I’ll be finishing up a board soon, but glassing in these temps (30-40F) is no good. I was thinking of doing it in the basement.Aside from breathing them in…will the fumes be dangerouse around the furnace/open flame?
Thanks…
check the MSDS. i think the hardener is flammable. but inhaling fumes shouldn’t be a concern…glassing with epoxy is the only part of the whole process i don’t wear a respirator. i would keep away from open flame, though.
According to this data, it looks pretty safe. The additive F looks the most unstable. That last line worries me…do they mean toxic gasses as in flamable gasses…why would they have that line under the fire and explosion data list?
PRODUCT NAME:RESIN RESEARCH 1980/2000/2020/2040 EPOXY RESIN
----------------- FIRE AND EXPLOSION DATA ---------------
FLASH POINT: NONE
FLAMMABILITY CLASSIFICATION: N/A
EXTINGUISHING MEDIA: Foam, CO2, dry chemical, or fog.
SPECIAL FIRE FIGHTING PROCEDURES: Firefighters should wear goggles and self contained breathing apparatus to avoid inhalation of smoke or vapors.
FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARDS: None known
PRODUCT NAME: RESIN RESEARCH EPOXY RESIN HARDENER 2100F or 2100S or 2100X
------------------ FIRE AND EXPLOSION DATA ---------------
FLASH POINT: 220*F
EXTINGUISHING MEDIA: Alcohol foam, dry chemical, carbon dioxide.
SPECIAL FIRE FIGHTING PROCEDURES: Self contained breathing apparatus should be available for fire fighters. Cool exposed containers with water.
FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARDS: Toxic fumes will be evolved when this material is involved in a fire.
PRODUCT NAME: RESIN RESEARCH ADDITIVE F
----------------- FIRE AND EXPLOSION DATA -----------------
FLASH POINT: 27-32 C (TCC)
FLAMMABILITY CLASSIFICATION: FLAMMABLE LIQUID
EXTINGUISHING MEDIA:ALCOHOL TYPE FOAM, CO2, OR DRY CHEMICAL
SPECIAL FIRE FIGHTING PROCEDURES: Firefighters should wear goggles and self contained breathing apparatus to avoid inhalation of smoke or vapors.
FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARDS: PYROLYSIS WILL RELEASE TOXIC GASES - CO AND BENZENE
Are you using RR epoxy or some other?
There are guys who glass in their living rooms with RR. NOT that I would recommend it, but it has been done and I once did a substantial repair in my home.
Not all epoxies are created equal, however. Some are downright nasty (I’m talking more toxic than flammable here).
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Are you using RR epoxy or some other?
Yes, RR.
Minimal worry then (spoken as a frequent user of the product, not as an engineer/chemist of it).
Some permanent markers and paint pens give off more nasties than RR.
Absolutely safe under normal, indoor conditions. I’ve glassed boards in my boiler room with an open pilot flame less than 20 away…
Has anyone had there RR epoxy throw out a few sparks when warmed up in the Microwave? I warm it in hot water now to avoid this.
Chrisitan
Never had any problems in the microwave, but if you thin the RR with denatured alcohol, you have just added flammability to the mix, so use a heat gun and not a blowtorch to fix the small bubbles in gloss coats.
JSS
okay gang…
no chemical will ignite until it reaches something referred to as a flash point. That doesn’t means that if I’ve got a big container full of a chemical that the entire container needs to reach that point…just that some of it needs to be at flash point temperature. Then I need an ignition source. Once the fire has started (exothermic reaction), it can pass enough heat on to the surrounding material for it to also reach the flash point. The flash point is often substantially lower than the boiling point for a given, pure chemical.
RR is claimed to be 100% solids, 0 VOC. So, this being the case, then no; you don’t have to worry about the resin being much of a fire hazard. That said, if there’s a fire that starts for some other reason, and the resin or hardener are nearby, both of them will burn, quite nicely, and are full of easily oxidized organic compounds.
Additive F is suspended in xylenes. The flashpoint for xylenes is listed by some safety organizations as being as low as 27 degrees C. So, yes; this is a fire hazard as there will be substantial vapour present at room temperature and a spark might be all that it takes if the fumes are concentrated. Remember, though, that you’re using what…about 1% total in the mix? Get it out, measure it, put the cap back on. Easy.
