On this page I don't want to bother you with more chicken soup - but we stay in the kitchen and grab two glasses of honey! Mixing Epoxy is far away from mixing paint, oil, or any other fluid what we are used to mix ... Martini, Tequila ....? 30% of all Epoxy screw ups are in measuring and mixing.
Since you found already your perfect epoxy from
the perfect supplier you have it in front of you and the technical data
sheet beside you - there you find the mixing ratio - be careful in the
difference between "mix by volume" or "mix by weight". Get your plunger
, measuring cup and your wife's kitchen scale ! Big and heavy container
are mostly a nightmare if you just need to mix 4 or 6 oz - try to refill
in more handy container - 1 gal size is a lot easier to handle and you
waste less.
My idea is to fill first the Resin and after
that the hardener - if you got too much - you can fill to the next mark
to get an equal mix - and it is better to have a bit ( don't get me wrong
on the bit - I mean max. 5% with bit ) more hardener than resin. Double
check on the scale if the relation fits - after that, pour the whole stuff
in a handy mixing pot - something which lays good in your hand and has no
corners on the floor. Mix it well through! Rule of thumb would be 1
minute for each 2 oz (50 ccm in metric).
Why so long ....?
Get your two glasses of different honey ( to make
this example easier , get a light and a very dark one)- take a fresh mixing
pot and try to measure correct - you will see it is not as easy to get
to the mark as you thought - now if you have the honey mix, pour it in a
glass where you can look through
Write down the time. Get the mixing stick and
start mixing the honey. Mix till you see no more lines in the honey from
one or the other kind. Don't forget the edges at the bottom of the
glass and you will see how long it will take you to get all mixed well.
If you are done, take one more look at your watch. It will take even
longer to mix your resin.
My Resin is too hard to pour!
As lower the temperature as harder your resin gets. Look if your temperature is still okay to apply your resin. If you just stored the resin on a too cold place - like concrete floor - you can set your container in warm water ( 100 F / 35 C). Don't take too hot water since it will speed up your Epoxies reaction and shorten pot live. It will take quite a while to get more fluid. Here your resin reacts as honey - as warmer it is, as more fluid it will get. If you keep this in mind ... you should have no problems.
Pot live !
In your technical data sheet you will find the
pot live of your resin - 'Pot live' is the open time of the resin - how
long you can play around before it starts to set - just this is a very
relative time. You must read on in your data sheet for which amount this
pot live is. As bigger your mix is as shorter gets your pot live and
as warmer your workshop is as shorter is your pot live - somehow our supplier's
don't write this together on the same line. And it might make you wonder,
if you have a resin with 30 minuets pot live and mix 24 oz ( 700 ccm) and
after 15 minuets you can boil eggs on your resin. Try to make small batches,
not more than 12 oz ( 350 ccm ) to have enough time to mix it well and apply
it without a rush. If you tell me now you have to laminate a 64' boat hull
and it might take you a century with 12 oz cups - you are right - on big
surfaces, you need one person just to mix and a second person to apply. If
you have big batches, you can spread your resin right away after it was
well mixed over the glass. The bigger surface is not allowing the resin
to boil up and gives you more time to apply it.
It is a good idea to start on the tricky parts
with the fresh mix - hold your mixing pot in the hand and let it not stay
in the sun - if you feel it starts to get warmer, just spread the remaining
batch over a big surface. So you can make the most out of the batch and
the time. With time, you will get a good feeling for your resin! So please
don't mix your 1 Gal. resin at once and wonder if after 10 minuets you
reached the potlive of your mixing pot - which is smoking on the floor.
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