Does anybody know if?

[Frosty]

Does anybody know if there is anything that can make a half gallon of West system epoxy resin go off besides another ridiculously expensive gallon of West system hardener.

I am looking for suggestions like hair shampoo or bleach or vinegar or even mouth wash or toothpaste, maybe be engine cleaner or brake fluid.

I either have to throw away a perfectly good half gallon of epoxy or find a solution.

Spending 40 quid on a whole gallon of hardener isnt going to happen.

Sulphuric acid possibly??

 

[rwatson]

Are you talking about their 207 Special Clear Hardener ?

That stuff is dearer than the actual resin, I know.

I didnt think the other hardeners were all that bad in price. Its not like Polyester, where it is purely a catalyst - there is a lot of 'good stuff' in the 'hardener' as well.

Why not just go for a less expensive epoxy ?. It seems retrograde to risk the quality of a proven product by introducing a non approved hardener.

 

[tomherrick]

Their stuff is expensive, but at a 5:1 resin to hardener ratio, half a gallon won't require that much; something like a shy pint...

 

[Submarine Tom]

Value for the money, West hardener would be the way to go.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

So it was the resin that hardened up? Like solid hard? Did you try heating it to see if it'll melt the crystals? I have no experience with West epoxy but my resin crystalized this winter while sitting. I just heated it up and it was fine.

 

[PAR]

Knotty, he's looking to get the resin to kick off without buying hardener. Chemically, it's not difficult, but you have to have a clue. It (as mentioned) also depends on the resin. Is it 105?

It would be fairly easy to neutralizer it (acidic stuff, like vinegar), but to get a chemical reaction, sufficient enough to cross like the molecules, more trouble then it's worth.

What is the reason other then cost, that you want to try this? Give the resin away if you don't want tit or don't want to buy hardener.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Doh! RTFQ!

 

[CatBuilder]

You have to buy hardener, since hardener is not just some random ingredient in the mix, like momma's pudding, it's a good part of the resulting polymer!

Also, vinegar or acids are the opposite of what you need. Hardeners are strong bases.


This is hardener:

See the NH molecules in there?

They react with the Bisphenol-A you have (the resin) by forming very strong bonds tying together each Bisphenol-A molecule to the one next to it. This forms very long polymer chains - AKA, hardening the epoxy.

Without the hardener, you cannot form the long polymer chains, so you won't have cured epoxy - just a cup of toxic goo.

The hardener becomes part of the end result, it is not just a catalyst or something. It's actually bonded into the polymer chains.

 

[mydauphin]

I have opposite problem, lots of left over hardener and no resin... Want to trade? LOL

 

[Submarine Tom]

You shouldn't have any left over. The mixing proportions are very precise and sold as such.

 

[Frosty]

6 degrees north of the equator everything fries and dries and crystalises,--its a bugger.

 

[PAR]

6 degrees north of the equator everything fries and dries and crystalises,--its a bugger.

This clearly explains your self portrait avatar Frosty . . .

 

[alan white]

I've used (rhymes with the waterfalls) as a hardener in the past. It works fine but the effects don't last. However, I think if you get past the four hour point, you're okay.

 

[Frosty]

Got it, first of all its not west system its Epiglass ---sorry.

Yeah I got some hardener from Kossan to work, seems ok.

Kossan is a local product and on the tin it is for sheathing wooden boats.

I dont know where I put the A resin , but the B certainly sends off the epiglass.

Yes I need to clear out the crew room that I use as a store, and a tin of thinners got a hole in it last night, phew what a stink. It took the paint off the tool room floor ---more work.