REFLECTOR: Hardening Hardener

[milehitaz]

Seems to me Humidity plays a big part in the hardener turning into the crystal and goo. First 3 years i had my project I lived in Lake Tahoe, all my epoxy lived in a hot box kept about 90 to 100 and was always fine. Last 5 years I have been on the coast in Oregon and the stuff seems to turn in less than 6 to 8 months if I haven't used it and it lives in the same Hot Box at the same temp. Tahoe is low humidity area...Pacific North West is very cool n damp. I reheat the stuff with a heat gun and it comes back ok but I didn't use it in critical areas like when assembling the strakes. 
Always used test batches before any of it was used on the project. Good luck,

Larry



In a message dated 07/25/09 17:23:20 Pacific Daylight Time, gattenby at tulsaconnect.com writes:
EZ84 ordered from spruce, comes in metal cans.  That seems to help with the aromatics, but it still seems to turn dark.

As far as the thick goo...  heating seems to restore the viscosity.
Every spring before I start working again,  I do a few "test" baches while I clean the pump.
If the test strips and the leftovers in the cup get hard...  I use it.

Several test that I've heard over the years are...
if you can drill through the layup without the edges fraying...
If you can't scratch the leftover in the culp with a fingernail, but can with a real nail...
then the batch is ok.


Noel


On Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:46:23 -0500
 Brian Michalk <michalk at awpi.com> wrote:
> I'm wondering if the epoxy should be stored in something 
>other than
> plastic to keep the aromatics.
> 
> I am trying glass canning jars.  It will take a few 
>years to know for sure.
> 
> Brooke Wolf wrote:
>> I know this has been addressed before on this forum, but 
>>I am  having a
>> problem with hardening hardener.
>> 
>> All of my hardener is less than 2 years old.  It is from 
>>the Velocity
>> Factory.  I keep some hardener in a 85 deg box.  I have 
>>been away from
>> my project for 3-4 months.  Now, I noticed that it is 
>>getting a little
>> thick, somewhat like a gooey tar.  I  tried heating it 
>>by putting the
>> gallon jug (with less than a quart of hardener in it) in 
>>water at 150
>> deg.  I let the hardener get to about 130 deg for about 
>>15 minutes.  The
>> heating certainly made it more viscous, but as it cooled 
>>it got a little
>> thick again.....but not as thick as before.  I don't 
>>have much
>> confidence in the heating trick.  What did I do wrong?
>> 
>> Just for grins, I checked on two jugs of hardener which 
>>have been
>> sitting in my basement for 2 years.  The temp down there 
>>stays a pretty
>> constant 70 deg.  Much to my chagrin, both jugs seem to 
>>have solidified
>> into a crystalline mush.  Any ideas?!!
>> 
>> Brooke
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> To change your email address, visit
>> http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector
>> 
>> Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
>> user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
>> Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
>> Check old archives: 
>>http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/private/reflector/attachments/20090725/95834999/attachment.htm>