Help support TMP


Instant Mix Epoxy


Personal logo deadhead Supporting Member of TMP writes:

What a useful thread this has been.

A pure chance finding, discovered after a 9 year interval since first posted. Pure chance it came up as a Featured Profile Article on the left side.

Wonder if things have evolved? Thanks anyway



Back to PROFILES


Areas of Interest

General

Featured Hobby News Article


Featured Recent Link


Featured Ruleset

Kings of the Ring!


Rating: gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star gold star 


Featured Showcase Article

Derivan Paints: Striking It Lucky With Colour

Sometimes at a convention, you can be just dead lucky and find a real bargain.


Featured Profile Article

The da Vinci Jr. 1.0 3D Printer: Unboxing & Test Print

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian unpacks and sets up an inexpensive 3D printer, and prints a test object.


Current Poll


Featured Book Review


Revision Log
25 May 2012page first published

8,840 hits since 25 May 2012
©1994-2023 Bill Armintrout
Comments or corrections?

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian writes:

Or, The Devil is in the Details

I suppose I am a creature of habit. When I need two-part epoxy for a wargaming project - in this case, to attach rare-earth magnets to aircraft models - I go to Wal-Mart.

It seems like when I go to Wal-Mart, the brand names and descriptions of the products may change, but essentially the choice is binary: "regular" epoxy or "fast" epoxy, the difference being how long it takes the epoxy to harden once mixed.

However, I was unpleasantly surprised when I grabbed the "regular" two-part epoxy recently, only to see that the packaging now recommends this only for use with plastic. Hmmm... is this not the same epoxy I usually buy? So instead, I grabbed the other two-part epoxy, the "fast" one (which costs a little more).

Instant Mix epoxy on my workbench

Opening the blister pack, I found the contents were a bit different than usual: a dual-syringe filled with epoxy, and two long nozzles. I was disappointed as the quantity of epoxy seemed a lot less than before.

The directions were simple: Pull back on the plungers. Break off the end of the syringe (which exposes two openings). Push one of the nozzles onto the openings, and twist to secure it in place. Then depress the plungers to dispense the epoxy.

Used nozzle

It turns out that the nozzles have little baffles in them, which means the epoxy comes out the end already mixed. (Instead of you having to mix the two-part epoxy together yourself.)

So I started gluing my magnets to my aircraft models... but before I had hardly started, the epoxy was spongy and useless, already well on its way to hardening. What???

Hey, my epoxy is hardening too fast!

OK, time to read the packaging. Turns out I hadn't bought "fast" two-part epoxy. I'd bought Instant Mix epoxy, which sets in 40-60 seconds and is hard within five minutes!

Whoops...

Still got one more job left...

Not to say that this isn't a seriously cool product, if you need super-fast two-part epoxy. The nozzles are one-use-only, so with two nozzles you'll only do two projects for each package.

Meanwhile, do I have any epoxy around here somewhere to finish this project with...?