We put an epoxy resin coating on a table we are refinishing...the epoxy was out in the garage, and the table was too, and it is very cold here (we have about 2 feet of snow in our backyard). The resin hasn't cured or even really set yet (it's still a little tacky feeling) and it has been about 3 or 4 days...is there any way we can speed things up, or fix this without having to remove the epoxy? And so it can be fixed by Xmas Day?
2008-12-23T23:59:01Z
It has been in the house for the past two days. It started to get the film, and lose the stickiness...now some spots that weren't sticky before are sticky again.
GL2008-12-23T23:41:33Z
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The other answer is absolutely right about the epoxy needing to be warm to cure.
If you can handle the table without disturbing the unset epoxy your best course of action is to move the table into the house. This will let the epoxy set in a normal time. If you have coated the entire table this might be nearly impossible and if small children are around this might also be a bad idea.
If the table needs to stay in the garage to cure another possibility would be to use an electric radiant heater to warm the table. This would warm the table quite a bit and the garage a little. You should be careful if you try to heat the table since a heat gun or a radiant heater could get areas too warm and possibly damage the finish or give it or the wood an uneven look, so be careful to not ruin what you already have.
Allright, epoxy sets best in warm temperatures preferably 67-75 degrees. One way to speed it up is to use either a heat gun or get a portable space heater and have it blow towards the epoxy. The heat gun will appear to make it become more tacky and it will act like you just put it on the table but it will harden much faster once heat is removed. The heat gun will also remove any air bubbles left in the epoxy. The heater will also heat up the garage and should help cure it. Granted if you don't have much money neither one of these are cheap, the cheapest would be bringing it in the house, and letting it cure there. Either way it could be done with a heat gun and some patience. Just put it on the lowest setting and move back and forth across the table warming up the epoxy, again it will get sticky like you just put it on, but it needs to be warm to harden. One alternative to a heat gun would be a hair dryer, although it would take alot longer, as the hair dryer does not get nearly as hot. And yes, it can be done by christmas.... but i would run to walmart and get a heat gun right now and start tonight. Good luck!!
I have used all kinds of epoxies for yrs.Just use your hair drier or a heat gun and heat it up.Or any other means of heat .Don't worry It will work.After that you should take a flat block with 220 sandpaper and sand then 400 sp .You can also wet sand it even finer. Then you MUST wash it with soap and water Now give it at least 3 coats of varnish and you've got a beautiful finish