Epoxy...favorite mixing cups?

[Patroller]

I go to Mc Dees for two things....Straws and ketchup cups.

Don't they sell Cheeseburgers? I don't remember, I have been in one for years.

 

[Bartman]

...............Especially for 5-10 minute epoxy (and 20 minute finishing resin) because the smaller more confined space the mixed material is in the quicker it will kick. ..............

sometimes, it depends on how much time i need and how much time i've got.

i think it's called "pot life"...from the West Systems website
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/epoxy-chemistry/

Pot life is a term used to compare the cure speeds of different hardeners. It is the amount of time a specific mass of mixed resin and hardener remains a liquid at a specific temperature. (A 100g-mass mixture in a standard container, at 72°F). Because pot life is a measure of the cure speed of a specific contained mass (volume) of epoxy rather than a thin film, a hardener's pot life is much shorter than its open time.

This means that the epoxy in a cup will cure more quickly than epoxy that has been allowed to flow out over a flat surface and, like Terryscustom said, it has to do with the heat generated by the curing epoxy. In a cup the heat made by the epoxy will warm the epoxy making it cure even faster but when it's allowed to flow out over a flat surface it will stay cooler longer thus giving you more time to work with it.

But if you're using 5 minute epoxy and you only need two minutes to do your thing then it's not an issue.

 

[3Dchief]

I build wood boats and stand up paddle boards for another hobby and mix up fairly large batches of epoxy for glassing the bottom and "painting" everything else. I use the plastic margarine-type containers and Popsicle sticks for mixing. When I'm done, I let the remaining epoxy harden for a few days, then just flex the bowl and the hardened epoxy pops right out and the bowl is ready to use again.

 

[Bartman]

that's cool as hell Chief....

 

[stangflyer]

Don't they sell Cheeseburgers? I don't remember, I have been in one for years.

Don't let him fool you...he goes for the Cheeseburgers too. The straws and the ketchup cups are an added bonus.

 

[49dimes]

Don't they sell Cheeseburgers? I don't remember, I have been in one for years.

They CLONE Cheeseburgers. You can even find antique ones if you leave it in your coat pocket long enough!
I think they fit Chinas business model very well.

 

[Phil.Griffin]

I use the small mixing cups also. I love that they are calibrated for perfect mixing. If you look around you can find them cheap. These are $3 for 100. Then I go to the craft store and get like 1000 Popsicle sticks for a couple bucks and I am set for a long time.

 

[Dan767]

not digging, flying home tonight the salads had plastic covers over them and i'm always looking at stuff like that saying, "Can I mix epoxy in these?" so I brought two of them home in my bag to try. figured I'd throw it out there to see what you guys use.

plastic cups that don't have smooth bottoms are no good because unmixed epoxy can sit in the grooves

waxed paper cups are no good because the wax can contaminate the epoxy

so i thought i'd ask.

On several occasions I would take the containers home from the catering. A habit I have since quit !

 

[CatalinaWOW]

I've used all of the methods mentioned above, and had good results in almost all cases. I like the small graduated cups best, but also often use the clamshell cups that premium apples and other fruit comes in. Usually hold about a dozen apples so you get two dozen cups that have no ridges and plenty of room for large batches.

When I lived in a much hotter climate I had a lot of trouble with cure times. Found 30 minute epoxy setting in under five minutes when working in the sun on a hot day. It is really discouraging to plan a job to take 15 minutes knowing you have time to spare and find you can't get the epoxy out of the cup after a few minutes. Now I have the opposite problem. Cure time for 1 hour epoxy is measured in days. After poking around the internet for data I came up with the following spreadsheet which gives a fair approximation for many epoxy systems. The errors are biggest at low temperatures, where cure times seem even longer than predicted. You will still need to factor in batch size (large batches cure faster due to self heating), but at least you can better plan the working time.

Use of the spreadsheet is really simple. Just fill in the appropriate numbers in the two yellow cells. (You will also have to remove the .txt extension added to get past the spam filter).

 

[Jetpainter]

Don't they sell Cheeseburgers? I don't remember, I have been in one for years.

For it to be a Cheeseburger it needs to have real meat in it, not the "meat like substitute" they use.