When your epoxy is cold and thick as syrup, how do you heat it for thinning? I like the microwave and heat gun the best. James Goss

I just use by heat gun that is normally used for covering. Just direct it at the bottle of a little while then role it around in my hands.

Old microwave oven for me.

Vince

The epoxy curing process is exothermic, so if you mix up enough in a confined container (I use the transluscent Fuji film canisters), it'll heat itself up pretty good. A strong word of caution here, though: believe it or not, it can heat up too much. Heat accelerate the curing process and the whole thing feed on itself and can quickly run away. When I used to mix up a whole canister full for fibreglassing, I had to remember to work pretty quick to get it ready to pour out. More than once I didn't work fast enough and ended up having to rush the smoking canister outside of the house.

Two more thoughts:

1. Burning epoxy fume is toxic.

2. Before you start, think of a place outside where you might not care to have a puddle of melted goo.

I only zap it enough in the microwave to enable it to flow when it's cold in my garage, haven't had the run away problem yet.

Vince

Please check out my post in the "Questions and Answers" forum and chip in your two cents. I'm getting desperate...

Steve

I use an old heating pad,and then place the bottles on top of the TV and they stay warm as long as needed

I use the microwave...
I have heard from people who know, though, that the fumes from HEATED epoxy are extremely bad, much worse than unheated, so use adequate ventilation. You can build up an allergy to epoxy very easily.

I just put my two bottles in front of the space heater in my garage about 10 minutes before I'm ready to use it... nice and toasty by then.

I measure my epoxy into measuring cups before mixing, then heat in microwave. Allows me to control the heating very precisely. I just get it to 80 degrees F.

Another way to avoid heating is to store the epoxy inside. Take it out in the garage when ready to use it.

I fear other method mentioned can overheat the epoxy, possibly causing the reaction to go off too fast.

I like to just put both bottles in an old coffee can and add hot tap
water - let stand a few minutes and both parts will flow out of the
bottles quite nicely and mix up well.

Also sometimes I squeeze out both parts onto the mixing pad and
then use the hot air heat gun to thin them out a little while mixing

I wanted to know if it beneficial to keep epoxy cold such as is done with CAs. I'm guessing it doesn't really matter too much for epoxy since it is a two part mix and it won't harden by itself. Currently my epoxy is keep on the window shelf and is kept cool (good ol' single pane). If it doesn't matter, I may move it to a warmer place so it is easier to use when needed.

Herb