Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Epoxy: Thinning with Acetone / Xylene
By:Shawn Baker
Date: 3/22/2002, 12:21 pm

I tried making my own penetrating epoxy by thinning Raka 127/610 with 10% acetone, inspired by the instructions in the link that Brian posted a few weeks back:

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/penetrating4u.html

The addition of acetone _really_ retarded the cure of the epoxy. I was getting to stiff green cured epoxy overnight (8 hours) with unthinned epoxy at 70+ *F, and I wasn't even past the sticky stage at 24 hours, with two elevations to 100*F. Penetration, though, appeared to be great. I'm not sure I wouldn't just try applying warmed (apply quickly!) to warm wood, though, so I can get a more predictable cure next time.

I'll try some xylene, too. And maybe only 5%, rather than 10%--it looks like a little bit goes a long ways.

I built two Norsaqs, one finished with linseed oil/varnish/turpentine, and the other finished with the thinned epoxy. I'll post some durability results at the end of the summer.

Shawn

Messages In This Thread

Epoxy: Thinning with Acetone / Xylene
Shawn Baker -- 3/22/2002, 12:21 pm
Re: Epoxy: Thinning with Acetone / Xylene
Grant G -- 3/22/2002, 3:07 pm
Re: Epoxy: Thinning with Xylene
Shawn Baker -- 3/22/2002, 4:43 pm
Xylene=Hazardous Air Pollutant
Mark -- 3/22/2002, 1:28 pm
Re: Xylene=Hazardous Air Pollutant
John Monfoe -- 3/23/2002, 5:52 am