What I learned about Resin today

[swapmeet]

About 3 months ago, I did some reinforcment on my Chan using my Resin Research epoxy resin. Everything worked like a champ.

Over the holidays I planned on finishing, or at least continue progress with the reinforcement work.

I pick up my jug of resin and over half of it is a hard lump in the container.


Its Christmas Eve Eve..... so even if I ordered something I wouldn't have it for 7-8 days. So basically it would be after my holiday break.

Pretty much I was like...

So I called the Resin Research guys.... no answer...

I accept defeat and move on to other projects, with hope that calling today would possibly get some more resin here before the opportunity was lost.

Today I talked to one of the guys (can't remember which one) and told him what my resin was doing, to confirm that its bad.... and he's like...
"Oh yeah thats normal, it happens when its cold, just warm it up in the microwave and it'll be fine!"

So obviously I was like

So yeah.... thats my story. If your resin gets a big hard mass in the container, DO NOT throw it away. Its still good.

 

[Yami-Rider]

Good to know. I'm not sure if sticking it in the microwave is the best idea lol.

 

[augustaf]

The microwave idea is a bit scary. The resin will sometimes harden somewhat when exposed to cold/time. The suggested fix is to heat it up in hot/warm water, just swish the resin bottle around and shake it occasionally. The resin should liquefy again and be good to use (let it cool to room temperature).

 

[mybad]

You house will smell like a meth lab! Lol

 

[swapmeet]

Good to know. I'm not sure if sticking it in the microwave is the best idea lol.

Yeah he said only like 20 seconds... and more importantly he said it, so he's the mfg and I trust what he says. Even if it does sound questionable lol.

Since the gallon jug won't fit in the microwave, he said I could warm up a pot of water and stick the jug in the water. But most importantly, if there is any resin in the jug that is still liquid, its good to go.

 

[Quinc]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[whitca]

I too have had resin crystallize over the winter. I have a little electric space heater in the garage I'd set the jug of resin in front of for 5 or 10 minutes to turn back into liquid.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[Big Kahuna]

Heaven forbid we do what the MFG says.............

 

[Sanoman]

Been using US Composites resin for a number of years.Never had any issues with it.But this may be due to keeping the material at a constant 70-75 degree range.

The key word being "constant"

 

[Vumad]

I keep my poly resin, gel coat, mekp, foam and dyes in a fridge at like 40 degrees and take it out the day before i use it.

Dont blindly trust what anyone on the phone says. We all work with that one idiot that shouldnt have a job but somehow still does. We know were suppose to use bpa free drinking bottles and not leave plastic water bottles in the car, so why would we listen to a guy who may be stoned put of his mine huffing chemicals all day without a respirator because he answered the phone while the chemical engineer was on break.

Im down for the hot water method. Microwaving in the house? No way. I know what doing a layup near my house does to the inside of my house. Im not bringing resin inside, especially not heated. Buy a microwave at a garage sale for $10 and keep it outside.

 

[cookn]

contact cement will do the same thing. It turns to a gel but just needs to be warmed back up

 

[swapmeet]

Dont blindly trust what anyone on the phone says. We all work with that one idiot that shouldnt have a job but somehow still does.

Pretty sure he's one of the owners of Resin Research.

 

[Vumad]

Pretty sure he's one of the owners of Resin Research.

Then by all means, throw a burrito and some hot coco in there with the resin. Eat, drink, layup. I'll bring over a few beverages from my resin fridge. We can melt some brain cells and post a GIF story about our adventures together. It'll be a great time.

It's text, so before it's taken out of context, this is all banter in good humor. The only take aways here are to remember to be safe and to smile at the conversation about it.

 

[air blair]

Don't forget to mix the liquid. Everything settles over time. Everything has an expiration date especially resins. Tick tock Vumad is on point though.


Air blair cell
Edited ps I like your title too

 

[BruceSki]

You can only do it once or twice.

Last winter was brutally cold for weeks straight and my detached garage is only heated when I'm in it.

Needless to say I lost 3/4 of a gallon of resin. The entire jug was hard as a rock by April when I went to do glass work again.

 

[OCD Solutions]

I had the same issue with some epoxy resin I ordered from Blowsion many years ago. It arrived to me frozen solid and I had to use the water trick to get it to go back to liquid. IIRC, I never ended up using much of it just because I didn't trust it afterwards.

 

[tom21]

it takes foooooooooooeeeeeeeeevvvvvvver to heat up in hot water. def don't try to heat the whole gallon. better to do a small small amount. wish I had thought about that when I was furiously trying to find ways to heat it up years back. lol. im such a dipsheet

just something to think about also- lets just say we are working on a stock hull that is 1/4 inch thick and you want to repair from the outside. well if you simply slap some glass and resin over it that repair is weak. the original crack is still there and the thickness of repair is very thin by comparison. by the time you build it up to match the strength of the original you now have a 1/4 bump on the area. see what you have to do here right? besides didn't you already do this repair on the bottom of that fx or whatever?

 

[tom21]

that last comment was in reference to having done this repair previously and that you are experienced with this specific repair and not that this is the current project. vumad and I had the same English teacher
words>meaning FTC(for the confusion)

 

[SuperJETT]

swap - "Honest officer, I'm just heating up resin in the microwave."

officer - "Resin? Really?"

swap - "Yes"

officer -

 

[cookn]

I just recently got half a 4L jug of west systems with the slow hardener off a boat guy. Im not sure how old it is but more then a few years for sure. Nothing has crystallized but i did a small test mix and it hardened but it's slightly tacky still and it has been more then 24 hours, I read online to clean the pump well and make sure the mix is the proper 5:1. I did this and have another test batch on the go now but was just wondering if anyone else has had this experience with epoxy and what the solution was. i fear its buy new hardener