Not Enough Epoxy
Last year I had bought a small gram scale to make our mixing of epoxy, polyurethane and polyurea more accurate. These are chemistries where you want to have the right ratios. In the process of this I discovered that the above brand of epoxy was cheating us on almost every can.
As I received in cans I measured their weights and logged them because I had noticed, prior to getting the gram scale, that I would run out of one or the other first. Paying more attention I found that the containers were only partially filled.
Gram Scale in Protective Baggy
With the gram scale, taring for the weight of the container, I discovered that the company was shorting containers of the 2-Part Epoxy. The containers says 340 grams. That is supposed to be the net weight of epoxy in the container. The weight of the container should be in addition to that. The empty container weighs 44. The new unopened containers should weigh 384 grams. I received eight containers in one batch and the containers ranged from 241 to 335 grams including the container. This means the epoxy ranged from 197 grams to 291 grams. The average weight of the containers was 281 grams including the containers meaning the average amount of epoxy per container was 237 grams or only ~70% of what the seller is claiming is in the container. These are facts.
I noticed oddities in the contents in the last set of epoxy I got from them so this time I very carefully weighed everything when it arrived. The lesson there is it pays to weigh, to measure, to track incoming supplies. It started out incidentally since I simply wanted to make sure I was getting my proportions correct so as to optimize the epoxy.
Quite frankly a vendor packing cans of materials like this should be doing it by weight with an automated dispenser using a scale, not by eye or volume. On the can it says it is by weight. Unfortunately the company has little incentive to get it right since they get to make a lot of extra money on every can by shorting the product. That is supposed to be illegal but the Attorney General won’t be interested as it’s too small a case.
The next lesson is that pays to complain. I did and I got a small credit from the reseller for that batch although I’m still out the money on previous batches. The refund from the reseller was greater than the cost of the scale so the scale paid for itself in addition to helping us do our formulations properly.
Also of interest is that the reseller refused to put up my review, essentially what is above, about this problem. The lesson there is that the reviews you see on sites like HomeDepot.com, Amazon.com and such do not tell the whole story. Apparently companies are cherry picking the reviews in addition to the blatantly outright fake reviews.
Buyer beware.
So what is the syringe for you might ask… In building the butcher shop I had a lot of places where I needed to apply epoxy deep into holes drilled in concrete and stone to set stainless steel sockets. To make this easier I would suck up epoxy with the syringe and squirt it into the holes, coat my socket with its anchor (a tail bolt) and then set the socket.
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Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
Sounds like a nice little lawsuit, and a justifiable one at that. You wouldn’t even need to ‘testify’, but rather weigh some newly purchased containers in front of the judge.
I come out of the entertainment industry and early in my career I did a lot of commercials and truth in advertising was pretty draconian, we weren’t allowed even in commercials to do things like white glue for milk on cereal or mashed potatoes for ice cream. It was a hassle because hot lights made it hard to shoot real food. Well Regan came in and largely gutted the budget for truth in advertising so effectively there hasn’t been such a department for 30+ years. From what I’ve read the majority of products sold are under weight and very few have more than stated so it’s obviously to increase profits. Few things in the grocery store are even sold by the pound, most are 12 or 14 ounces but they look like the old one pound containers. As a nation we buy a lot of empty air.
The new banner is awesome- would you identify everyone please?
Coming soon… (tonight’s post) …although that is just some of our pack as they’re rarely all in one place.
I’d be happy to enjoy pictures of everyone :)
this would be a good case of where you name the manufacturer, add the appropriate tags, and then let Google take care of the rest.
“Unfortunately the company has little incentive to get it right since they get to make ‘a’ extra money on every can by shorting the product.”
I would delete the “a” or add “a lot”. If the company is shorting approximately 30% of the product, they should be making a lot of extra money.
Definitely a lot of extra money! Fixed. Thanks!