as the title say, the epoxy hardner just disappearing from itself. i really dont know how it happens and why, the bottle is 100 precent seal and i dont have a clue what happens…
also, i keep some hardner in diffrent tiny bottle, its was almost full and when i back in the next day it was almost half of what it was.
somebody have answers??
someone is borrowing your supplies. I can’t think of any other explanation.
Idan1500, Ive had the same, the only exit is thru the lid and I think once you open a container it creates a microscopic avenue for the liquid to change state to a gas and slowy escape. As you use more, there’s a greater volume of air above the liquid that’s filled with the chemical in a gaseous state and it exacerbates the situation.
Call it chemistry, magic or just the ‘chaos theory’, unless you’ve got a sneak thief in the shed or a pinhole leak in the bottle walls.
I tend to keep all chemicals in a cool, dark, dry corner.
Fascinating. I always seem to come up short with RR hardener and I just attributed it to sloppy measuring. Perhaps not…
Most folks would call that “evaporation”. As in, a liquid changes to a gas and dissipates.
I could understand evaporation if you keep them open for a while. But I keep mine well sealed up and in a dark cabinet at room temp. Would love to hear Greg L’s take on this and if it’s common.
I think exactly like you…if greg could give us an answer it will be great.
Not to bring up the old dead horse to beat on AGAIN.
But, I think this has to do with measuring volume vs weight.
We’ve come to the undeniable conclusion that either way produces passable results.
When I used to measure by volume, I would run out of hardner faster than resin.
Now that I measure by weight, not so much.
I think that this might have something to do with the resin having a different specific weight from the hardner.
I measure by volume. The fact that I (and others) often come up short on hardener would mean that there is some sort of evaporation going on with the hardener (or sloppy measuring). I don’t know the weight proportions, but it sounds like doing by weight effectively uses less hardener, thus you don’t come up short. I guess this really depends on how your supplier measures resin and hardener when they sell it. So Greenlight (my supplier), are you selling me the kits by volume (2:1) or weight?
No answers but I have an idea…
Someone buy a kit, weigh the containers and contents, open the containers (breaking the seal), and let them sit. After a significant period of time, say a few months(?), weigh again and get back to us on it.
That should eliminate the user error aspect of it.
I measure volume, run out of resin first but it’s a close race. I measure carefully into clear PE or PP drink cups. Take care to account for the different viscosity and electro/chemical properties of the resin, hardener and containers. You have to understand, will the liquid form a meniscus against the container you are using, and maintain good visibility of it. Mark the cups, set them on a horizontal surface with backlighting, and pour carefully.
Hardener is less viscous, take care to pour it slowly!
I never overload with hardener, excess hardener will ruin a mix faster than excess resin will. Slighlty light on hardener and it still cures, though more slowly and with reduced final strngth…I’ve had some old hardenerrs turn brown, but never disappear, so far…
About the tiny bottle, what was it made of? If plastic, I bet the hardener went through it. Can happen with some plastics.
Maybe repeat with a paper towel under the bottle?
You can mix resin in some containers, but leave raw ingredients in them for a few days and they go right through, with or without melting visible holes.
MSDS for the hardener says the hardener is 30% benzyl alcohol, which to my knowledge doesn’t evaportate as quickly as a smaller alcohol. Also states evaporation is slower than ether, although that’s not hard depending on what ether we’re talking about. Specific gravity on the resin is 1.10 on the resin and .98 on the hardener so you guys are right about that.
Pulled that all from here http://www.resinresearch.net/id7.html
I’ve had this happen too though. I’ll get to the end of a container and get all worried I’ve been adding too much hardener, measuirng by volume.