I was mixing up a batch of Devcon epoxy (30 minute) last night and to mkae sure I got it just right I had two half ounce tubes and I decided to mike all of it for a total of one ounce (I had four rods at the same stage so it seemed reasonable). I squeezed them both out into one of those little 2oz styrene cups you buy for mixing. Three minutes for stirring and I was ready to go. After taking a fews dabs out fo the container I put my wooden mixer back in and half of it was in a ball and hard. It looked like a piece of butter melting in a pot. Total elapsed time 10 minutes. I am a chef so my immediate reaction was to grab the container and vigorously try to remix it to get it to seperate again. When I grabed the cup it was starting to melt from the chemical reaction and soon I had a mess everywhere not to mention some nasty burns. Did I try to mix too much at once? One ounce did not seem unreasonable.

The only time I ever tried a quick setting epoxy, I had to cut nearly three inches off the rod butt because I couldn't get the reel seat insert down all the way in time. I haven't used anything except Rod Bond since. It has a nice long pot life and I don't have to hurry. It does take quite a while to set up, but for me that's a small trade-off. I know the chemical reaction of resin and hardener generates heat. Maybe the volume was such that it generated too much heat and that's what caused it set up so fast, and melt the mixing cup.

I just read the MSDS sheet on the Devcon website. It is some kind of "runaway cure reaction". It scared the crap out of me. At one point it got so hot I thought it was going to ignite. Maybe some contaminant but it was a sealed package, like form Lowes, a clean cup, and a wooden popsicle type stick out of a sealed bag. Whow.......

In the many years that I've been away from rodbuilding, from my viewpoint, Rod Bond is one of the greatest advancements made! I'm still wanting to buy the guy who developed it a drink. To think, that I was going to glue cork with 30 minute devcon before finding this site and the RB product! What a disaster that would've been.

I love the Rod Bond too. One of the best "finds" I've made on Tom's wonderful site.

I think that had you mixed that stuff, then laid it out flat on some cardboard, it wouldn't have built up the heat to the point that it did. And the more heat, the faster it sets up. Probably just the sequence of events; mixing more than normal and leaving it in a small container where everything just worked against you, Ted.

Putter
Williston, ND

When you put that much "hot" epoxy into that small and confined space the heat will build up with no way to release or dissipate.

Next time, use a larger container and spread it out a bit more. That should keep the heat down a bit. Rod Bond takes longer to set so it doesn't build up as much heat as the 30 minute epoxies.

Bonding epoxy should be mixed on a flat palet and folded together.Heat buildup is then reduced therefor increasing the work time.I would be curious to know if the package instructions say to mix on flat surface.Thanks for the heads up though we can never hear too many stories like this that we dont learn from.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Try using aluminuim diamond plate turned flat side up to mix epoxy. It get rid of the heat quickly

Ted, your problem was defintely the confinement in the container. It's always best to mix quick setting epoxy on a flat surface. I cut up old cardboard boxes into squares just for this purpose, and I've never had epoxy "flash" using this method. Just in case, it's not a bad idea to have a small fire extinguisher on hand.

Well, once again I learn something new and this site proves to be the best. I have always used an old piece of cardboard or glossy printed material junk mail I get so much of. This was the first time I used a small container as I knew the porportions would be extremely accurate and the container was right at hand. Thanks to all.

As a side note, Devcon was very helpful with responding and providing information.

Ted