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Pretty cold here in SW Wisconsin the past few days. I've kept my epoxy in basement for over a year, been fine up until I discovered yesterday my MAS LV resin's turned cloudy. Temps in basement have been high 50's at night, low 60's during daytime. I suspect mild crystallization for the cloudyness.
Doing warm waterbath today for the resin, seems to be working as desired.
Hardeners seem fine.
Questions:
For extended periods of non-use do any of you forumites lock your pump nozzles down after the last stroke's been dispensed?
My resin pump appears to be free & clear of deposits after four months' non-use. The hardners were pretty solid, gummy deposits at the discharge port. I'm wondering if I'd locked it down after I last used any whether it should have been cleaned up before being left dormant for months?
Would denatured alcohol be a proper solvent for cleaning the dispensing orifice for the hardeners?
Any & all opinions / comments welcome.
6 replies:
RE: Epoxy Pump Etiquette
Thanks JoeK, that's what I've read also. I should have done that when I finished the last epoxy work last fall, thought I'd be doing more so pulling pumps seemed like a not-good idea.
Cleaning them before storage or better maybe just to treat them as disposables, have a back up set (or two) ready close by?
Cleaning would seem to invite potential for contamination unless there's some means by which one can be assured all traces of whatever's used for cleaning is removed before storing, later re-use.
RE: Epoxy Pump Etiquette
i have kept epoxy around for long periods of time...years. once i put a pump in, i have never removed it and cleaned it. i have moved working pumps from an old container to a new container. when they stop working, i replace the pump.
that said, i often get a couple years out of a set of pumps.
my 'trick' for keeping long pump life is to clean the outside of the pump (typically the spout and any material that may have dripped on the container itself) with a white vinegar wipe after i have used them and then i always tape the openings of the spout shut with piece of blue tape.
i don't store the pump compressed. just in its natural position. i also always store my epoxy indoors in a room in the basement in a box with a platic garbage bag liner just in case there is any spill.
h
RE: Epoxy Pump Etiquette
Thanks h, your wipe & tape protocol I'm going to adopt!
Wouldn't have prevented clouding resin (easy enough to reverse w/warm water bath for resin jug) but everything else I encountered could have been avoided.
RE: Epoxy Pump Etiquette
Tried the vinegar-wipe & blue tape tricks today. +1 for the vinegar (also useful for cleaning off those plastic Bondo-style squeegee things and my nitrile gloves), -1 for the blue tape.
What works better - at least for me - a square ripped off a 5" wide roll of shrink wrap. No worries with adhesive not sticking from residue, easy to slip off next batch.
Oh yeah, be real careful not to put any pressure on the pump head you're wrapping or you'll have to start over.
RE: Epoxy Pump Etiquette
» Submitted by JoeK - Sun, 2/14/21 » 3:29 PM
I'm not very experienced in using epoxy, but I've done a fair bit of reading on it. From what I've read most have said it is best to remove the pumps and clean them rather than store (long term) with the pumps still in the bottle.