Originally Posted by
Andrew J. Coholic
Been using West systems since the late 80's. We use it regularly in the shop for several glue ups where regular woodworking glue doesnt work.
I have never, ever had a problem - and I doubt a bad batch would get through.
I have had the same issues at time with the pumps not wanting to return to the top of the stroke, and I always pull up on them to make sure the next pump gives a full metered amount.
Cold - well, I drop the temps in the winter in the shop to 58 F, and I use a lot more slow hardener than fast. Never had it not harden although the working time is definitely longer. Often I use fast and slow together as well, as long as the # of pumps is the same as the resin your good.
We generally go through the stuff faster than I wish we did (due to the cost) but I have been given some older resin that was discoloured and hardener that was very amber and stunk like ammonia. It still worked fine as the others have stated.
Im a firm believed that if the epoxy fails to cure, user error is probably the culprit... and what I'd investigate first. If you test the batch and it doesnt cure, I'd call them up and send back for testing.
Good advice, Andrew. To clarify things, in a cup, the unused portion does cure. It just seems that thinner films to glue boards, etc... haven't been curing without heating. And with the addition of heat (often several hours later), the epoxy does eventually cure.
It has been a little cooler than normal here, lately, but as I mentioned in my initial post the shop temperature is invariably over 72 degrees. A few times to try to coax the epoxy into curing I put the shop heat on, and it reached 82 degrees. That ought to be more than sufficient, I would think. Certainly has been in the past, and according to the instructions.
How would you clean out the pumps? Acetone?
I'll probably run a test later where I'll use each pump and measure the weight of the dispensed resin and hardener, and see where it compares to West Systems required ratios.
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