Akzo part A over time

Just in the last month or so I used the last of my first cans of Akzo and then last night broke open the new can do spray the aileron parts. Made some interesting observations.

First, after the last use of the old can of Part A, there was maybe 1/2" of really thick sludge at the bottom. When I first used that can I put a drill-powered mixer in it and mixed thoroughly. Then at every use I'd hand-shake it for a few minutes, usually until my arms hurt.

Now I'm thinking that is not sufficient. From now on I'll plan on putting the mixer in there more often. Not sure if I'll do every time but for sure every other time.

I did take the new can to Home Depot for a good shake before opening it. The drill mixer didn't do any more mixing than what the shaker had done from what I could tell.

Also this batch seemed much more thin and easy to spray than the last of the old stuff. I think even though some of the think gunk had settled to the bottom, the mix in general gets thicker as it nears its expiration date. I'm not sure what the date was on my old stuff, but I'd guess it was likely a few months past expiration.

Just thought I'd share. Mix that stank-nasty green stuff up!

Mix that stank-nasty green stuff up!

Click to expand...

same experience whilst building the -4:
Got the stuff for free since it was outta date (from the airline I was working for), but the older it got, the more thinner I had to use. Result was good and still holds true, some 30K years later...

Good to know

Thanks for the info and the response.

I took my first can to my local Lowes for a good shake prior to first use and have stirred prior to each use after that but am not even close to near the bottom of the can yet. Your post made me wonder what's down there.

My first experience with Akzo but seems to be going okay so far but not much of a frame of reference to truly know if I'm getting it right. One primary example is I'm not currently using any thinner having struggled without a good frame of reference whether it's truly needed or not but if I'm going to encounter thicker primer as time goes on, I'm thinking it's time to start again to find a good supplier for the recommended thinner(s). What, if anything do you use?

Thanks again

Ralph
RV-10 Empennage underway

I too found that my Part A was getting thicker as it was slowly being used up. There was usually a little goop on the bottom of the can, but I always mixed the paint well using a stir stick that has holes in it making sure to drag it along the bottom of the can for a thorough mixing prior to using ladles to measure the amount of primer desired.

For the second batch of Akzo purchased, decided to experiment a little and try to create an oxygen barrier to hopefully mitigate the thickening. I experimented by only kept the cans open just long enough for a good fast mixing, ladled the amount of primer desired, then immediately placed the top on the can. When the paint session was over, I sprayed lots of wine preservative into the Part A can ... with the idea that the inert gas would create a barrier to help keep oxygen away from the primer. Using the wine preservative really seems to help prevent the Part A from becoming extremely thick as more is used from the can. I think it really helped out quite a bit compared to the first can I went through ... the second can got a little thicker as time went on, but nowhere near as thick as the first can became.

As a side note, I also used the wine preserver with Sherwin-Williams water reducible JetFlex paint with great success.

I purchased a shaker off of kijiji for $35.00 I gave part a at least a 1/2 hr shake prior to every use, part a thickness did not change.

AZKO Questions:
1) Does it apply and hold up well on fiberglass?
2) Is it truly just a primer coat or can it be the only coat (topcoat)?
3) Does it protect from UV rays (for fiberglass protection)?
Thanks in advance, all you AZKO pros.