[Jewelry making - Article 00315] - Re: [Orchid] Mixing epoxy

[Kevin]

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>        Wax paper is also a great surface to mix on.  Any warnings
>     about using this as a surface? 

    Reba, it sort of depends.  Depends on whether or not you're serious
    about getting the ultimate strength from the epoxy.  Most people
    aren't very accurate in measuring out the two components, and don't
    mix them really thouroughly either.  But then again, in most cases,
    it doesn't matter all that much when there's plenty of surface area
    and little stress.  But if you mix epoxy on waxed paper then you'll
    end up with wax in the epoxy.  How much difference does that make
    ... who knows, how much wax, which epoxy system.  If it's a
    non-critical application I'm not going to say it won't work, but I
    personnaly wouldn't do it. 

    For what it's worth, having mixed epoxies in specialised industrial
    applications, I use a piece of Teflon sheet as a mixing surface. 
    Now, that's expensive, and not too easy to get hold of, so an
    alternative might be a piece of thick polythene, say cut from an old
    bucket. 

    For mixing I use TWO palette knives.  These have straight blades
    about 3/4 inch wide, not the small cranked ones.  The ends have been
    cut off (too flexible) back to stiffer material, and the sharp
    corners taken off the cut ends.  You use one to do all the mixing
    with, then every so often gather all the epoxy back into a small
    area, and use the second knife to scape material off the first. 
    Then go in and mix some more. If you don't do this you end up wih a
    wide puddle that's well mixed in the centre but which has
    indeterminate pockets of one component or the other around the
    edges.  I learnt this mixing method from the printing ink trade, and
    it's the only way to go, for hand-mixing smallish amounts, if you're
    serious.  Oh, and as a rule the slower stuff is stronger than the
    fast stuff, especially if you leave it somewhere warm to cure. 

    As other people have mentioned, leave the excess epoxy on the mixing
    pad so that you can geve it a prod to see how it's getting on.  When
    cured it pops off the Teflon easily. -- 

	Kevin  (NW England, UK)



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