I just finished the lam coat on my first resin swirl attempt. The swirl came out fantasitc but I mixed it pretty slow and ended up with small areas of what I would describe as dry weave - not really air bubbles because they are not raised. The only way you can tell they are there is that they are a sightly lighter color than the rest of the resin. They are very small spots but are throughout the entire board - will this cause a delamination problem??
Hi steve00, that's not a delamination problem.It can happen when you don't remove very well the foam dust before laminating and if the resin is too thick.If you're using poly you have to make sure before laminating that the resin is fluid enough to wet the weave properly.If not just add some acethone.Try to avoid styrene because is a very nasty stuff...I'm sorry but the only way to fix the problem is to strip the weave off, clean and relaminate the board.
Thanks for the help. If I leave it like it is will it be a structural problem or just cosmetic?
The board is going to delaminate easier because the resin didn't wet the foam properly.The same thing happened to me on my first glassing attempt but after one year the board is still fine.Stay wet
Is the cloth saturated or not? If you can’t tell, you shouldn’t be laminating until you can figure this out; dry weave is unstaturated (white) cloth. Are there bumps? Are the bumps from excess resin or air under the cloth? Is the cloth stuck down smooth to the foam? Let us know specifically and we’ll give you the answers. Also, never thin polyester resin with acetone, it will not have the same properties because it’s now something else, and it won’t adhere correctly to the surface under it.
Yes, do not add acetone. Acetone cleans PE, Styrene Thins it. It is nasty stuff, but if you have a respirator, ventilation, and proper gloves on, you will not be exposed.
As fr dry weave, it sounds more like you didn't add enough MEKP to the lam batch. It will turn yellow, and eventually crack along the stringer, and then the rest of the glass will strip and delam, especially along the deck.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I figure it is better than having someone tell you goood job and shake your hand, only to have your board go to trash in a matter of weeks. Try to fix it in one of the solutions that was mentioned earlier.
Good luck
I definitely mixed it too slow - it was only my 10th board and my first resin swirl and so I wanted to give myself some extra time - looks like it bit me in the ass - live and learn. When I finished, it looked fantastic - then about 30 mins later, there were small areas of lighter color - I am guessing the resin started to soak into the board?? The resin still had not gelled so I went back over with another coat - gelled nicely in about 15 mins - so I am wondering if it saturated again and I am just seeing a lack of color? They are not air bubbles, it is completely smooth and when you press on the lighter colored arears, it does not feel soft. This was the first lam on the bottom of the board - the deck came out great. Hoping there is a chance it will be ok but if not, lesson learned!!
steveoo
sounds like you corrected your error.
the clear flood is the standard end to a resin swirl, and you accidentally figured it out.
good man!
you did the swirl correctly by going light on the mekp. but you shouldn’t have waited to do the clear flood.
after the swirl is wrapped the clear flood with higher catylized resin will kick off the color
so do it right after the color work.
lets see some pics!!!
Hey Ken,
Glad to hear it may work out - I just hope I didn't wait too long to put the clear on. The other problem I had was that the red bled pretty bad on the deck - I masked off the lap line with regular masking tape and it seemed to be stuck well - maybe it sat so long without kicking off that it bled? Any help here would be appreciated - different kind of tape? Here are some pics of board #10.....
hey steve00
ya, always use the best tape posible, swipe it down with a credit card on the foam
I use, for cut laping is the Hi stick green stuff
but ya gotta use whats available and work with it
the slower the kick time the more bleed through no matter what tape
just meens a little wider pin line,ha ha
when you get better you wont have to pinline if you chose not to… I like pinlines, myself.
your board looks great, dont be so hard on yourself.
thats the hot coat, yes?
Yeah - the pic of the deck is the fresh gloss coat, the pic of the bottom is the hot coat before sanding. I had to put a pretty big pen line on the board, but I was pretty happy with it and actually really like the look on this board! Thanks for all of the help. Going to try another resin swirl on the next board, will see how it turns out!
Steve