Well I have my first rod where the epoxy finish did not fully cure. I have searched the archives for solutions to the problem. There seems to be two thoughts.
1. Strip everything off and start over.
2. Put a thin coat of properly mixed epoxy over the existing epoxy.

The second option (recoat) sounds more appealing, but I have a question. Do you just end up with a hard shell over a soft underbelly, or does the new coat actually harden the original soft coat? If you end up with a hard coat over a soft coat, how durable is the resulting finished wrapping?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Craig

Unless you mixed 2 parts resin and no hardener, or 2 parts hardener with no resin, option #2 is going away the easiest and most probable to result in an acceptable finish. No idea if part of the first coat might remain uncured, but I had your problem years ago and a 2nd coat did the job.

If you do not have a hard deadline, wait another day or so to give the first coat more time to cure to the extent it will.

Maybe most importantly, do you know why (unequal or incomplete mix) the first coat has not cured, and what will do do to avoid a repeat? Epoxy does not just not cure. Got to figure it out or you are at risk of it happening again.

Craig,
Yes, putting good epoxy over a soft underbelly results in much less than a perfect finish.

This is just like building a house on quick sand. It might be good for a short time, but not for the long haul.

Tough to hear, but the best long term solution is to strip the rod of finish and wraps and start over.

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I had this happen to me once when I first started rod building. I talked to my instructor about the problem and the first thing that he asked; how long did you mix the finish?

He indicated to always mix the finish slowly for at least 120 seconds or 2 minutes - by the clock.

Since then, so many years ago, I have always mixed my equal part finish by the clock for a minimum of 120 seconds as measured by the clock on the wall with the sweep second hand. Never an issue with soft finish since.

Good luck and good building.

PUT it in a warm place for a couple of days [ the sun will help a lot ] before you do much , an see if it will harden up , could save you a lot time , in the long run , the heat could just speed up the process a lot , what have you got to loose ???

William Sidney
AK

Bill,
x10 - time and heat in a bright sunny place will certainly not hurt.

You could even go so far as to put the rod in a dryer and leave it turning in the sun for a week and see how the finish changes if at all.


Be safe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2018 02:02PM by roger wilson.

Since the amount of time you have waited for it to harden is unknown it's a tough question to answer but i would say if you applied the finish two days ago and it's still soft i would definitely start over as Roger said , if it's been much less time it's probably worth putting it in a much warmer place to see what happens as the above gentlemen suggested.


I ran into your issue when i used to use Flexcoat but i have been using Threadmaster these days and it's very tolerant of mistakes in mixing , it could of been a mixing percentage mistake where you used more or less of either the resin or hardener or as Roger said a situation where they weren't mixed long enough together . Either way a real pita .

One way to find out for sure is to give the wraps another thin coat of epoxy. It should harden right up if not then cut off and rewarp. Basically what do you have to lose.
Norm

It has been almost 3 weeks since the finish went on and it is still slightly tacky to the touch. I can't tell it has gotten any less tacky in the past week. I think the problem was some bad hardener. It was very thick and dark (almost brown) and very difficult to dispense from the syringe. I should have discarded the mixture.

For the record it was ProKote medium build in the 12ml syringes. However I didn't have any more and I was in a hurry to finish.

I learned my lesson on that one, if it doesn't look right or dispense right it goes in the trash. Now I am exploring my options.

Craig

No such thing as "bad hardener". PK doesn't get rock hard. If it's still tacky, you did not mix equal parts, thats' why using those preloaded syringes is a bad idea. ITs' way too easy to push out different amounts of finsihm that's why you're having the problem.

Billy is right about the pre loaded syringes they don't dispense evenly all the time best is 2 use the 2 oz kits that comes with separate syringes you can be very accurate with you mix and if you don't build a bunch of rods at a time it is cheaper to buy the lesser amounts vs a larger amount as if you need more just buy more and you will know that it is fresh . and if your mixing by hand always roll the cup not the mixing stick as it pulls the mix from the center of the cup to the sides I use a spatula or popisicle stick for mixing as doing that folds the 2 parts for a thorough mix and a lot less bubbles to contend with

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

as was pointed out still tacky after 3 weeks , mix up a 2nd batch as Norman suggested an but on a 2 coat if still tacky after that take all off an start over , it will cave you time in the long run I think ,

William Sidney
AK