sz0pa148

Does any one know if I can extend the pot life of epoxy by using less hardener, or will that just make the epoxy a lot weaker??

Mike James

Keep the mixture the same! (or it may not cure at all)

If you want to extend the pot life, use temperature. Keep the epoxy cool before mixing it, and it will have a longer pot life. Or, use a more shallow cup. Epoxy wil kick faster when you have a lot of it in a tall slim cup.

Better yet, simply buy epoxy designed to have a longer working time, such as West Systems epoxy. There's a lot of free and downloadable info you can take a look at, at http://www.fibreglast.com

Ed Smith

The answer to your question is NO!.

For epoxy to cure properly the hardener/resin mix has to be fairly accurate. I weigh mine on a gram scale. Certain makers of epoxy resin supply different types of hardener. Fast and slow for example. Fast will usualy give about 30 mins pot life while slow (Depending on the Manufacturer) will give a couple of hours. These hardeners can also be mixed to give a pot life of your choice.

Ed S

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I don't know how much longer you are talking about but you can mix a little denatured alcohol to the 50/50 mix to thin it and increase the working life.

As the above post states, just purchase the correct epoxy is the best solution

sz0pa148

Thanks guys!

Yes, using a slow curing epoxy system is definitely better. I took over someones project, and unfortunately, I have large amount of 2020 hardener (from Fibreglast) - which I have to get rid of. Just trying to find a way of extending the pot life so that I can use it for something useful like glassing foam wings.


Mike

Ed Smith

If you mix alcohol or acetone with the resin to thin it slightly the integrity of the mix will be affected. It might not cure properly, it could stay kind of rubbery. Literature from West Systems discourages this practice.

Ed S

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

I have had the same experience when thinning epoxy with alcohol. Seems to stay rubbery and never cure up hard. One technique I used some time ago was to hit my epoxy cup with a heat gun. The epoxy glue turns to the consistency of water while it stays hot.

Rodney

It is poor practice to thin epoxy with alcohol or acetone at anytime. It definately lowers the strength and may impact the cure in many unpleasant ways.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

Did you use rubbing alcohol or denatured?
Rubbing alcohol will not work right because of the water content. Denatured works great and gets hard!