flex coat issues

[Harebear]

Hi all. I recently got some new bottles of regular high build 50-50 flex coat. I mixed it on foil for about 4 minutes as I always have and coated my wraps. I let it rotate fro 3 hjours and checked it. Stopped the motor and it sagged almost immediately. Then I let it run over night, next morning the same thing. it was so bad, I was acutally able to remove pretty much all of it from teh rod by simply wiping it with a paper towel. So I did a pot test with some 2 year old flex coat and the new stuff. The old mix began to stiffen up as usuall after about 20 minutes, the new stuff did not. an hour later the old mix was stuck on, the new mix was still quite workable. I'm 99.9% positive my mix was dead on. Any ideas? Have they changed the formula in the past year?
Thanks,
Steve

[Midwest Custom Fly Rods]

Hi Steve, the only thing that causes two part finish to not set up properly is if the mix is off. I know you said you were 99.9% sure your were dead on, but I would guess you must have been just slightly off on the mix. How are you measuring your mix? are you using syringes or?

Steve

[kbproctor]

What got me was that you mentioned that you mixed on the foil. This will almost always result in a poor mix. Mix in a cup and pour it out on the foil if you think the foil is necessary. I just let it set in the cup a minute or two and the bubbles are pretty much gone. Those that aren't pop on the rod. I have to work at it to have a bubble problem.

[NewTyer 1]

As was stated, use syringes to measure and mix the two parts in a cup. After you mix it, then pour onto foil. In answer to the use of foil, it is suppose to allow you to work with it longer before it sets.

[Harebear]

Actually I did tink about an improper mix so when I did my pot test I mixed in a plsatic medicine cup. I used 3cc each of resin and hardener thinking that the more I use the smaller the error factor. I did use the syringes that came with the 50-50 kit. Under normal circumstances I might think that I've loaded the syringes innaccurately, but my job for 14 years has been injecting dyes for contrast IV testing, so I've loaded somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 syringes. Inless we are talking miniscule error factor, I'm confident that my measurements are good. It has been awhile since I bought any flexcoat, and I don't remember for sure but does the hardener have an amber color to it, or is it supposed to be pretty much as clear as the resin. This one's pretty clear. Maybe a test pot with a little more hardener? LOL I might also be just smoking crack and totally screwing up my mix. How many times has overconfidence brought down the wisest men? LOL

[kbproctor]

With most finishes, the mix has to be pretty darn close. The thickness of the rubber in some syringes is enough to throw things off.

The hardener will yellow over time. I have some really old stuff that is quite yellow in the bottle, but I don't see any yellowing even over white thread with CP on it.

If you mixed in the cup for 4 minutes and measured out 3cc of each part accurately, there is something else going on. 99.9% of the time, the afore mentioned steps will cure your problems.

I only ask this because I have actually done it. Are you sure you didn't mix 3cc of resin with another 3cc of resin? I haven't been able to get that mixture to harden up, yet!

The other thing I would wonder about is thinners or other potential contaminants. A bad batch is possible, but extremely unlikely.

[Orthoman]

Harebear,

I had a similar problem with another product -- really the same stuff but a different name. Mixed it with the exact proportions and mix time and it never set up -- did it again, same problem, bought new stuff same problem. Adding some heat - like a lamp, never helped at all.

What I finally figured out was that I was mixing 2.5cc of each figuring that it provided more than enough epoxy for the wraps. What I think was happening was the the quantities were so small - that is, 2.5cc each, that any slight deviations was greatly amplified and perhaps the biggest issue was that there just wasn't enough of especialy the catalyst going into the overall mix. I started mixing 5cc of each and have not had a problem since.

You might try mixing a little more material and it might just solve the problem.

[fishbum]

What temperature are you applying the epoxy? Takes a long time to set if it is cold.

fishbum

[NewTyer 1]

FlexCoat recommends at least 3cc

[Buddy Sanders]

There is another 'problem' that may have happened to you.

I know that it has happened to me and some other rod builders.

Sometimes the product are improperly packaged and you really got two bottle of resin and no hardener. The hardener is a different color, at least with all the Flex Coat I have. If yours isn't, then it's possible you got all resin with your 'kit'.

If everything you posted is correct, then I think this may be what happened.....

Buddy