Is there any solvent to remove cured epoxy from tools like scissors? My friend was helping me fiberglass tubes and was cutting the fiberglass cloth after he epoxied it.
Maybe it would just be cheaper to pay $1 for another pair of scissors and keep these for the next fiberglassing session.
There's no solvent that will remove epoxy that I'm aware of. However, on metal scissors you should be able to just chip it off with a small chisel or screwdriver.
Sure, but throwing stuff in a landfill that can be reclaimed is pretty silly. Actually, these could be used for more epoxy/fiberglass work, just not for anything like cutting paper or anything like that.
When that happens, I use a box cutter type knife to cut it off. In my case, all that's usually left on the scissors is a pretty thin layer. Also, it would be a good idea to spray your scissors with a release agent before they get gkue on them.
I've got some epoxy-gunked scissors and they work fine for cutting off stray bits of epoxy-soaked glass (like the bits you get at the edge of the cloth).
I guess the answer is that if you want to keep them clean, clean them before the epoxy cures :) That's pretty obvious though, and no help once its set. West System do sell a cleaner for removing unset epoxy, I find methylated spirits does a good job of removing uncured epoxy. Just don't knock a pot containing meths you've used for cleaning epoxy-laden brushes over the floor. I'm very glad I had a thick plastic mat over my carpet when I did that!
No. 1 Litre of cleaning solvent costs about 25% of the price of the two pumps together. I would estimate that it takes approx 50ml of solvent to clean a pump.
I took mine off the bottles when I left for Uni (late September), I had fun getting them going again at easter! I had to take the hardener pump right apart, the little ball inside was stuck completely. The hardener seems to crystallise when left, the resin pump was fine.
The pumps are good, but I've ended up with quite a few large plugs of wasted epoxy, one pump full is a lot of epoxy! Syringes are very handy to have for mixing up smaller quantities. Then again, when you work out how much the stuff costs compared to buying it in 'hobby shop' bottles, its very cheap.
Might have to invest in some of the cleaner, I feel a CFS order coming up.
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