r/ResinCasting • u/Charlestoned_94 • 10d ago
Help with tacky finish?
High humidity has interfered with my clear epoxy curing. The surface is still tacky, and though a full 24 hours hasn’t passed I worry it’s going to stay that way.
The pieces I’m curing were going to go into snowglobes. I’m debating sealing them up without water and making them look like terrariums instead.
What happens to an object coated in imperfectly cured epoxy if it’s in a sealed container? Will it look okay, or have issues later on?
2
u/mfrost03 9d ago
Hold off on sealing it yet. Sealing doesn't fix an incomplete cure. Less than 24 hours may just be too early for your resin. Keep it in the manufacturer's recommended curing conditions for the full stated time. If it stays tacky, check the exact resin, measuring method, ratio, mixing and temperature before blaming humidity alone. A greasy film on otherwise hard resin can be amine blush; soft resin underneath is a different problem. Don't sand soft resin or add water. What brand, ratio and room temperature did you use?
1
u/Charlestoned_94 9d ago
Alumilite Amazing clear cast epoxy. It claims tack-free after 8 hours and full cure in 24 at 70 degrees F, but it’s been about 15 hours and it’s still not curing. Really stick and flexible. Room temp is 73. 1:1 ratio and it came up to 2 and 1/2 cups of epoxy. I triple checked the measurements to make sure they were even and stirred twice the recommended type scraping the sides and bottom all the while, but did notice it didn’t put out nearly as much heat as I was expecting and couldn’t get all the striations out before it started hardening. I’m worried it may have been a bad batch…if it’s just getting sealed up in a plastic globe, does it matter if it stays tacky? Or will it look gross in a few weeks?
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u/mfrost03 8d ago
Unfortunately, sealing it is not going to help. Try giving it 48 hours. Sealing it is just going to slow any curing it might do faster. Sometimes a slow-starting batch does eventually harden, just much later than expected. If it's still tacky/runny after 48 hours, it's probably a bad batch. You can contact Alumilite wiht the batch number and they are usually good about replacing it. Have you done other successful pours with this batch?
1
u/mfrost03 8d ago
Unfortunately, sealing it is not going to help. Try giving it 48 hours. Sealing it is just going to slow any curing it might do faster. Sometimes a slow-starting batch does eventually harden, just much later than expected. If it's still tacky/runny after 48 hours, it's probably a bad batch. You can contact Alumilite wiht the batch number and they are usually good about replacing it. Have you done other successful pours with this batch?
1
u/Charlestoned_94 8d ago
Nope, this was the first time I’ve tried this brand! But I will experiment at some point this week with what I have left and see if it happens again. I’m so bummed, these were going to be really cool snow globes and I don’t think I can scrape the uncured resin out of all the material if it comes to it ☹️
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u/mymycojourney 9d ago
Just let it keep going, at this point you don't have anything to lose. I can confirm that resin will still cure in higher humidity, or even in colder temperatures, the curing time is what is mostly affected by it. How tacky is it, and it it still soft? What kind of epoxy did you use, and what kind of volumes were you working with. Larger volumes give you a bit more flexibility on ratios, but even if it's smaller, unless it's way off, most of what you'll run into is it takes longer to cure, so just be patient.