I did my first epoxy finish last night about 10pm. The epoxy in the cups is still tacky. Is that normal? I was using Flex Coat high build. Thanks!

Kevin Gross
Many men will spend their whole life wondering if they made a difference. Marines dont have that problem - Ronald Regan

Actually by now it should be dry to a light touch. I just had one in the dryer for 3 hours and now 3 hours after that( a total of 6), I just ran the backside of my finger across it and absolutly no tackyness. What temp is the room where you are applying it, and how long did you mix it before application?

Ron Weber

What's the temp where you are working? It should not be tacky now. The good news is you can put another coat of finish over top and it will be fine.

jeremy

Could room temp have an effect on this?

I would give it another overnight

If your room is cold try moving it to a warm area and it may still dry.

Bill - willierods.com

For every 20F drop from 70F, you double the set and cure time of an epoxy. So if Flex Coat normally sets in say, 3 hours and cures beyond the tacky stage in say, 24 hours, at 50F it would require 6 hours to set and 48 hours to be tack free.

Imprecise measurement of hardener to resin will also result in a finish that never cures beyond the tacky stage.

.............

Kevin,
When I first started doing rod finishing with epoxy guide coating, I had the same problem.

After talking to others with more experience - I concluded that I was not mixing the epoxy sufficiently.

After carefully measuring the part a and the part B with Syringes, insuring that you have an exact 1:1 mix, slowly stir the mixture for at least 120 seconds or two minutes - by the clock.

Don't guess on the amount of time that you are mixing. Use a clock and insure that you get a full 120 seconds for mixing. To this day, I still use the clock to insure that I have mixed the epoxy sufficiently.

For a good 1:1 mix that has been slowly mixed for at least 120 seconds, you will typically have a pot life of 5-20 minutes depending on the speed with which the epoxy was mixed, the size of the mix, and whether the mix was spread out on a foil plate to keep the self curing temperature down.

Once the mix is on the rod, the mix will normally be dry enough to stop turning the rod after an hour or so. It will normally be dry and or only be slightly tacky after 3 hours. After 6 hours, if the temp is at least 70 degrees or higher in the drying area, the rod will normally be tack free.

After 48 hours, the rod is generally dry enough and hard enough to either use or to ship.

Good luck


Roger

p.s.
The reason that I suggest to mix the epoxy slowly is to help to stop the introduction of bubbles into the mix. If you mix quickly you will tend to force lots of tiny bubbles into the mix which can cause issues, unless you do something to remove the bubbles, either by using a straw to blow out the bubbles or to use gentle heat to raise the bubbles out of the mix.

p.p.s.
If after 48 hours you still have a very slight tack to your finish, you can normally cure it by the appliction of an additional thin coating of correctly mixed finish.

Roger

I did the job in the basement. I plugged in the heater and it made a huge difference. MUCH BETTER now! I think i will be fine

Kevin Gross
Many men will spend their whole life wondering if they made a difference. Marines dont have that problem - Ronald Regan

It seems these "tacky" questions come up every winter. As Tom points out, room temperature has a very large effect on the cure time and most of us are not as cognizant of the temperature as we should be. One thing to keep in mind is.....epoxy does NOT DRY, it CURES. It is a reaction not an evaporation process.

I find that even here in California where we do not normally have temperature extremes (we have other extremes..LOL), that my cure times in winter are almost twice the summer times.

I guess that in this aspect of being in arizona, I am fortunate, my wrapping room is climate controlled to 72 in the winter, and 78 in the summer. Thus I do not have too much of a variance in set up or drying times. But I do pay for it during the 118 degree summer temps to keep the house and wrapping room at 78 degrees, believe me.

Ron Weber

Ron,
On a slightly different point, how well insulated is your house.
I know that many homes that are built in warm climates are rather poorly insulated. Then, if air conditioning is installed in the house, a huge premium is paid by the home owner due to the lack of insulation.
Rather, if the house were built to standards of northern Canada with insulation in the roof to R-38- triple glazed windows, and r-24 in the walls, I am guessing that the air conditioning bill would be many times smaller. You might consider adding insulation to your room and or home to reduce your bills.

Be cool, or warm as the case may be.

Happy building.
Roger

p.s.
The reason that I bring this up, is that many years ago I met a fellow who became a good friend. He had moved up to MN for a few years to get back on his feet. "While here, he got into real estate. He learned all of the ins and outs of houses and house building. Then, when he returned to Florida, he brought MN home building techniques back with him, including extensive insulation and triple glazed windows. I had heard later that he was having great success in building and selling houses built to northern cold weather standards in the heat and humidity of southern Florida due to the much reduced cost of energy requried to cool the houses.

But, yes, you are right, constant temperaturs of a nice mid 70 degree temps really help when it comes to the cure times for rod building guide coatings.

Actually its only a 10 year old energy effecient home, double pane windows, etc. But during the summer when its still over 100 degrees at midnight and the low only goes to maybe 90, that poor old ac unit is working overtime, plus its almost 1900 square feet. We would get a programmable thermostat, but someone is at the house at all times so can't really turn it down when I leave for work.

Ron Weber