epoxy glues

[Phil Pascoe]

I've just read this on an Amazon epoxy adhesive review - any comments?

A lot of people have been giving it bad reviews because of what they call "spoilage", "hardening", etc. of the resin. They just don't know that is actually a crystallization process like it happens with good honey. It is completely normal, and reversible. All you have to do is heat the resin to melt the crystals back into solution. A quick 10 second nuke in the microwave will take care of it; be careful though, as the resin seems to absorb microwave heat even faster than water, thus only heat up in 5 second increments.
I also nuke both resin and hardener from about 10 seconds before each use even if there is no visible crystallization, just to lower the viscosity for my particular application.

 

[Rorschach]

Cold weather and age do seem to cause my epoxy to thicken. This only seems to happen when open though. For this reason I buy only small containers since I mostly use tiny amounts but use them regularly.
Warming up the epoxy provides temporary thinning, but also causes it to cure faster. I have no idea if the strength of the glue is affected once this thickening starts to happen but I feel it is probably not as good as fresh.

FWIW I don't use the microwave, I use my heat gun to warm it.

 

[Lons]

I've never noticed any crystals but for a long time have been warming epoxy before use to make it thinner. I've got an old hair dryer pinched from the missus used to speed up finishing pens and that works a treat.

Haven't been aware of it setting quicker either but it makes sense that it would.

 

[thetyreman]

+1 to heating it up with a heat gun

I've found poundshop epoxy is exactly the same stuff as a branded make, costs a massive amount less, good way to save money

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Unfortunately the one I could have tried warming I chucked out before Xmas.

 

[Jonzjob]

A few years back I had the 'hardened' epoxy problem when I had left t in my unheated workshop one winter night. I contacted the makers tech line and was told that a few minutes in a pan of boiling water would bring it back to normal with no adverse effects. Since then I have had to do it a couple of times. The idea of the water is that you will not overheat it so much better than a zapping in a microwave oven.

It's the opposite with super glues. I keep them in the fridge because if they are kept in the warm they go off quite quickly.