Mixing West System hardners

heartofgold · Post by **heartofgold** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 7:57 am

I recently found myself in a discussion with a yard supervisor at the local boatworks who stated that you could not mix West System 205 (fast) and 206 (slow) hardners to create a "somewhere in between" cure time. I am certain that I have read somewhere that it can be done, but several days of research have turned up nothing.

Can anyone verify or dismiss this information?

Post by **Tim** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:51 am

I'm not sure about West System. Most 2:1 ratio epoxies can be mixed with a variety of hardeners to customize the pot life, but West is generally more specific in its usage requirements.

I suggest you get the answer straight from the horse's mouth: contact West System tech support.

http://www.westsystem.com/webpages/home/techsupport.htm

heartofgold · Post by **heartofgold** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 8:02 pm

As Tim suggested, I contacted West System. Bruce Niederer replyed:

Yes you can mix the hardeners (205 + 206) if you are using the pumps or measuring by volume because they are both 5:1 by volume.

Reading between the lines, I believe that he was stating that these two can be mixed, but the 207 and 209 hardners (which mix 3:1 with resin) may not be crossed with the 205 and 206 products. The mixing of the 207 and 209 would be a non issue as they deliver a different appearance when cured.
Just in case anyone else was wondering.