Additive F ?

Sorry guys..I know some of you responded to my questions about Additive F but..I'm still not satisfied!  I want to know exactly what to expect from it.  Actually all I really need to know is what differences will there be between using it or not.  Will I still need to use denatured before I hotcoat?  Is the set-up time the same?  Still need to sand my laps before I Lam the deck?  Can I do a Poly glosscoat over it?

How long has this stuff been out on the market? I Laminated Epoxy boards for Clyde Beatty for four years using only Resin Research and never heard of the stuff. That was four years ago…thats why I am afraid to toss a new ingredient into my bucket…

Someone please enlighten me. I want to get this board started today.

Call Greg - He’s the source and the only one who can adequately answer your questions.

I’d love to call him but I have no phone number to reach him and my emails have gone unanswered. He’s probably not checking his email due to the holiday…

Guess I will just laminate without it this time. At least I know what to expect and I’ve never had a problem with Resin Research epoxy. Not yet anyways! Trying something new is always stressful the first time…

Thanks

Check out this link: http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=1029

Howzit Leslie, I haven’t seen any posts from Greg for a few days so he might be on a Holiday.Tuscon is hotter than heck these days and a lot of Az people head for cooler climates for a while til temps come down a bit.Aloha,Kokua

Quote:

Sorry guys…I know some of you responded to my questions about Additive F but…I’m still not satisfied! I want to know exactly what to expect from it. Actually all I really need to know is what differences will there be between using it or not. Will I still need to use denatured before I hotcoat? Is the set-up time the same? Still need to sand my laps before I Lam the deck? Can I do a Poly glosscoat over it?

How long has this stuff been out on the market? I Laminated Epoxy boards for Clyde Beatty for four years using only Resin Research and never heard of the stuff. That was four years ago…thats why I am afraid to toss a new ingredient into my bucket…

Someone please enlighten me. I want to get this board started today.

Additive F eliminates the need for denatured alcohol wash, also eliminates blush. Setup time is the same. still need to sand your laps as usual. Not recomended to do a poly glosscoat and in fact with additive F and RR resin you can do a glosscoat and polish it out. hope this helps.

Thanks! I decided to just do it. After all…it’s just a board right? If I screw it up, the shaper can shape another. I laminated and hotcoated as usual. The only diference I noticed with the additive F is that the resin spreads with much less effort. That in itself is a big plus! The temps here are pretty warm though so It probably would have been thin anyways. We’ll see how the sanding goes. I’ve heard two different takes on the glosscoats. Some say that a poly glosscoat will work and some say it won’t. I know without Additive F, a poly gloss was just fine. On the other hand…it would be nice to keep the board all the same material. Yikes! Too many choices!

so what was your reaction to F?

Hi Troy, I have done poly over epoxy. Easier sanding. The only down fall I have noticed is that when dinged the poly shatters over the epoxy. Nothing a quick fix didn’t cure. Think I would stay at epoxy on epoxy next time. Just seems right.

The only difference I noticed was in the spreadability of my resin. It still clouded. I still used a denatured alcohol wash before I hotcoated. I was afraid not to even though Greg say’s you can. I remember having done one of my first epoxy boards at Clyde Beatty’s and miss-timed my hotcoat. The boys spent hours chipping off the hotcoat! I felt like a real schmuk. I miss timed my top hotcoat on the current board too, I let it sit too long cause I got busy working on Ding Repairs. I rubbed the board down with alcohol and hotcoated it…and the entire deck fisheyed on me. Presumably my error. Plus, I have no accurate way to measure out the additive F. I just squirted some in my bucket. Now I need to decide on a poly gloss or an epoxy gloss. Got to fin the thing in the morning. Overall…I don’t really get why Additive F is needed…especially during the warm summer months. Maybe someone with a bit more knowledge can enlighten me?

1 teaspoon equals 5 ml

Use 1 ml per oz of hardener

I think it sands lots easier with Ad F, though I have little experience without it.

What is a fish eye?

Leslie:

I’ve glassed 35-40 boards with Resin Research now using Additive F, not one was sanded or washed with DNA prior to recoating with another lam or fillcoat. Rarely do I recoat in the same day, vast majority are done the next day, 18-24 hours later. I’ve had one screwup, I ran out of Additive F and did a lam job without it. Next day I didn’t sand or wash with DNA prior to the fillcoat and it flaked off when sanding in quarter-sized areas on one rail.

It seems that the main advantage of using Additive F is that it solves the problem of amine blush in Epoxy laminations. This eliminates those added steps of sanding and alcohol wash we used to be forced to do to preprep for the next coat. Secondary is the the improvement in flow and viscosity and easier sanding as a result of a clean lam job. In the cooler months I use a microwave in the shop to preheat my Part A for about 15-20 sec., then I add and mix my Part B and then the Additive F. There is a point at which the Additive F will cloud up your lam resin and I’ve had better luck just heating the can up in a black plastic bag or bucket to keep it thinned and well mixed if it comes out thick or milky. No big deal on clear lams but I do a lot of color work with Epoxy and it really shows up on darker foam tints like blues and reds. Adios.

Tom S.

I usually head over to a animal feed store and they sell large syringes that you can use to measure your additive F they go for a few bucks each.

Try it without the DNA wash, thats part of the reason why you use additive F so you can eliminate blush and that DNA wash. Helps with sanding and wetout also.

Tomas, I’d love to see a thread with some of your experience on epoxy color. I done some swirls, some tempra paint and I’m about to do a resin tint. Any tips would be appreciated. thx

Wow! Thanks for your input! My experience with epoxy is all well and good but everything I learned happened before the introduction of Additive F. Tell me…do I still need to do my rail sands before I lam the deck?

What I don’t get is how additive F works. If it is a finishing agent or sanding agent…it seems the top coat should never stick without complete sanding. Is there no wax rise? Geez do I feel stupid…

Also on your tints, don’t you have a bitch of a time cutting your laps with epoxy? Or is the board so opaque that it dosen’t matter what the cut looks like? Seems like if you wait till the board is dry enough to flip and trim…then the resin has set up too hard to cut. If you try and do it before it sets up so hard, then you have a sticky mess. Please enlighten me if you would be so kind? I may be old, but I’m slow!

Greg:

I’ve done a few resin tints with Epoxy. Same cautions as with polyester regarding dark colors and surface pits/imperfections. Every little bit shows up with the darker blues, reds, greens. Yellows work pretty good.

Tom S.

Leslie:

I finished doing a clear, triple stringer lam. Freelapped the bottom, then basted the lap after it got tacky. This morning I sanded the lap down as usual and then taped off for a cutlap on the bottom. A few minutes ago I did the deck lam and wrapped to my tape line. Tonight after a surf I’ll come back and cut the lap. I wait for 4-6 hours to do my cutlaps. Color cuts laps are rough. I’ve not been able to get my tape lines to seal well enough to keep the opaque lams from bleeding under the tape on every try. Am getting there with some trials on how to seal the tape though. More on this later.

Tom S.