| East Valley Epoxy - Frequently Asked Questions
 
Epoxy Horse
modeled entirely from East Valley Epoxy by Kathleen Moody - Glendale, AZ
Send us your questions about using EAST VALLEY
EPOXY and we will answer them at this site for all of our customers to read.
Q. How is your epoxy different than PC-7?
A. East Valley Epoxy is different than PC-7 in a number of
important ways. Many people complain about the odor of PC-7. Because East Valley Epoxy has
no odor it is a lot more pleasant to work with. PC-7 can be difficult to clean up. East
Valley Epoxy is water soluble until it hardens - making for easy water clean-up - from
your hands or your work. The most important difference between East Valley Epoxy and PC-7,
is that PC-7 is gooey and runny. East Valley Epoxy has a consistency just like plastic
clay - making it easy to form, shape, and texture. Anything you can do with clay you can
do with our epoxy. Although PC-7 might be useful in certain situations, East Valley Epoxy
offers many advantages.
Q.Your ColorKit is interesting but why can't I just use
ceramic stains -like Mason Stains?
A. Glaze stains are not water soluble and have a pretty large
particle size. They don't disperse well in the epoxy and many of our customers agree. Acrylic paints don't do much better and are a mess. They are not light-fast and
will fade with time. Many customers have asked us about an easy way to color the epoxy to
help with repairs. That is why we have developed the EAST VALLEY SUPPLY "COLOR-KIT"
The pigments in the COLOR KIT are used in industry to color plastics and resins, making
them especially suitable for coloring epoxy. The pigments we have researched are
permanent,light-fast,and disperse easily throughout the epoxy. They can go outside and
underwater. They are compatible and intermixable, making "plastic surgery" on
ceramics easy.
Q. I like the COLOR-KIT but can I buy one single packet of color - rather than the
whole package of nine colors?
A. We created our East Valley COLOR-KIT with a spectrum of nine color packets because it is unlikely that any one pigment will be the exact color that you will need. Most people blend them. We will be glad to customize kits or provide single packets of color for $2.50 per color packet.
Q. The epoxy is not setting up and is a bit crumbly. Is there
something I am doing wrong?
A. Yes. There are two important factors here - mixing and
temperature. Make sure you have cut off equal size pieces of part A and Part B. Roll them
in your hand (you can use latex or rubber gloves if you have a sensitivity to epoxy). Roll
and fold the epoxy until it is a uniform color with no "candy stripe" effect.
Mix at least three minutes for a walnut-size piece and at least 15 minutes for a whole
pound. It is important that you do this vigorously and that the epoxy softens from the
friction and warmth of your hand. A proper cure is tied to temperature. If you are storing
the epoxy in a cool area and start with "cold" epoxy, the vigorous mixing should
also serve to warm the epoxy up and you should feel it soften in your hands as you mix it
together. If it is not setting up properly you could just be working it in too cool of an
environment. Cure time is about one hour at 75° F so a cold studio in winter could
certainly be part of the problem.Get out the electric heater or the hair drier or crank up
that wood stove. If you are rushing and not mixing A and B together well enough that could
also be a factor.
Q. What is the best way to store the epoxy, especially if I
won't be using it for awhile?
A. To start using the epoxy only cut off exactly what you
need - leaving the unused portion still wrapped in the foil. The easiest way to do this is
with a scissors. Place the unused portion in the zip lock bag the epoxy came in. You don't
want the exposed ends to be in contact with the air for long periods of time. If you will
be storing the epoxy for months between use, we suggest putting the epoxy, in the zip lock
bag, inside a plastic food storage container with a tight fitting lid. When you go to use
the epoxy again if there is some crust at the exposed ends simply cut it off and use the
rest of the bar.
Q. I want to mix a whole pound of epoxy at once but find it
awkward and hard on my wrists - any suggestions?
A. We would suggest cutting the epoxy bars into three equal
parts and mixing one third at a time. Make sure all thirds are mixed well using the
guidelines from the above question. Once all three pieces are well mixed and soft you can
mix them with each other and it should be a bit easier on the wrists.
Q. Can this be used outside?
A. Yes. Various customers report that they have used the
epoxy outside in freezing climates with no problem, as well as in situations involving
water. Tests we have conducted have shown that the epoxy is not affected by submersion in
water or freezing temperatures.
Q. Can you fire the epoxy?
A. You can - but you will loose all adhesive strength. At
cone 04 what you have left is a white brittle material that is the alumina and silica in
the epoxy, left after the resins burn off. It is meant to be used as a post-firing repair
material.
Q. Is there an application for your product that you would
not recommend?
A. Yes. East Valley Epoxy is a superior material for patching
cracks, filling gaps, and because it works just like plastic clay - actually modeling and
replacing broken areas. We would not recommend that it is used in any way that will come
in contact with food, i.e. the interior of a drinking vessel, etc. Because it takes about
an hour to set up and achieves its full strength in 12 hours it is not appropriate for
situations where you need quick adhesion. For those situations we would recommend using
5-minute epoxy from the hardware store to get something glued together fast - and then use
East Valley Epoxy to fill in the gaps and do any camouflaging you need to do. It can be
used to hang tiles, etc., but there must be some rough surface or texture for it to grasp.
However this is not an ideal application for this epoxy and we would recommend researching
more liquid type industrial epoxies for this use.
Q. At the NCECA conference you had a bolt that you had
threaded into the epoxy. What was that?
A. Yes - at our table we had a display showing how metal
bolts might be incorporated into the epoxy for anchoring or attachments. This can be
approached in two ways. You can take a threaded bolt and cover it with some kind of
release agent so the epoxy will not stick to it. We used olive oil. Then taking epoxy that
has already been mixed well together, we covered the threads of the bolt with the epoxy.
After letting it set up a full 12 hours in a warm environment, the bolt just simply
unscrewed from the epoxy and the epoxy had threads. The bolt acted as a mold and it could
be threaded or unthreaded as you needed from the epoxy "anchor".In the second
example the epoxy was drilled and tapped after it had hardened. This is as another
approach to creating threads that will accept a bolt.
Q. Do you use this epoxy in other applications than ceramics?
A. This epoxy comes in real handy. We have used it all around
the house - on plumbing, to patch a cistern, in our car, to fix tools, on a boat. It is
machinable, will set up under water, will set up in minutes in a microwave, can be sanded.
You can bond, seal, fill, anchor, caulk and waterproof. If you can imagine it - you can
probably do it. Miracle repairs!
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