D2t Problems

[gdowney]

I am having problems with D2T when using it as a top coat on jigs. After the epoxy dries it is leaving brush strokes or looks like it is being put on to thick and needs to be thined down. I am not getting a good clean coverage with it that looks smooth. I am using cheap brushs so that I can throw them away but the coating looks like it needs to be thined downed. I am using small amounts at a time but this does not help. Also wondering if I may have bought some old D2T that may be causing the problem. Any help with a getting a good top coating would be appreciated.

[cadman]

I assume your D2T fully dries clear and hard after it has a chance to cure? With that said, I use cheap plastic artist brushes and have never had that happen. Even if you put it on too thick it is self leveling, and then it just starts to form a big tear drop or nipple where the excess forms. The only thing I would try is when you put it on a jig, let it sit for a couple of minutes, and then heat it lightly with a heat gun. This will thin the epoxy on the jig, and it should even out. Don't heat it too much otherwise it will run off the jig. Also when you heat it, you will notice a build up of excess epoxy on the bottom of the jig. You can just wipe that off with your brush. You can also heat the jig lightly before you put on the epoxy and it does the same thing. Just remember the more you heat and reheat mixed epoxy,the faster it starts to cure.

Finally if that doesn't work, than I would get a new batch of epoxy. Hopefully others will reply with their experiences.

[RayburnGuy]

While I'm not building jigs applying epoxy should be pretty much the same whether it's on a jig or a crankbait. Like Cadman, I use an artists brush to apply my epoxy. The finer bristles seem to help pop any bubbles that might be in the mix and they definitely put on a smoother coat than the acid type brushes. I usually add a few drops of denatured alcohol to my epoxy after initially mixing it and then mix that in until the epoxy is nice and smooth. In the small amounts your mixing you might only need one or two drops of alcohol. After mixing the alcoholl into the epoxy I exhale on it several times. This will pop most of the bubbles that form when mixing. (I mix the bejeezus out of mine) The alcohol will add an extra minute or two of working time to the epoxy as well. If you decide to try adding the denatured alcohol I would start slow and experiment. If you add too much it will just make the mix really thin and prone to sagging.

hope this helps,

Ben

[gdowney]

Thanks guys. I will try the denatured alcohol and heating. The D2T when it dries has a milky look to it after it has dried The artist brushes that I am using are cheap brushes 144 for $4.00 so I can throw them away after using. I had a hard time finding D2T where I live. Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart and places like that did not have any. Finally found some at a hardware store. These are not in a syringe but came in two seperate tubes. While mixing the two tubes together I noticed the epoxy was getting stiff right off. Maybe I bought some that had been on the shelf for a while. If the denatured alcohol and heat doesn't work then I will try and find some more. Thanks for the help.

[cadman]

I know you said you bought D2T which stands for Devcon 2 Ton. It should be the 30 minute Make sure the bottles say that as well and not Devcon 5 minute. I have seen it turn kind of milky when you mix part A and part B together but that is from the air bubbles that get in there . They soon dissipate.

[Vodkaman]

Either there is something wrong with it or like Cadman said, check that it is not the five minute stuff. No matter what you apply it with, it should always level out.

Dave

[gdowney]

This is 30 minute epoxy. Everyone carried the 5 minute but not the 30 minute. I am going to try Lowes and Home Depot again and see if they ever got any in and try again. Thanks for the help.

[smalljaw]

gdowney, Lowes or Home Depot isn't going to carry Devcon 2T, I don't know why but I asked the manager at my local Lowes if any other Lowes stores carried it and he made a call and 2 minutes later he told me that the entire chain does not or will not carry it and the same for Home Depot, they have contracts with Gorilla and Lock tite. If you have any ACE Hardware stores around you try them, it seems every ACE I've been in carries it. And Cadman and the others are correct, D2T is self leveling, I put it on even when it starts to get so thick it leaves a string behind it as you dip the brush but when I apply it all I have to do is make sure there are no bare spots and let it dry and they come out perfect every time. I like D2T as it is the only epoxy I tried that dries completely clear, a lot of others are cloudy or turn a yellow tint so if your epoxy dried to a milky color I would think it was either mixed wrong or it is bad.

[gdowney]

Thanks Smalljaw. Ace Hardware was were I bought the D2T 30 minute epoxy. It was the last batch that they had and were supposed to get some more in. I mixed the epoxy 50/50 as best as I could tell. I may not have mixed it long enough. I am going to stop at Ace Hardware the end of this week and see if some more has come in. I live just out of Charleston, WV and have 3 Lowes within a 20 minute drive from my house. All 3 carry Devcon 5 minute but not the 30 minute epoxy in my area.

[WidowMaker]

You could be trying to "stretch" the working time of the epoxy and using it after it gets a little bit to stiff. I do a lot of collared bullet worm weights and would always have little holes or pits in the finished epoxy that looked as if the surface of the weight was repelling the epoxy. The only solution i found was to use two toothpics and to wedge a tooth pic into the bottom and top hole of the weight. This way i would hold the brush against the weight and continuously rotate the bottom toothpic 360 degress both clock wise and counter clock wise between my thumb and forefinger. And believe it or not i will still occasionally get these pits sometime.

I had bought