Small volume epoxy technique

[Kim]

Yep syringes here as well, here's a tute from 2008.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=899


Key points: If you cut the tip of your epoxy bottles so that the tip of the syringe is a nice tight friction fit, you can turn the bottles upside down waiting to insert the syringe just as the the content starts to appear. This prevents air from entering the mix as you draw down the required amount. If you do happen to get a bit of air it does not matter that much because if you then draw down a little more component that required you can simply wait for the air to rise back toward the tip of the syringe from where it can be expelled back into the bottle.

One thing I find helpful is to put the component bottles into warm water (not hot) and allow them to sit for a while prior to mixing. This will thin them considerably making them easier to extract and also it helps avoid introducing air while mixing...Mix slowly, allow to sit for 10 to 20 min, and then mix again..Oh and have a fan running to push the fumes away from your skin and the Co2 from your breath away from the mix.

Cheers

Kim

[woodrat]

Thanks Kim for some tips there...didn't know about the CO2 from breath being a factor...

Cheers

John

[Kim]

Thanks Kim for some tips there...didn't know about the CO2 from breath being a factor...

Cheers

John

Use google or even this forum John to search "epoxy amine blush" (or bloom..not really the same thing as I understand but the two terms are very commonly interchanged). Because with the right balance of H2o and temp of the ambient, Co2 certainly can be a huge issue.

Thinners based finishes such as nitro are not 'immune', but do not appear to be often affected by the salts. But it seems any finish which under goes polymerisation to harden such as the shellacs and oil finished such as varnish and truoil etc, are susceptible and can really break your heart if you've grain filled with epoxy.

This is because even when they 'are' affected these finishes will normally harden up enough to buff out and look great... for a few weeks or perhaps even months. But once the raised peaks and tackiness of the surface appears as the polymerisation process and all of your hard work is being slowly reversed by the oily amine salts, then one's sprits can take a real beating...

[Henk H]

I frequently mix epoxy in small portions using disposable paper or plastic coffee cups and my wife's kitchen digital scale (in a sandwichbag to keep it clean). Recently bought my own scale ( 500 gr. capacity, 0,1 gr. accuracy ) for little over U.S.$ 5,- and free shipping on e-bay. For larger portions I'm using a simple balance which proved to be accurate enough. It can be used for various ratios depending on the type of epoxy. Each ratio requires some added weight for which a clothes peg is used. It’s position varies with the chosen ratio and can be found by calibrating with known weights.

Balans.jpg (13.81 KiB) Viewed 5218 times

[jeffhigh]

Rather than measuring in separate cups, I place a disposable cup on my digital scales, zero, add resin to the cup to desired mass then add the appropriate mass of hardener.
Saves any hangup in measuring cups, everything you measure ends up in the mix
I do down to 1+1 grams of Zpoxy quite easily

[Henk H]

Agree, it's only for the larger quantities that I use the balance and seperate cups.