Dispensing equal portions of epoxy/hardener

B

bmills

Well-Known Member
What are you folks using to measure equal amounts of epoxy and hardener and where can it be purchased?

Thanks for your time.

Bill
 
I use the small plastic medicine dispensing cups that have graduations marked on the sides. You can get them at any pharmacy and they are like $5 for 200. Use it once and throw it away, easy peasy.

Bob
 
RangerMadeKnives said:
I use the small plastic medicine dispensing cups that have graduations marked on the sides. You can get them at any pharmacy and they are like $5 for 200. Use it once and throw it away, easy peasy.

Bob
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Sounds easy enough, thanks Bob for the reply!

Bill
 
I use the medicine cups as well but I just use them for the convenience of 'em I don't really like using the measurements on the side, I just always feel that it's off but I had two Ideas and was wondering if anyone could chime in. 1).Can you mix the epoxy by weight? 2). would putting the epoxy in some kind of medical syringe work?(they have the measurements on the side of the syringe)
 
I use syringes, Daniel. One syringe for epoxy, and a separate one for the hardener- that way you can reuse the syringes over and over again.

I pull the plunger out of the syringe and then fill the tube of the syringe until the epoxy settles at the measurement I want. Then I reinsert the plunger and push the contents into my mixing cup. Then do the same for the hardener. Same process as those who use the measure medicine cups, but I have trouble reading the graduations on those. The syringes are so much easier to for me to get a good measurement.

I use 10cc syringes because they are easy to find and cheap. I actually get them for about fifty cents each from the local pharmacy. If it's a new person at the pharmacy they ask me what I need syringes for, especially when I tell them I don't need the needle. When I tell them it's for mixing epoxy they look confused for about five seconds and then ask me how many I need.
 
John Wilson said:
I use syringes, Daniel. One syringe for epoxy, and a separate one for the hardener- that way you can reuse the syringes over and over again.

I pull the plunger out of the syringe and then fill the tube of the syringe until the epoxy settles at the measurement I want. Then I reinsert the plunger and push the contents into my mixing cup. Then do the same for the hardener. Same process as those who use the measure medicine cups, but I have trouble reading the graduations on those. The syringes are so much easier to for me to get a good measurement.

I use 10cc syringes because they are easy to find and cheap. I actually get them for about fifty cents each from the local pharmacy. If it's a new person at the pharmacy they ask me what I need syringes for, especially when I tell them I don't need the needle. When I tell them it's for mixing epoxy they look confused for about five seconds and then ask me how many I need.
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John,

you said you pour the amount you want to use into the syringe and plunge out all content, or, do you plunge out the same amount from both syringes and possibly keep whatever is left over in the syringes?

Are the syringes reusable?

Sorry for the simplistic questions.

Bill
 
I don't keep any amount left over in the syringes. I measure what I believe I will need and I dispense it all into the cup. I have a pretty good idea how much epoxy I need per knife (and I try to have one or two mL left over... it's way better than coming up short!) I know that I will typically "waste" a few mL of epoxy because I lay it on thick and it's going to squeeze out. That's fine with me. Trying to mix up another batch in the middle of the handle process is a huge mess. By the time I'm done spreading epoxy and putting the pieces together my hands are a big sticky mess. (I wear disposable vinyl gloves).

Specifically to your question: For example, on a full tang knife- I typically use 4mL of resin + 4mL of hardener. So, that's a total of 8mL of mixed epoxy per knife.

If I am using several layers of liners (spacer material) then I add another mL of both resin and hardener to make sure I have enough mixed epoxy for the job. Again, this is based on my knives. I drill relief holes in the tang as well as the liners, and all of those holes add up. The volume must be filled with epoxy.
 
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Tang holes are drilled before heat treat. Since the blade is not yet hardened, any drill bits will do.

You need holes for your handle pins. I also drill extra holes to take away unnecessary weight from the handle.
 
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The small hole at each end is for a handle pin. The big holes just eliminate extra weight. It takes a good amount of epoxy to fill those big holes. That's why I mix as much as I do. This is a very small knife. It won't take much epoxy. A big kitchen knife with several layers of liner material will use a lot more epoxy.

I don't try to nail the exact amount of epoxy. In the big scheme of things, the epoxy is the least expensive component of a knife. If I waste $1 because I mixed too much epoxy then I just consider it cheap insurance and peace of mind.


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One syringe for epoxy, and a separate one for the hardener- is the way I do it also. I typically use 10 to 25 ml size, depending on what I've got on hand. I've saved them from several things, and am going to run out one of these days. I usually fill the barrel, measure what is required, and use the syringe for storage. With a cap on syringe, it makes a good storage container, and easy to use "just a dab" for something.

Ken H>
 
Personally, I don't think you need the kind of accuracy that makes using a syringe necessary but, if you want to buy them in quantity and cheap, most farm supply stores sell them.

Bob
 
Daniel Rohde said:
I use the medicine cups as well but I just use them for the convenience of 'em I don't really like using the measurements on the side, I just always feel that it's off but I had two Ideas and was wondering if anyone could chime in. 1).Can you mix the epoxy by weight? 2). would putting the epoxy in some kind of medical syringe work?(they have the measurements on the side of the syringe)
Click to expand...

I just got some West Systems 650 Gflex, per the instructions you mix it 1:1 by volume. I called tech support and asked if you could measure by weight- he said it wouldn't make enough of a difference to worry about.
 
I use a digital scale as the epoxy I use needs to be measured by weight not volume.

Sent from my SM-T330NU using Tapatalk
 
You can buy syringes used to give babies liquid medication in the pharmacy section of most grocery stores for pretty cheap. You can also attach standard aquarium air tubing to the end so the syringe itself never sees any epoxy.

I use a digital scale and cheap cups to mix my epoxy. I use standard west systems and 209 hardner and it's actually a different ration than if using volume.

-Clint
 
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