Darryl Keil
Posts: 1455
Joined: 2003-05-22
Location: Maine
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Carl,
Think of Plastic Resin glue as a powderized version of Unibond 800 or Unibond 800 as a reconstituted version of Plastic Resin. When you mix Plastic Resin glue with water you are putting the resin and catalyst parts into solution to begin the chemical reaction. Although both work very well there are a few reasons I favor the liquid resin/powdered catalyst version.
First, you are keeping the two parts separate until you mix the glue. Having part A & B of a catalytic glue in the same container is asking for trouble in my opinion. If any moisture gets into this container you can have a low level reaction which makes the glue go bad, and you may not even notice this when mixed up. Keeping both parts seperate makes sure this will not happen. Also, with the liquid version its easy to tell when the self life is up because the liquid begins to thicken on itself, not so with the powdered version.
Second, a liquid version can have other chemicals besides water in it to improve preformance which you dont get when just adding water. Also, you can mix the glue too thin or thick with the powdered version, something you cant do with a liquid one.
Third, because the catalyst is seperate with the liquid version you can have a few different colors of catalyst as well as being able to control the speed of set to some extent by how much catalyst you add.
Fourth, the powdered version is a pain to mix, it really lumps up. When I used to use it I would mix it into a peanut butter consistency first and then carefully add more water to prevent lumping.
In my view the main advantage of the powdered version is that its cheaper. If you do buy this type make sure its fresh. Dont get it from the local hardware store where you have no idea how long they have had it around. Find a supplier that knows how fresh it is.
Thats my take.
Sincerely
Darryl Keil
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