Expoxy Resin - not what it used to be?

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Sailfree

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I remember a hard block of Araldite on the counter of hardware stores with nails screws and even a round marble stuck in it - none to be removed.

Used various epoxy products on the boat to repair enlarged screw holes etc at hinges and all I now get is a softish goo not a hard block. Still mixing it 50:50. Currently trying Screwfix Evo Stick version but tried Araldite rapid and normal and epoxy from pound shop.

Have they changed its constituents or is it just me?
 
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Sailfree said:
I remember a hard block of Araldite on the counter of hardware stores with nails screws and even a round marble stuck in it - none to be removed.

Used various epoxy products on the boat to repair enlarged screw holes etc at hinges and all I now get is a softish goo not a hard block. Still mixing it 50:50. Currently trying Screwfix Evo Stick version but tried Araldite rapid and normal and epoxy from pound shop.

Have they changed its constituents or is it just me?
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Just you - buy cheap buy twice. Try "Devcon" products - you will not be disappointed.
 
I find the same with what appears to be branded areldite.
It used to set totally hard and did what it said on the ads.
Similarly superglue and the expensive retail branded products seem just as bad as the cheap and cheerful products?
I have begun to wonder whether there is out there lots of counterfeit packaging?
 
Daydream believer said:
That is odd I have found the same - slow cure & not really hard
i thought it was because I had old stock
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Same here, despite using it warm, thorough mixing, extra hardener, leaving it to cure for days,
it seems that what is casually sold over the counter in ordinary shops has changed, and you have to go to specialist suppliers (as above)
I just used some Plastic Padding Marine Filler, seems ok though.
 
Softish goo sounds either the mix proportion is wrong or the two parts not properly mixed. Mix ratio is critical with epoxy, and even the best will not set properly if it is not right, or is not really thoroughly mixed. If it says to mix for 2 minutes it means two minutes, not just until it looks OK. The two chemicals have to bein complete contact with each other to work. On the other hand cheap epoxy is just that, and is probably even more critical than decent ones. Temperature can be critical too. Too cold the reaction just doesn'tand after a certain time will never work. Not likely to be a problem just recently though!
 
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Try using standard epoxy resin mixed with colloidal silica instead.
It looks just like Araldite but works better plus you get to choose the consistency.
 
I'm about to use a stuff called JB Weld. Claims to be the strongest epoxy you can buy and when set can be drilled etc. Wonder if it really does do what it says on the tin?
 
Burnham Bob said:
I'm about to use a stuff called JB Weld. Claims to be the strongest epoxy you can buy and when set can be drilled etc. Wonder if it really does do what it says on the tin?
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Yes I used it on a diesel cylinder head gasket face, to stop water leaks, I couldn't believe it, but it held the pressure.
Just be sure everything is warm, rough and religiously degreased.
 
SNIP
jerrytug said:
Same here, despite using it warm, thorough mixing, extra hardener, leaving it to cure for days
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that may be the problem - if you do not follow the instructions and "add extra hardener" you will have problems.

With Polyester type resins you can adjust the amount of catalyst added to speed up or slow down the hardening reaction, you can not do that with epoxy product like araldite.

I have had some issues with older stock taking much longer to harden than it did when new - maybe that is the problem if you dig out a tube of araldite in the back of the cupboard/locker after 5 years.

Also Epoxy does not like the cold so it's worth keeping it above 5 Deg, ideally 10 Deg if you can in storage.
 
Me too. None of the common "two separate tube"- type DIY store epoxies seem to be anything like as hard when cured as the West or SP stuff that I get and mix "from first principles". Haven't tried Decon or JB Weld though, just Araldite and the various DIY store "own brand" versions of it. I've always put it down to trying to mix small quantities squeezed from a tube by eye though, and not getting the proportions exactly right.
 
jerrytug said:
Yes I used it on a diesel cylinder head gasket face, to stop water leaks, I couldn't believe it, but it held the pressure.
Just be sure everything is warm, rough and religiously degreased.
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+1 for JB Weld. Very good product.
As are similar products like Liquid Steel. Sets in 5-10 mins, fully cured after 24hrs.

Araldite is far too slow. Araldite Rapid has always been ****e

I've not used Devcon but have also heard very good reports
 
I'm sure it's misguided Elfin Safety issues with over the counter products. At Junior School I dropped my brand new treble recorder. Filled the cipped mouthpiece with Araldite that evening, thinking it had little chance of gripping and I didn't want to cut deeper for grip! Now in my sixties and the recorder is as good as the day I dropped it. The Araldite is rock solid whereas a repair I did in the last couple of years can be shaved with a knife. The formulation has been dumbed down!

Similarly some "superglues" hardly stick at all whereas the original which was developed to close wounds without sutures would stick greasy fingers to dart flights every time. Rather like making bread (don't knead with both hands) you had to keep the right hand free to wield the scalpel to get fingers off the dart. Nowadays over the counter glues stick like water...

Rob.
 
Once upon a time back in the early 70s my dynamo drive pulley on my Ford camping van disintegrated on the A1 near Holy Island.No charging and no water pump!'
Being a poor student with a tool kit I parked up in a lay by removed the dynamo,unscrewed the pulley retaining screw,added the lid of a marvel milk tin after cutting a centre hole with tin snips,added plenty of areldite.
Left overnight I refitted dynamo and it took me the 100 plus miles back to my home in Bradford.
 
Could it be that research has told them that most people don't actually want a rock hard adhesive? Flexibility is quite often a good thing.
As someone said above, if you want a structural epoxy that is really hard and will bridge gaps, for example, then it's not hard to make your own from resin and the right filler.
 
Georgio said:
SNIP
that may be the problem - if you do not follow the instructions and "add extra hardener" you will have problems.
Click to expand...

I have taken to using the Araldite stuff that comes in twin syringes, so getting a pretty good 50:50 ratio, mixing it really well, using new packs in warm conditions, yet still it is different from what it used to be. I don't really want to keep big packs of WEST or similar epoxy as it's always only needed in small quantities at short notice to fix things. The trouble is these days things don't stay fixed with it....
 
Since the price of a couple of tubes of epoxy is exponentialy higher than buying it in even 1kg packs. I tend to mix and thicken my own for even the small jobs. Even more so since I was given a 200lt drum.. I only use the tubes if desperate and have found similar results to those mentioned. As for age, lots of reports from the web about successful use after 8yrs plus. The guys in the Carib remark that the hardener usually arrives in the brown ( old ) state, but works OK

Again: Careful mixing is critical, I use a scale that is good to 1 gm. And, if worried about the result, use test pieces for each mix. Then break them to find out. Standard practice when I was glueing aircraft together.

Tend to agree, that the tubes sold reflect what people need. A slightly more flexable result for general purpose use.
 
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