Can anyone tell me what additive is added to Laminating resin to create a gloss or finishing resin? I know you add Wax in Styrene to make filler or hotcoat resin, but not sure what goes in for gloss.
Does gloss coat resin have a thinner viscosity that Lam or filler resin?
Do you Dry sand or WET sand gloss coat resin before polishing?
Your typical surfboard gloss resin is not made from lam resin. Its a different beast all together that dries harder and clearer. I know some who make a mix with lam resin and use it as a gloss but it never seems to look as good so I never wasted my time with it. My guess is to save a few bucks, but its still gonna be soft.
Gloss lays out about the same as a hot coat and depending on how good you are at laying it down, you can skip the dry sanding and start wet at 400. I usually dry sand at 320 then jump to a wet sand at 400,600,800, then polish.
…depends on what part of the globe you are located; for example, Reichhold does not have Gloss resin in some of their factories round the world.
So basically your saying just stick with Filler resin and polish that?
If you cannot get proper gloss resin a good option is to sand your hot coat, no lumps or bumps. Then do your pinlines if thats your thing and then hotcoat again. Fine sand and then polish. It wont polish as clear or be as hard as gloss reain but it will still look pretty good.
There are also some spray on clear coats that can be polished pretty good, although I have never uses them so I can’t speak too much about them. Do a search. A lot of information out there about them.
To answer your question…
The mixture is Lam Resin + 5% SA + 10% Styrene + MEKP (unless UV in the sun). Mix it hot
Dave
Shane,
Glossing is an art to get correct. Only tip i can add is to pull your tape before the gloss kicks. That stage where the gloss will accept your finger print but too late to fix it.
If you choose to wait then your drips over your green tape will be really hard and you spend all day trying to get the tape out from underneith your drips. Also, if you do successfully pull your tape it can crack the gloss.
Dave
Dave,
What is SA? and is the 10% Styrene, Wax in Styrene?
Shane,
SA is surfacing Agent, it’s the wax
Styrene is the stuff that thins the resin out so it flows.
I have had good success polishing out hotcoat resin to a very fine finish. But it takes a lot more work than just regular old gloss resin.
…of course is possible I do that in weekly basis for over 27 years; gloss finish without gloss resin:
howd you do that gloss reverb ?
What about cobalt? I’m pretty sure that the cobalt dose isn’t the same in gloss resin as compared to laminating resin and I suppose that it has an influence on final hardness. Anybody has a clue about this?
What is Cobalt? I’ve seen it mentioned here over the years but never seen it for sale or even a description of what it does or why it is used. I’d be interested to know.
Cobalt is an accelerator for poly, most of the cases you alredy have it in your poly mix. when i bought a 20 liters of poly i had to make a batches with antoher kinde of accelerator that called pittin.
Colbalt is another extremely toxic chemical. Use at your health risk.
Lam resin is soft and easy to sand with wax solution added.
That’s why it is used for sanding coat.
Gloss resin is harder.
It has more cobalt in it.
Polish a Hot Coat, it has a dull haze to it.
Polish a board with gloss resin, and if done properly will have a show finish.
Any professional glass shop who gloss and polish boards, they use straight gloss resin.
And yes, Cobalt is the secret purple sauce.
How long a cure time before wet sand and polish? Seems like the longer I wait the better shine I can get, but I was curious what wait time others found sufficient.
I’ve glossed them, put them out on display, and polished them months later.
It is harder resin from the start.
Some shine 'em up the next day.
