Cleaning uncured epoxy with denatured alcohol or acetone?

[jongleur]

What blue bar?

[jongleur]

Seriously. What blue bar?

[Sailorman Ed]

And apple cider vinegar is even cheaper and seems to work as well. You can even reused a brush although not as good as new.

Another hint, as soon as you finish a batch (make your batches smaller in the heat), pump in a few pumps of resin (no hardener), move your brush around and the resin dilutes the hardener for a while so you can reuse the brush and do not have to clean out the container. Then just remember to add the correct amount of hardener when you are ready for the next batch.

One more hint, lay out your cloth or mat or tape on some thick PE film (I use heavy PE bags). Then when you are ready, just pick up the saturated cloth by the PE film and you can apply it to your workspace. You can "squeegee" the air out and get it smooth with your bare hands. After it cures, just peel off the PE film and you have a reasonably smooth surface to work from. This works especially well for vertical surfaces and saves a lot of sanding. Although with the really hot temps and thick sections, there is enough heat to sometimes melt the PE film and it rips coming off. I use strips a couple inches wider than the fiberglass tape and about 2" longer - usually get 3 uses before needing replacement.

One last hint, I duct taped the hose from my small vacuum to the outlet of the random orbital sander with perforated disks and the dust is a fraction of what it was before. While I still wear the respirator, I don't have to wear the Tyveck sweat suit.

Inside is done, finally started painting last weekend !!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by jongleur

Seriously. What blue bar?

Go to the West Epoxy home page here westepoxy.com and the right side of the screen is a large, vertical, blue bar. There you have links to specs, technical articles, product information, how to projects and more than you ever wanted to know about epoxy, how it works and how to use it.

[Cheechako]

The one thing I will say about vinegar is it makes your hands stink! Amazing how long the smell stays.
I usually end up using acetone or similar just on a rag.

[jongleur]

skipmac:

Got it. Thanks.

[Rotten Ricky]

Wow - what a great response - thanks to all you wise Guys and Gals.

Lots to keep in mind and try out. I also had heard that the greatest danger of acetone was opening up the pores of the skin and allowing other chemicals in - as described. I wonder if alcohol does the same but in a less brutal fashion. I am sure all of us try to keep the epoxy off our skin but sometimes it is not possible. I have seen the results of a guy who became sensitised to epoxy, showing mainly on the face, and it was not pretty. The use of vinegar sounds great as well.

I hear that is not the resin so much as the catalyst/ hardener/ part B that is the real nasty stuff in both epoxy and polyester etc, so I am especially careful with that.

Thanks, and fair winds to all,

Rotten Ricky.

PS. Happy Canada Day to all Canucks July 1st! We are so lucky!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Rotten Ricky

Wow - what a great response - thanks to all you wise Guys and Gals.

Lots to keep in mind and try out. I also had heard that the greatest danger of acetone was opening up the pores of the skin and allowing other chemicals in - as described. I wonder if alcohol does the same but in a less brutal fashion. I am sure all of us try to keep the epoxy off our skin but sometimes it is not possible. I have seen the results of a guy who became sensitised to epoxy, showing mainly on the face, and it was not pretty. The use of vinegar sounds great as well.

I hear that is not the resin so much as the catalyst/ hardener/ part B that is the real nasty stuff in both epoxy and polyester etc, so I am especially careful with that.

Thanks, and fair winds to all,

Rotten Ricky.

PS. Happy Canada Day to all Canucks July 1st! We are so lucky!

The MEK peroxide, the catalyst for polyester. can cause blindness at only a few parts per million. The scary part is it is progressive over time. Wear glasses.