If you wanna talk fire hazard, let’s talk polyester resins (up to 40%+ styrene). Not only the spontaneous explosion of MEKP (well documented), but chock full of a very low flashpoint reactive diluent (styrene; flashpoint 31 degrees C).
All of this information freely available by a quick google search.
Well written Great White
The only real fire issue with epoxy is exotherm in the mixing container
Leave the container with left over resin in on the bench while you finish pampering the board,then you have just left a fire risk
Better to pour water into the container and leave it in a safe place outside
Another word of warning
We just recently had a fire in the boat yard
luckly for us the smoke alarms kicked in and the fire crew arrived smashed a window and broke a big roller door to gain access
They then put the fire out with minimum damage to boats and equipment
The fire started about two hours after knock off time in the varnishing section in a rubbish bin that had not been emptyed
The cause of the fire?
A bunched up rag with thinners on it
And as GT says organic peroxides (catalist) is decomposing when you get it
never decant for container to container
always store in a flame proof cabinet
if you spill some and wipe it up with a rag
take the rag outside and imerse it in water
Ive seen a rag that has been used to wipe up mekp in a drum full of water with the tip of the rag exposed to air ON FIRE
NEVER STORE MEKP IN YOUR HOUSE
Mike
didn’t jim phillips have a small fire break out in his garage about a year back??
Thanks for the mkep reminder, I have a small amount in my garage, but I think it needs to be in a bucket on the porch.
On a related note, I’ve never burned epoxy, but I sure had some smoking yesterday. I did a small (1/4 oz) batch to patch a couple of pinholes, and added the x55 accelerator “by eye”. The few drops that I put on the board stayed cool, but the 1/4 oz in the 1 oz cup foamed up to almost overflowing, then hardened in that foam state, while smoking all the while.
Gotta love that x55.
Another related note, that x55, while effective, is not nearly as inert as the resin/hardener… Or even the additive F.
Second ingredient on the label is Hydrochloric Acid.
Hydrochloric Acid.
In case you didn’t see it the first couple of times,
X55 ACCELERATOR FOR RR EPOXY CONTAINS HYDROCHLORIC ACID.
When a couple of drops landed on my concrete floor, they bubbled.
As soon as I saw that, I took my big red marker and wrote “ACID” all over the bottle.
Just hope some young hippie-tripper doesn’t think it’s the other kind of acid.
most of that kind come on blotter paper dood
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most of that kind come on blotter paper dood
Agreed, but the best hits the tongue directly out of an eyedropper… Er, so I’ve heard.
I strongly second the MEKP warnings. Really, its a miracle not more accidenst happen, this stuff is very dangerous. Not only as a oxidizer but as a reactant with other materials. Prolonged exposure to metals will create extremely dangerous conditions. Don’t buy more than you need, don’t store this stuff, when you are finished with it, dispose of the remainder responsibly (here we have chemical drop off points where you can take such things as paint thinners, left over medicines etc…). It never ceases to amaze me that you can order this stuff in significant quantities!!! It’s nuts!!
It’s not because you haven’t had a problem yet that you don’t run a risk!!
as for epoxies, they are on the whole flammable, as GW puts it, they need their flashpoint. If properly mixed and applied according to instructions they are safe to use (cannot reach a dangerous exotherm) but if you screw around, you could get some unexpected results, smoking cups of resin are the most likely result but it could reach a flashpoint of surrounding items/elements. Also, the gasses when smoking are toxic. It’s chemicals not silly putty, read the instructions carefully, then read them again. Hardners (Amine based) are dangerous when exposed to cellulose (paper/wood) and dust and will also corrode some metals leaving harmfull residues. As a general rule you should never have an open flame in your workshop, any fiber dust or foam dust could cause trouble in addition to any chemicals, solvents, thinners you have. We use aerospace grade materials, lets take some effort to use them in appropriatly and responsibly.
X55 accelerator. Yeah, I dropped some on the floor too. Scared the crap out of me at first. I guess that the type of bottle it ships in should be an indication as to the nature of the contents.
I belive the RR bottles say “non flamable”
RR epoxy is about as harmless as spring water … I glass boards in my sunroom with no mask, can’t even smell the stuff … unless you use additive F then it gets a little more potent …
Do not leave any sit in a container mixed … it will get dangerously hot when it reacts. Put outside, but better yet, don’t mix more than you need. It’s too expensive! If you run out just mix more, only takes a few seconds.