To add to (or further confuse!) the recent thread about shelf life of Redux, I
notice that recent batches of Araldite 420 are supplied with the hardener in
opaque
balck plastic containers, rather than the former clear glass bottles. A
while back, when I came to bond in my cockpit module, I found that one such
bottle
of hardener (not long since purchased, and well within date) had developed
a "starved horse" look, and the liquid inside was not the usual blue colour
but black. For the CM bond, I switched to using older (but still blue) hardener.
Since then, I've run some tests on the black hardener (which produces a
noticeably
different-coloured mix from the blue) and it seems to have sufficiently
good bond qualities - my tests on pieces of layup always parted in the
Ampreg-bonded
section rather than at the Redux-bonded line. However, I'm wondering
if I am the only one who's come across this - or what the man from Ciba-Giegy
would say about it.
Just to be safe, when I last collected a pack of Redux from Kirkbymoorside, I
decanted
the hardener into a glass container with a good seal as soon I got home,
and it's staying the right colour.
in friendship
Rowland
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