Does your Aquasol HV get lumpy in the bucket?

[ScreenPrinter123]

Ok, so I thought it was something with our first batch, but this second gallon has lumps in it too after a little while (after 2-3 weeks).  We keep it in the fridge -- do you all experience this issue too?  I whisked it with a spatula and that seemed to help, but this is not an issue I've ever experienced before with chromaline emulsions (udc-2 and chromablue), not to mention, dried up flakes of emulsion from the edges of the bucket are showing up in the bucket too, unlike I've experienced with chromaline emulsions when shaking the bucket before pouring it in to the coater.  Is the mixing every time you pull it out of the fridge with a spatula of some sort before pouring into the coater just to be expected to eliminate the clumps or are you all not experiencing this with the aquasol HV?  I'd much prefer to keep it in the fridge if that is creating a problem, since it would be very runny otherwise at room temperature.


Thanks.

[Colin]

Murakami emulsions in general have this happen.  There do seem to be occasional lumps in their containers.  My best guess is that it is undispersed dry particles from when it is manufactured.  I find a couple in most one gallon buckets.  I just went through 4 singles this month and only found a couple.  Some buckets are much worse.

I have used several different Murakami emulsions over the years.  It's been a constant.

It's easily removable/fixable though.

[Sbrem]

I've seen more with age than anything else. Around here emulsion goes quickly, but I do seem to remember in the earlier days that old emulsion starts to turn to cottage cheese...

Steve

[blue moon]

try this:
-shake the bucket before opening it and then pour out a quart or a half into a different container. Use the stuff you dispensed as you would normally and use the half bucket without putting anything back in it.

I think the issues is caused by the emulsion going back into the container. We us a couple of gallons each week and generally don't have issues. We pay attention to what goes back in and I will on occasion throw out what's in the coater if it look gnarly or there is very little of it and has been exposed to a lot of air.

pierre

[ZooCity]

There's a care and feeding needed for Aquasol- after your done with the bucket, mist with distilled water and wipe the inside and edges of the bucket clean, all the way down to the level the emulsion is at.  Mist again and close it up.  It's a pain but it really helps eliminate the chunks.

Order it in gallons, never 5gal, as the larger bucket is just more surface area for emulsion to dry out on, more trapped air.  If you go through the emulsion very slowly, break it down in to quarts. 

There's no real need to keep it in a fridge and that can actually complicate coating as viscosity changes with temp but we put the gallon we're using in an old cooler in the screen room so it's not subjected to temp changes as much but is close to the ambient temp of where we coat.