time using chilled resin and hardener?

I helped someone epoxy coat their bottom and we were mixing 1/4 pint at a time. 1/2 pints kicked too quickly for us to apply the last half of the mix! Temp was about 80F.
 
#21 ·
I find just poring it into a disposable roller tray liner slows down the kick compared to the same amount of resin in a mixing cup

I mostly mix 9 oz to 12 oz for a deck core job and even with medium hardner you cant waste much :) so i try to work early or late
 
#22 ·
How much epoxy you can mix a t one time is dependent upon many variables. What kind of application
what ambient temp
what surface temp
SKILL level, mixing and application
how many hands- for a 10 gal project we would have min 6-7 people
finish quality needed- how much squeeze out is required/allowable does it need to be sanded and/or overcoated or is the the final product
 
#23 ·
Mind we are not mixing ten gallons all at once and saying go. We will mix gallon batches and mix and pour into cake bags for application. You need 3 people to mix and fill bags and 3-4 to apply. The trick is to get it all applied with enough time left to clean up the squeeze out where it matters and is possible. Every thing has to be very clearly laid out ahead of time and everyone needs to be clued in as to the process.
 
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