Just got my delivery of Hxtal from HIS Glassworks today and after reading the accompanying information, it sounds like a lot of trouble to work with. I was going to use it to glue feet onto bowls and for bracelet and earring cabs. They say it takes about a week to set up. Is that true? I don't have room to have a bunch of stuff sitting around drying for a week!
It sounds like it starts off really runny, although if you time it right, you can use it after it gets a little thicker. How long long is this window of opportunity?
The instructions also say to mix it 3:1 by weight. Since I don't have a scale that accurate, do the components weigh about the same and can I then fudge it and go by volume?
It's funny how three pages of instructions can just create more questions!
Any advice or tips on how to use it would be greatly appreciated!
Any time epoxy directions say to do it by weight it means that's quite critical. Most folks who use Hyxtal use it in the kind of quantities where it's easily weighed, as in large sculpture.
As far as the setup time, I don't know the answer to that one personally but don't hesitate to ask Bob Stephan (HIS Glassworks) any questions. He's a great guy and uses a lot of epoxy in his work. I'm sure he knows exactly what you can and can't get away with and would be happy to share that with you.
I'm right in the middle of a project using the HXTAL. First time. It is a little bit of a challenge to use, and if you want it to be thicker, mix up a little bit and let it sit (covered) for a while. I used most of what I had mixed yesterday, and the directions said to freeze it overnight. When it thawed today, it was LOTS thicker. (for my application, that wasn't as good - but if you're doing small stuff that's shaped and not flat, it might work better than if it's runny) It is being a little challenging to work with...cleanup with acetone. I'm wearing rubber gloves, keeping the fan going, and doing the cleanup on a table outside because of the acetone fumes. I think it's going to work great, though.
Good luck!
-Annah
Oh, I forgot one other thing - the folks at HisGlassworks said that the weight / mix was not 'critical'. I have a scale, so I could measure it, but there's no reason you couldn't measure by volume. Especially if you 're just mixing up a small batch. It might be harder with more.
I've been using Hyxtal for 20 years. Weighing is important. Too little hardener and the glue will never cure. Get a triple beam scale for about $100.00.
Too speed up the curing apply heat. You can leave the light table on or build a hot box by putting a light bulb in a box.
I use a decent quality digital postal scale. Makes taring the weight of the container really easy.
Now that I'm three days into this project, I am getting more used to the HXTAL. I am applying fused glass tiles (8x8) to plate glass panels. The fused glass is not *totally* flat, so I am using a lot of the glue to fill in the holes - so that I don't end up with bubbles. Then they float a bit. OY. It's been a bit of a challenge. Any suggestions? I'm applying the HXTAL to the plate glass with a putty knife, then to the tile with the same, then putting the pieces together. I found that I got air gaps if I didn't 'butter' both sides of the glue-up.
If you are gluing your tiles on a windows that gets alot of sun, you may have problems. Hyxtal is very infexable. If the tiles and the base glass your gluing too have different COE the the glass may break when it gets hot from the sun. I've seen this happen.
Nope, there's no natural light where this is going. I've never heard of the problem with COE's being different, though. I spoke to HisGlassworks folks about a potential project of glueing fused glass to plate glass on both sides of a stair rail, and they made it sound like the only product that could accomplish that in a commercial setting.
