SuperFill - shelf life

[Mike Quinn]

Hi

SuperFill shelf life - does it have one?

Cheers

 Mike

[Dave_Trible]

I usually use it all long before it has a chance to go bad but I have had some around a couple years without a problem.   It does separate after a time so you'll need to stir it well before use-especially the white part in the smaller container.  I'd say as long as it remains soft and sort of fluid it should be good.

Dave

[Jim Hoffman]

Mine is at least five years old. It’s pretty stiff, but usable.  Since I only use it once or twice a year, I share it with friends. 

[Ken Culbertson]

Mine lasted longer than the shelf.

Ken

[Dave Hull]

Question:  SuperFill shelf life - does it have one?

Answer: Yes. It is always one month shorter than it takes me to get to the wing fillets on every project.

[Steve Berry]

Question:  SuperFill shelf life - does it have one?

Answer: Yes. It is always one month shorter than it takes me to get to the wing fillets on every project.

So then don't put wing fillets on and it'll never go bad.

Mine lasted longer than the shelf.

Ken

[Brett Buck]

Hi

SuperFill shelf life - does it have one?

   As long as you are willing to mix it thoroughly (since it separates just sitting there), while I am sure there is a limit, my SuperFil is probably around 20 years old and still works normally. Note also that I do not have air conditioning or decent heat, so all my stuff cycles up and down every day, peak being in the mid 100s and the low being the upper 40s

     Brett

[RC Storick]

I try to turn mine end for end, every month, but if it becomes hard to mix, I take the lid off and microwave it for 10 seconds or so until it's creamy. I'm not sure how long it's good for, but I have used some of my stuff, which I know is at least 5 years old.

[Harold Brewer]

Mike -
          Just stir it very well and it will be fine.  I've had mine for several years and is still good.

Regards,

Brew

[Gary Dowler]

I have found the blue part to stiffen up a bit after extended periods.  I was able to discover that it rejuvenates well with the addition of a little alcohol and some stirring.

Gary

[Brett Buck]

I have found the blue part to stiffen up a bit after extended periods.  I was able to discover that it rejuvenates well with the addition of a little alcohol and some stirring.

Gary

    Mine was OK as long as I mixed the liquid back in well enough. Don't use much alcohol.

      Brett

[BillLee]

To start the thread drift -------

As I have discovered "the hard way":

SuperFil instructions say to thoroughly stir each of the components before using since the resin portion will separate from the filler. The tan component is pretty obvious, but not so with the blue.

The instruction also say to mix 2 parts of blue to 1 part of tan by weight. I found it best to actually do that on the gram scale since eye-balling is inaccurate.

What I have found was that missing either of these steps can result in filler that never hardens properly, remains soft and un-sandable. I just finished scraping all off of a new model and replacing with "good stuff".

I mixed the first batch wrong and it turned out gummy and never would solidify. After scraping it all off and mixing a new batch according to the instructions, it was just as I expected and worked wonderfully well.

[Ken Culbertson]

To start the thread drift -------

Thread drift is the spice of life! 

I must have been extremely lucky or Superfil is pretty tolerant.  I have used the "that looks about right" method of mixing a batch and never had one not harden or be a sanding nightmare.  Just out of curiosity, since the fillet police are about to knock at my door and haul me off and keeping with the drift, how do most measure it, especially small batches.  How does that compare to measuring by volume?  Maybe we could use cooking measuring spoons if we knew the volume ratio.

Ken

[EricV]

Thread drift is the spice of life! 

I must have been extremely lucky or Superfil is pretty tolerant.  I have used the "that looks about right" method of mixing a batch and never had one not harden or be a sanding nightmare.  Just out of curiosity, since the fillet police are about to knock at my door and haul me off and keeping with the drift, how do most measure it, especially small batches.  How does that compare to measuring by volume?  Maybe we could use cooking measuring spoons if we knew the volume ratio.

Ken

I have a feeling, like many things in life, the answer is "it depends"... because the solids settle and separate, the mixing by weight AFTER stirring is giving you the best shot at a good final product... but what happens say if you forget to mix it one time, but you do weight both half's properly, and predictably it is no good so you chuck it and start a fresh mix, remembering to stir both half's this time?

That last batch that you didn't stir ended up taking either more solids or more hardener depending on weather you scooped up off the top or bottom of each container... so even stirred, this next batch and every batch after it is a potentially non-ideal mix ratio. I'm sure there is a lot of leeway built in and we get away with murder for the most part, but still, it makes ya think...

Oh, and you do have dedicated stirrers for part A and B right, so you don't cross contaminate? (I buy large bags of popsicle sticks).

Fun stuff, it works great. I had some that was quite old, at least 10yrs... had a rear entry wood door with some rot starting at the bottom, didn't have any Bondo handy and thought what the heck, might as well use up this old batch. Worked a treat. heh.

EricV

[Jim Svitko]

Thread drift is the spice of life! 

I must have been extremely lucky or Superfil is pretty tolerant.  I have used the "that looks about right" method of mixing a batch and never had one not harden or be a sanding nightmare.  Just out of curiosity, since the fillet police are about to knock at my door and haul me off and keeping with the drift, how do most measure it, especially small batches.  How does that compare to measuring by volume?  Maybe we could use cooking measuring spoons if we knew the volume ratio.

Ken

I have a set of very old measuring spoons.  So old that they are aluminum, not plastic.  I use these to measure the Super Fil ratio.  I use an old butterknife to scoop the components and fill the spoon, then scrape it off for a level amount.  If I need a very small amount, too small to fill even the smallest measuring spoon, I will do the eyeball method.  No problems so far with eyeball method.

[bill bischoff]

I measure by eyeball, but I scoop out two equal size blobs of blue and one of tan. I feel better about the accuracy of the proportions this way. It's harder to tell if one large blue blob is twice as big as one small tan blob. 

[Lauri Malila]

Every good epoxy product data should give the mixing information in both weight and volume. Mixing by weight should be the preferred method. There are rather cheap milligram scales easily available to do the job.
But as mentioned above, the Superfill mixing doesn't seem to be very critical. But it's good to try to do it well, not just for good hardening/sandability but also to avoid paint/covering adhesion problems and other stability issues later in the future.
I have tried Superfill and don't like it very much. It's much better to take your favourite laminating resin and mix it with your favourite microballoons, I like the phenolic or nylon ones. That way you can be sure that the epoxy is well mixed before adding the filler, and it's also much less violent for the microballoons, too heavy mixing risks crushing the tiny balloons. L

[Jim Svitko]

I measure by eyeball, but I scoop out two equal size blobs of blue and one of tan. I feel better about the accuracy of the proportions this way. It's harder to tell if one large blue blob is twice as big as one small tan blob. 

That is how I do it if I do not use the measuring spoons.  It must be good enough to do it that way, I have had no problems with the final result.

[Harold Brewer]

I use a gram scale I purchased from Harbor Freight; very cheap and accurate.  Never had a problem.

Regards,

Harold

[Tom Luciano]

Mine is 13 years old and fine.

Tom

[Scott Richlen]

I keep mine refrigerated.  If the blue gets a bit dry I mix in a small amount of xylene and it is just like new.  I ran a bunch of tests adding various ingredients to it to see what would happen.  There are two albums of text and "after" pictures of this in the Media section of our NVCL facebook page.  I always mix it by weight and have three sucker sticks: "white", "blue", and "mix".