I have some RR epoxy that I picked up back in August and last used in early January. Back in January the epoxy worked just fine for glassing 2 boards but when I went to do a small repair on a board yesterday it wouldn’t go off no matter what… I have probably close to 2 gallons left from the august batch and 3 other gallons I got in Decemeber (Christmas). I have yet to try using the December batch as I didn’t really want to open it until I was going to use it. I cleaned the surface well, the epoxy was kept inside over winter (I live in Florida anyways), and tried to eliminate different possibilities but have yet figured it out. I have tried 3 different times now and here’s what I did for each. (1st) Normal mix (weighed 2-1) mixed in small paper cup with a small amount of additive f. (2nd) I thought maybe I didn’t put enough hardener in so I did another mix with more than enough hardener that was also mixed in a small paper cup with a small amount of additive f. (3rd) I was really surprised it still didn’t go off with more than enough hardener so I was trying to figure out other possibilities. I ended up adding no additive f and mixing it in a plastic container because I thought maybe there was a little wax in the cup that could affect it. I’ve used paper cups without any problems before but I thought I’d just eliminate that possibility anyways.
The next attempt will be my 4th try and if it doesn’t go off I’m not sure what I’m going to do as I was planning to glass 3 boards this weekend haha… Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and do you think it’d be a good idea to open up one of the resins from decemeber? I feel like that is the next step to see if it’s the resins fault or some contamination. I know the resin should’ve been used a long time ago but I’ve been caught up with my college classes Thanks in advance!
changing the ratio ONLY f’s up the equation, it is 2 to one, not 2-1/2 to one any other combination, the chances it will go off, but you will have a rubber lamination. Has the part B crystalized in the bottom of the jug? if so a few quick zaps in the nukerowave will dissolve it back to liquid. I have had RR sitting forever and it works, maybe Greg will chime in on this. My one big F-up was nuking the A and B before using, it went Chernoble
I’ve used 1 year old rr with no issues. Did you mix the contents of the bottle before using. If it was sitting that long some things may have fallen out of solution. I used my after mixing and inverting the bottles and ensuring my solutions were homogenous. Mne was stored in a pretty stable room temp dark closet.
And is that why they say to only microwave the resin, not the hardener?
I have a few quarts of some old RR KK that is 2+ years old that I have used infrequently for small batch projects. Still sets up and hardens. I warm both resin and hardener with a heating pad before use when temps are in the 60s. Storage temps have ranged from 55-77 F.
Alright it sounds like the epoxy should be usable still so it must be out of solution. It’s been sitting untouched in a dark closest for months so that sounds reasonable. I’ll give it another go tomorrow using the advice provided here and report back. If that was the problem, I’ll be glassing three boards this weekend and be reporting back with some pictures. Thanks for the help!
I recently made a mistake mixing RR with way too much hardner in a very small batch for a leash plug. It took two days to harden up and had an odd bluish tint, but it worked and became totally solid. However, if I had made this mistake on a large lam or hot coat batch, it would have horrible.
I have also used two year old RR epoxy that sat in my garage over a very very cold winter (10 deg F) and a very very hot summer (100 deg F) without any ill effects. RR is good stuff. PE resins would have gone bad if exposed to the same environmental conditions over the same amount of time.
I recently used some 4+ year old RR CE that I found in an old moving box. Hardner was yellowed and I had to desolidify the resin (put the jug in a plastic bag then into a bucket of hot water). It kicked just fine. Added some color in the lam to mask the yellowness and it turned out great.
Alright you guys were correct. The epoxy had fallen out of solution and needed to be shaken up. I also took the advice of heating up the resin in the microwave and let’s just say I am glad I was just testing the epoxy to see if it would set… Did it set? Hell yeah it did in 3-5 minutes only! Never seen the epoxy smoke like that before when hardening haha.
I like to microwave the resin for lamming and hotcoat. It makes it flow out so nicely and really cuts down on the bubbles… But, yah, you gotta be careful not to heat it up too much.
Thanks in advance!