"Alex" caulk dties too fast

[Blind Bruce]

Is there a slower drying caulk than the alex? Or is there a way to slow alex down? By the time these old eyes fit the loiners, the adhesive is almost dry.

[bogp40]

Bruce, try not to spread out too large an area that you can't keep up with. You may be spreading it a bit too thin. You also can damp sponge the area to slow any moisture absorbtion to slow the drying. Only damp don;t wet or the caulk bond and curing could be affected.

The Alex Plus is about the best workable and holding of caulks available, There may be other products that dry more slowly, but I wouldn't trust them w/o a lot of recommendation as to thier effectivness and lasting hold.

Used to use Phenoseal, since VOC regs, that stuff skins within minutes, I don't use it even as an intended caulk anymore, too pricey and really dries too fast.

[selector]

You may be getting too far ahead of your laying rate, Bruce, or spreading it quite a bit too thin.  I spread mine stingily, but not like a first coat of primer on drywall.  Also, I only ever spread what it takes to adhere one full length of flex.  Even so, I have never found that it was developing a crust or just not working because it was drying too fast.  In fact, in my experience I can go back and lift and reposition freshly laid flex as much as 40 minutes after the first attempt.

Something is amiss.

-Crandell

[tstage]

Bruce,

I've found that DAP Alex Plus gives me ~45 minutes of working time before it begins to cure.  Course, that's somewhat dependent on how thin it is laid.

If you're laying track, lay 3' at a time (a piece of flex track length), align it the best you can (a 3' metal rule comes in real handy for that), secure it with pins, and let it cure.  After it has set up, move on to the next section.

If you are doing curves with flex track, I would let the previous section completely cure a minimum of 8 hours (24 would be better) before continuing onto the next curved section of track.

Tom

[BATMAN]

I do it a little differently. I have all my track layed and soldered (where it is to be soldered) and held down with "T-pins". After the test period is over, I pull the pins and lift the track up just a centimetre or two. I take a 15 centimetre wide paint scraper and put a bead of caulk along that and spread it very thin under the track. I put the scraper under, above the surface and apply with just the pulling action. One bead on the scraper will do several widths of the scraper worth along the track. With most of the track soldered it does not go out of position when I lower it again.

[bogp40]

Brent, pretty good method you use. It will eliminate a lot of relaying after actual testing.

[Phoebe Vet]

I use that stuff a lot and have never had it dry before I had all the pieces down.  I spread it so thin that you can see through it.  I only put down 3 or 4 feet at a time.  I pin the curves and weight the straight sections and keep going.

[rrinker]

 Ditto, I spread it so thin that it looks like a shiny layer on the cork, that's it. I think all you need to do is adjust how much you spread out at a time to fit with your working speed. Last time, I soldered every other section of flex track - so I'd have a 6 foot section, non-soldered joint, another 6 foot section, etc. Since I was putting down a 6 foot section of track at a time, I;d caulk a 6 foot section and then put the track in place, securing it with push pins until the caulk dried. I didn;t caulk the next area until I was ready to put the track on place - I did all fitting, cutting, and filing first so i was ready to put the track in place, then spread some caulk. If it takes you longer to do each section of track, simply reduce how far ahead you caulk so it coincides with your track laying speed. The caulk holds almost instantly, the push pins are mostly to keep it from being bumped out of alignment. So unlike, say, contact cement, there is no need to spread the caulk way ahead of time, you can do it immediately before putting down a piece of track.

               --Randy