May be crazy question, but if even amounts of each were mixed-would there be any advantages or disadvantages. Are they compatable? I guess it is late at night. Thanks Bill

Why?????????

Mike

I agree with Mike!!!

I assume you mean mixing a resin of one with a hardener of the other? Count me in for another "why would you want to". My gut tells me that the odds of it setting up isn't good, though it wouldn't surprise me if it did. If you are going for something like a "medium build", just put the low build on heavier and pay close attention to the drying rotation, or wick off more high build than you normally would.

Or are you at the bottom of both sets of bottles and things aren't quite matching up?? LOL.

Something I might try over the weekend though. If I do, I'll let you know here how it comes out.

I was just curious if any one had tried mixing them and the results. Obviously the mix should be in between. Told you it was late at night . Thanks Bill

The same hardner is used for both. I have poured lite into the reg resivors and vice versa on the gallon mixing machines with no problems. Jesse

I had a conversation earlier this year with a rodbuilder who claimed to have worked with FlexCoat on the development of the Lite formula. According to him, the only difference is the addition of a solvent (butyl alcohol) to thin components.

The thrill is not in the kill

Thanks, Lane Cobb, for passing along that tidbit of very useful information.

Unfortunately, butyl alcohol is not commonly available, and comes in several varieties (isomers: n-butyl; sec-butyl; isobutyl and tertiary butyl Alcohol). But the fact that the usual FC is simply thinned down with a lower alcohol (butyl) to formulate the LITE edition tells me a lot.

Butyl alcohol has a higher boiling point and lower vapor pressure than either ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. Therefore, using a butyl alcohol gives the FC-Lite a longer shelf life, without the manufacturer having to worry about evaporation / thickening while sitting on the shelf for 2 months or 2 years. Also, it has sufficent volatility to get out of the way while the epoxy is curing.

Big hint here - If you are gonna custom cut your own stash of 2-part epoxy, chances are the best alcohol to use is the DE-NATURED ALCOHOL.

I know that many of you already know that. But for those of you that are still wondering, here are some of the reasons that is true:

DE-NATURED ALCOHOL is 91% Ethanol, 4% Methanol and 5% Water. In other words, it is only 5% Water overall, and will evaporate better than 70%IPA.

70%-IPA is 70% IsoPropyl Alcohol with 30% Water. Water is less volatile than these alcohols (methanol, ethanol, pure isopropyl or butyl alcohol), and this would tend to "gel" more and get trapped inside the epoxy than the D-NA.

So De-Natured Alcohol (D-NA) would be better then 70%-IPA for diluting most 2-part thread epoxies. ... How that compares to acetone is up to you. ROQ says acetone or MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone, which is similar to Acetone) is the only thing he considers to be a suitable diluent, IF it is necessary (so he only rarely recommends either).

Thanks again, Ballou and Cobb for a really interesting idea.

YMMV - "Your mileage may vary.". Good Luck, -Cliff Hall+++



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2005 04:34AM by Cliff Hall.

Lane, As far as i know U-40's LS is the only finish that is actually formulated by the company that sells it. Flex Coat and the rest are all prepackaged finishes/epoxies, etc that were developed for other industries. I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I doubt that Flex Coat developed their own Lite

Mike

Epoxy Coatings Company makes their own, and I'm sure you know that, Mike. Must've slipped your mind.

I would think that Flex Coat does dictate the formulation of their epoxy finish coatings and worked on the present formulations that they have out. Although it's made for them by a different company, they most likely had some input on the final formulation??

Putter
Williston, ND

Putter, I didn't include them because they are a manufacturer (plus I forgot) and generally sell to distributers OEM, etc and like most manufactures, not t retail. (I have heard that Flex Coat buys from them, but I don't know)

Mikr

I'd heard that, also, Mike.

Putter
Williston, ND

Hello. I have a similar question. I had a bottle of hi build resin go bad for some reason. There are floaties in it. Can i mix the hi build hardener with the medium build resin that i have?