Silicone Won't Cure - Why?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
fishguy306 said:
It does! Yeah sounds like the inside is still curing. I'd give it another week and see where you are at.
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hello; I go with this opinion. Leave it alone a while longer. While there may be some way to speed the cure up, I am not aware of it.
 
fishguy306 said:
It does! Yeah sounds like the inside is still curing. I'd give it another week and see where you are at.
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Awww a week? :P
I'm sick of waiting for the damn thing, all that needs doing is this silicone to dry, and magnetic doors to be fitted to the coffee table its sitting on then its done! The closer it gets to that point the longer it seems to take. :(
skjl47 said:
Hello; The above was going to pretty much be my comment.

I have not had the problem you describe so am guessing. As stated the silicone should have skinned over by now. Also as stated it will harden from the outside in. So if you touch it and the outer surface has skinned over then it likely is a matter of time for the rest to harden.

I have had lines of silicone take a while to become firm all the way thru. After it skins I test it with a gentle push to see if it is still soft on the inside.

One way to look at it is to redo the project will take much more time than that waiting a few more days.
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Its skinned over but exceedingly squishy.. I'm worried if I push to hard on it I'll break the skin - its that squishy.

And ain't no way he's re doing it! I've been waiting for almost a bloody year to have this tank finished and now he's soooo close! If he started taking it all apart I recon I'd go stupid :D
 
I can't remember the type of silicone but when I was in NZ I made a few glass tanks and I remember I had a silicone do the same thing I waited ages like a week and it was still super soft like a stress ball soft. So I figured something must be wrong so I cut it out as soon as I started cutting it out i found it was actually cured it was just super soft silicone
since it's only the top not a water tightness area you could try putting a little cut in it and see if it is actually dry
 
Ilawis said:
I can't remember the type of silicone but when I was in NZ I made a few glass tanks and I remember I had a silicone do the same thing I waited ages like a week and it was still super soft like a stress ball soft. So I figured something must be wrong so I cut it out as soon as I started cutting it out i found it was actually cured it was just super soft silicone
since it's only the top not a water tightness area you could try putting a little cut in it and see if it is actually dry
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Its the same silicone as the stuff used for the seams (selly's) and it dries pretty hard. But I might grab a razor (maybe a sharp cake skewer?) and see what happens. It needs to be tidied up once it dries so I'll just stab one of the bits that will be cut off.

Although I'm going to have to wait for my hubby to wake up because the door to the room its in squeaks at the hinges AND drags on the floor and I don't want to wake him up, he was up half the night putting the frame around it so I'd like to let him sleep. :)

Thanks for the idea.
 
Yea sounds like the same deal mine was selly's but I didn't want to knock the brand since I've used it on almost all my tanks and a bunch of other things and had fantastic results
 
Ilawis said:
Yea sounds like the same deal mine was selly's but I didn't want to knock the brand since I've used it on almost all my tanks and a bunch of other things and had fantastic results
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We've used it on all our tanks (most of our hospital/qt tanks were resealed with it) and its never done this, maybe it was a bad batch? Idk.. Hopefully he gets up soon so I can stab it and find out what's happening inside them beads.

Thank you all heaps for the help and suggestions, I'll post back as soon as I stab it and let ya'll know how I go..
Will a sharp metal cake skewer go through it? Or should I just use a pointed razor? I know where the skewers are, god knows where he's put the razors. :D
 
Hello; Depending on my nap schedule I will begin sending focused thoughts your way. I may alternate between thinking of you being calm and patient and thinking of you pacing and being in the this is taking too long mode. Na, I will do the calm and patient and likely fall asleep and then forget.
Good luck
 
Knife is best I think a skewer might just slide anything wet off of it when you pull it out
 
How old is the sealant? In aerospace, most materials have a shelf life. To control cure time and work life of the sealant, two part sealants are used. Typically, full cure can be confirmed by a durometer shore hardness check.
I've removed a lot of sealant from the fridge at work for disposal because it had gone beyond the 6 months period.
 
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