Thinning Epoxy question

[RomanRegal]

Hi,<br />What would you use to thin epoxy resin for sealing. Thanks Roman

 

[Laddies]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

acetone, but if you are sealing and can use a plastic squeegee you will have better luck, we seal all the surfaces on our race boat that way as they are put together.

 

[crab bait]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

you mite hear contradiction but epoxy is not to be thinned.. <br /><br />there's two kinds of epoxy .. thick ( construction type ) an thin ( laminating type )..

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

West Systems has a sidebar in their free user manual that says pretty much the same thing as Crab Bait. Either lacquer thinner or, as LaddiesService mentions, acetone can be used to thin epoxy but doing so compromises the epoxy’s strength and moisture resistance. They recommend heating the work area to about 120F (heat gun or heat lamp) then applying regular, non-thinned epoxy and you should get about the same penetration as thinned epoxy while maintaining the full integrity of the epoxy. Don’t know, never done it.<br /><br />Personally, I’m a victim of Boomyal’s one-man marketing campaign promoting CPES. It is a thin epoxy designed specifically for penetrating…it’s really good stuff!!!

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

18rabbit,<br /> That champagne, is it french or california?

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

Boat Buoy – thanks. Anything that makes it thru spell check is good to go.

 

[RomanRegal]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

Can you use rubbing alcholhol to thin the epoxy. Thanks again<br />Roman

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

Originally posted by Roman:<br /> Can you use rubbing alcholhol to thin the epoxy. Thanks again<br />Roman

"NO"

 

[jimmythekid]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

nope

 

[crab bait]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

nada

 

[Grant S]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

I've used methylated spirits to thin mixed epoxy , isnt that the same as rubbing alcohol?<br />I did a lot of repair work on my ply trimaran and pre saturated the pieces with thinned epoxy, it sure soaks it up! It is advisable to coat with unthinned after the piece has been installed.

 

[BillP]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

Rubbing alcohol will work but it usually has water in it. Too much water and the epoxy won't cure. A lot of water in the batch will turn the epoxy white when mixing. Most epoxy puttys can be applied underwater and still work so go figure.<br /><br />I've used rubbing alcohol to thin 5 minute epoxy for fuel proofing balsa on glow powered model airplanes many times. It seals, gets hard and lasts years but who knows how strong it is. MEK (not the hardner) is labeled and used for thinning epoxy too. <br /><br />Heating epoxy will never make it as thin or saturate as deep as thinned epoxy. Acetone evaporates out during the cure so the lost strength is only from dilution...but the diluted resin is deeper and saturates better than non thinned resin so there seems to be a tradeoff. <br /><br />Personally, I'll accept any loss in strength from thinning with acetone to make sure the wood gets saturated better for waterproofing. In my own empiracle testing, full strengh coats over thinned ones are harder to peel off pressure treated plywood compared to full strength coats without prior thinned saturation coats. <br /><br />Remember this...contrary to WEST's writings against using pressure treated wood about 1/3 of the boating industry is (and has been for 15+ yrs)doing it successfully. It is proven to work, this cannot be debated. So why does WEST say not to use it? The same can be said about thinning epoxy to saturate and seal. They have reasons but the reasons don't fit every application.

 

[Grant S]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

I agree prety much with BillP, the meths I get here has never had the water problem so is probably a bit different from rubbing alcohol.<br /><br />The important thing is to use unthinned epoxy over the top of your thinned stuff, as the thinned stuff while penetrating well has micro pores in it.<br /><br /> A simple test is to coat a piece of timber with thinned epoxy, let it dry, weigh it and then immerse in water for a week. Take it out and shake off the water and re weigh it. Any increase in weight is water uptake.

 

[MarkCz]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

Grain alcohol can be used as it is 100%ethanol. Hard to get in some states.

 

[Richard Petersen]

Re: Thinning Epoxy question

I use DENATURED alcohol. It works fine in yhe glue an mea.