toadfrog Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Being a cheap skate I bought some epoxy . Does not have a date on it . Mixed it according to instructions but the stuff is not drying . After three days it is still slightly tacky even after having it under infra red heat . What can I use as a catalist to make it dry besides ordering some . Have quite a lot of it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wchilton Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 If it hasn't cured after 3 days (with heat) I think your only option is to either cover it over with another coat or remove what's there and use a different finish. It's hard to say if the epoxy you have is actually "bad" without more details on how you measured and mixed that first batch. You generally need to mix equal amounts of resin and hardener. How sure are you that you used equal amounts? Did you eyeball it or did you use a syringe to get the amounts as nearly exact as possible? On the mixing part I've had issues before on occasion when I didn't mix some sufficiently. Any more I'm really careful about mixing very well. You could try just being really careful measuring and mixing another small batch of epoxy and then see if it cures correctly without first applying to your bait. If it does, the epoxy is probably OK and you can just re-coat your lure with a well measured/mixed batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 The way to fix uncured epoxy is to recoat it with properly measured and mixed new epoxy. Underline properly measured and properly mixed. 75% of the time, it was not mixed enough. 24% of the time, it was measured wrong. 1% of the time, the epoxy was at fault (stored too long). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetickhound Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 I know it's hard to be exact but generally speaking, what should be the shelf life of a two part epoxy like, say etex or D2T? I have a boatload of 9 oz 30 minute D2T i bought last year and have used half of the first set... i still have 3 sets left and was wondering how quickly should I plan to use the stuff up before it goes bad. I am storing it in the house so it's temperature controlled. I would imagine that would lengthen my shelf life but still... I hope none of it goes to waste.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 (edited) I know it's hard to be exact but generally speaking, what should be the shelf life of a two part epoxy like, say etex or D2T? I have a boatload of 9 oz 30 minute D2T i bought last year and have used half of the first set... i still have 3 sets left and was wondering how quickly should I plan to use the stuff up before it goes bad. I am storing it in the house so it's temperature controlled. I would imagine that would lengthen my shelf life but still... I hope none of it goes to waste.... Did a little research on the shelf life of D2T and below is what I came up with. The information below came from the Devcon web site so I'm not sure if it applies to other epoxies. Ben note.......22 degrees Celsius is a little over 71 degrees farenheit Edited June 8, 2013 by RayburnGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetickhound Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again Ben!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again Ben!! No problem. Glad to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadfrog Posted June 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 I use a 60 ml syrenge to measure . mixed well very well . Got a half gallon of this stuff . Under normal conditions it is excellent for my needs . So after reading the input from you guys and trying again got the same result . So I said what the heck . I mixed up an ounce or in a graduated med cup . of equal parts of lighter fluid acetone and denatured alcohol . Stuff I had here . put that to 4 fluid ounces of epoxy . I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE ARE SAYING ( THAT BOY JUST AIN'T RIGHT ) But it worked . Now will it work twice . Don't know often I do something like that and fail every time afterwards . Might mention the humidity here seems to be like a swamp year around . go 6 miles away and its not as bad . Go figure . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluetickhound Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 (edited) That boy just ain't right.... DA should have been sufficient... Did you say "Hey y'all!! Watch THIS!!" before mixing the lighter fluid and acetone? Edited June 8, 2013 by bluetickhound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 I'm not the epoxy guru. There is surely stuff about epoxy that I don't know. I've had epoxy failures, but not in recent years, and here's what I think I learned. In my experience, acetone is not a good solvent for epoxy and can cause problems more often than it helps, including fish eyes and failure to harden. I often mix in a few drops of denatured alcohol after the epoxy is mixed to extend the brush time. It's the only solvent I've tried that will not significantly delay the hardening process or affect the hardness of the cured epoxy. Epoxy cures through a chemical reaction between the resin and the hardener. Anything you add to the liquid mix runs the chance of inhibiting the reaction and causing problems. Measuring: The more accurate the better, though there seems to be a little leeway. If the volumes are out of whack, it will not cure hard. I used to pour equal sized pools of hardener/resin and that worked almost all the time. It works less well in cool temps when the resin and hardener have different viscosities which makes judging pool size iffy. I switched to using syringes to measure it out. Mixing: To my mind, this is where you can screw up most easily. It has to be really thoroughly mixed. You get in a hurry because you're afraid it will harden faster than you can get it on the lure. Mix time is not much of an issue with slow cure Etex but it is with 30 minute glue epoxies like Devcon. But the hardener and resin need to be mixed to the molecular level, which means mixed really well. How much mixing is enough? It depends on how vigorously you mix, the container and what tool you use. With Devcon Two Ton, I mix in a small tin foil covered jar lid and use strips cut from old credit cards - and I mix the crap out of it for around a minute. I don't care if it looks like whipped cream when I'm finished. If it does, adding a few drops of alcohol thins the mix and helps it release the small bubbles. Also, if your mixing container has any nook or cranny where resin can hide during the mix and you brush it on the lure - you'll have a soft spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadfrog Posted June 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 That boy just ain't right.... DA should have been sufficient... Did you say "Hey y'all!! Watch THIS!!" before mixing the lighter fluid and acetone? Naw , But if I go out of this world I want to go out with a bang . Otherwise nobody much will notice . Thanks guys I appreciate your help . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
