I came across a post on another forum suggesting refrigerating silicone for a little while to increase the cure time and provide more working time. I could see this being useful when using something like RTV108, which sets up more quickly than regular GE silicone I. Has anyone else tried this?
putting silicone in the fridge?
- Thread starter the_deeb
- Start date
Sounds like a bad idea to me. Window sealing is already the most difficult/critical part of a build, why would you complicate it by deviating from the recommended usage parameters that the product suggests? Besides, most people complain that it takes too long to cure, not that it does it too fast.
When I had to reseal a window on my tank and I removed the window I found the middle of the seal was still soft over a month later.
If I was in the situation you mention, then that would be what extra sets of hands full of their own caulking guns would be for.
When I had to reseal a window on my tank and I removed the window I found the middle of the seal was still soft over a month later.
If I was in the situation you mention, then that would be what extra sets of hands full of their own caulking guns would be for.
This is surprising. What adhesive product and what glass thickness were you working with?
It was GE1 I believe. It was on 4'x4' and a 4'x8' acrylic window. The beads were over 2 inches thick in some places which is why curing took so long.
Now I'm just using the same Sanitred that I sealed the tank with to bond straight to the windows. They make a primer specifically to make it bond to glass or acrylic. Its a heck of a lot easier than messing with the silicon. CUres in 4 hours and doesn't smell for one thing.
Now I'm just using the same Sanitred that I sealed the tank with to bond straight to the windows. They make a primer specifically to make it bond to glass or acrylic. Its a heck of a lot easier than messing with the silicon. CUres in 4 hours and doesn't smell for one thing.
Ok, that makes more sense. Silicone cures with exposure to air, so if you have a bead that's 2" thick it would take a long time to cure if at all.
The application I'm talking about is all glass tank building so that would not be an issue. Also, RTV108 skims over much faster than GE1.
Good luck with your Sanitred build. I tried out a sample once and wasn't particularly impressed with the adhesion to glass so I hope it works better for you.
The application I'm talking about is all glass tank building so that would not be an issue. Also, RTV108 skims over much faster than GE1.
Good luck with your Sanitred build. I tried out a sample once and wasn't particularly impressed with the adhesion to glass so I hope it works better for you.
Sanited suggested a 10 day cure time before fully testing adhesion even though things cure in 4 hours and can take pretty much anything including a tank filling.
I too tested on several samples pieces of acrylic and plastics and trust me that it works pretty good. After ten days its almost impossible to get off. Even on smooth acrylic and plastic, it would eventually peel but it took some effort. Any normal handling wouldn't cause it to peel, like wiping the windows off. On sections that were prepared right where plenty of surface prep(sanding and/or wire wheeling) was done the stuff doesn't come off at all.
I too tested on several samples pieces of acrylic and plastics and trust me that it works pretty good. After ten days its almost impossible to get off. Even on smooth acrylic and plastic, it would eventually peel but it took some effort. Any normal handling wouldn't cause it to peel, like wiping the windows off. On sections that were prepared right where plenty of surface prep(sanding and/or wire wheeling) was done the stuff doesn't come off at all.