Epoxy not curing

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Jeff in Farmington, MI
Posts: 118
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:19 pm
Location: Farmington, Michigan, USA

Epoxy not curing

Post by Jeff in Farmington, MI »

Hello everyone,
I have finally glassed the underside of the deck on my kayak, and I am now working on small tasks around the cockpit and hatches.

I had never, ever had a bad mix of epoxy of any size, but in the past week, I have had one small batch which remained sticky, and now one which after 24 hours is still very soft. I use the "measured cup" method of mixing epoxy. That is, I place one cup into another, then mark the 3:1 volume levels on the outer "master" cup. The level marks can be seen through the translucent cups. The outer cup is reused while each batch gets a new inner cup.

I have a work lamp directed at the surface to elevate the temperature ... but can I expect this epoxy to ever cure hard?

I am convinced that my 3:1 ratios of West System 105/207 epoxy are accurate, no matter what size, but now I am remembering that I switched to a new can of 105 resin just before the first bad batch. Has anyone ever encountered a bad batch of West System resin? Any other ideas? The temperature in my garage is in the mid 60s F.

Thanks,
Jeff
willo
Posts: 156
Joined: Sun Jul 15, 2007 12:48 pm
Location: Echo Bay ON.

Re: Epoxy not curing

Post by willo »

West 207 should harden without problem at that temp. Did the leftover epoxy in the cup harden alright? It should be easy to figure out if you had bad epoxy, test a batch.Did you clean the surface with any type of solvent ? Or treat the wood with any stains? These are the things that came to mind when I read your post. To me West is almost fail-proof unless something else was done wrong.
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Patricks Dad
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Re: Epoxy not curing

Post by Patricks Dad »

I've never had a bad batch of West System 105/207. I have mis-measured the ratio once before resulting in too little hardner in an entire hull inside-job. My discussions with the guys at West System was that the resin will harden on it's own over time if there is too little hardner. It did.

Now it doesn't sound like you have my problem (I trust that you measured and mixed properly) but you might try boosting the temp in the room and waiting longer or give the guys at West System a call for their advice.


Hope everything works out for you.
Randy Pfeifer
(847) 341-0618
Randy.Pfeifer1@gmail.com
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