Acra-Glas gel dried out? Here's how to fix it

Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Usually it's just the white stuff that gets dried out and densely filled with little hard specks that won't mix in. When that happens (often, even recently purchased Acra-Glas kits have this problem), simply loosen the lid and nuke it in five second bursts in the microwave (25 seconds total for the small container was plenty for me). The white stuff can now be stirred up with a popsicle stick and quickly becomes homogenous and fluid like thick paint, and doesn't get much thicker when it cools down. The amber part rarely gets too dried out to use and doesn't tend to form little hard specks, so no need to heat it but I tried it and it does help if you want the final mixture to flow a little.

Don't try to heat the stuff AFTER it is mixed, that just makes it set up before you can even get back to the shop. In case you didn't know, heat will bring the initial cure from 24 hours down to one if you put a 60-watt bulb in a reflector a few inches from the glassed area.
 
Please use caution when nuking epoxy. Buddy of mine overdid it, the goo melted through the plastic container and when he got burned he flipped the whole container. Result, new kitchen cabinets and floor. The tip is a good one, just be sure not to overheat the stuff. It only cost my buddy a painful burn on his hand and around $25K to redo his kitchen.
 
Thanks, @Ian.

I think I saw a few old boxes of Acraglass at my dad's place, which I was sure I'd have to throw out. I had NOT done so, because it's a bit heart-breaking to waste stuff like that.
 
I've been trying to salvage this stuff for years but never thought to call Brownell's, figured they'd just tell me to buy fresh. I asked Mark Novak about it and he goes through so much of the product in his shop that he doesn't have the problem. I have gel kits going back to 2012 (I always try to remember to write the date on things like this) and have to buy a new one every couple of years for the same reason. I have asked the internet before and have tried various and sundry solvents to refresh the resin but never found one that I could trust not to screw up the strength.
 
I just tried it to loosen up some Marine-Tex I needed for a stock repair. I was a little nervous not knowing if it had any powdered steel in it. Happily, it didn't have any steel in it, and it relaxed for me quite nicely.
 
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Nice. I've used the grey Marine-Tex stuff for a pillar bedding job on recommendation of a gunsmith, actually found some at a boat shop locally. It seemed to work well but I've always been skeptical of how hard and brittle it is. My favorite for accuracy bedding is the product that Clean Shot Armory out of Albuquerque, NM sells. It has polymer beads or something in it, is much tougher than Acra-Glas gel and even easier to use. My only complaint is it's black, so not suitable for some stock repairs or fills, but works well for cracks where you want to dye it black anyway because any other color you would tint it would look terrible.
 
I'm having issues with slow curing right now. It does cure hared than woodpecker lips, that's for sure. I got screwed a few years back by a custom fiberglass maker. My stock broke out along the parting lines, revealing lots of internal air space. I tried calling and he threw a fit and got really difficult to deal with. Fast and hot, like he's seen this situation before. I want nothing more to do with him and am fixing it myself when I have the motivation to do so.
 
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