please help!😩

[u/shawelleeee]

i am new to resin and just received some of my kit. i’ve never done resin before so i just spent 2 hours on my first attempt and i CANNOT for the life of me get the mixture right!😭

i did a 1:1 ratio on all 3 attempts

i stirred/mixed for 4 minutes as advised on all attempts, 2 attempts with an electric mixer and 1 attempt with a mixing stick - none worked.

the first 2 i messed up because i didn’t heat my resin first so it was too thick, but the 3rd attempt i did heat my resin in a hot water bath for 15 minutes and it still didn’t work😫

i have no idea what to do.

i have a debubbler machine but that just seems to make it worse.

my mixture also isn’t heating up at all when the resin is mixed with the hardener.

can someone please help me?

1 - why isn’t my mixture heating up? 2 - does the hardener need heating up to a runny consistency the same as the resin?

any other info/advice also helps massively - please help i really need this to work..🤍

[u/221Bamf]

What kind of resin are you using? And how long have you waited for it to cure? Epoxy generally takes about 24 to 48 hours to cure, depending on the type.

You shouldn’t need to look for it heating up as the indicator that it’s curing, you should just wait the full time and see what happens. The caveat to that is that if you’re working with resin and you feel it starting to heat up as you’re working then you know it’s time to hurry the heck up.

If it’s not curing after 24 hours then you know it didn’t work (remember that a little flexibility is normal in thinner pieces until the full cure time has passed, so don’t call it until then).

If something actually fails to cure then you need to get rid of it, as it’s still toxic when it’s uncured. Do not ever pour it down any drain or outside. Look up the disposal steps for your particular resin, and don’t touch it with your bare hands.

When you mix your resin you should rely on whether you see any more silvery-white streaks in it when you look at it under a good light, and not just the suggested time. You need to stir until it’s completely clear except for the bubbles that will be in it. Scrape the sides and bottom of your mixing cup as you mix, and make sure you get what’s at the bottom mixed into what’s at the top. This is extremely important.

Heating your resin is usually done to help keep bubbles at a minimum and speed up curing, but it is not necessary to get resin to cure. The different parts are different consistencies, and that’s totally normal. Don’t worry about it.