I thought I remembered reading about an epoxy gloss coat consisting of epoxy, sanding agent, and isopropyl alcohol, but I can seem to find the post. Considering that even with the 91% alcohol there is still 9% water involved that doesn’t seem right.
Anyway, I layed out a batch of that solution on some newspaper to see how it turns out when I get back from running a few errands. Any further information would be great though. I’m hoping to gloss coat in a few hours.
Thanks,
Ryan
epoxy gloss:
sand to at least 1000#
prep area with a denatured alcohol wipe
tape rail
put your resin in a microwave-safe cup
nuke it for about 10 seconds (or until it gets good ‘n’ thin), and give it a little stir
add hardener and additive f, and give it a thorough stir
add a splash of denatured alcohol (not much, about the same as the additive f), and give it a little stir
brush it on – lengthwise, then across, and then from nose to tail
walk away
#9 is the most important.
good luck.
Thanks Soulstice,
I’m using Fiberglass Hawaii’s resin so I don’t have any Ad. F, but the all the hot coats I have done with that stuff have come out well. One of these day’s I will give RR a go.
Thanks again,
Ryan
doesn’t fiberglass hawaii have their own epoxy additive / sanding agent ???
off-the-shelf isopropyl alcohol is 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% water (if I recall correcly). The water will create havoc with your curing epoxy (blush- and fisheye-city)
I’m not sure if denatured alcohol (100% or 200 proof) makes for a good surfacing agent (I always just use Resin Research epoxy with Additive F), but that is the alcohol to use around epoxy.
You can use the additive F in the Aluzine. 1cc per oz. of hardener in lams and 2cc per oz. of hardener for sanding/gloss coats. I use it for all my boards and never had a problem. The Fiberglass Hawaii stuff is exactly the same except that they use a bit different wax that makes the resin a tad cloudier but once it goes off you can’t tell.
Since the additive F is sometimes hard to get and a bit pricey a few guys are making their own. They can’t seem to tell the difference between the two. Unless someone from RR wants to post in about the formulation I’m pretty sure that it is just xylene and parafin 9-1 mix.
a little tric I’ve learned from painters:
Wet your floor the day before you are going to lay up the gloss, it wil catch the dust.
The water content was my concern. I went over to OSH and got some straight denatured alcohol. And yeah, the Rite Aid stuff comes in 70% or 91%. I’ve been using that to clean off the boards. Amazing how much faster the 100% evaporates.
Ryan
Stay away from putting anything in your epoxy, or wiping down your board with some kind of solvent. The best thing is sand the board down, wipe with a clean tack cloth, tape off, and do your thing.
Epoxy gloss. Just like stated above, make sure it’s warmed up and runny…that’s it. Use a good brush, & additive F.
Don’t wipe the board with alcohol your asking for fish eyes, pinholes and volcanoes.
I have heard a few people talk of using a tack cloth to wipe off the sanded board.
I would have thought that a tack cloth would leave residue behind. Is there a particular kind of tack cloth to use?
I have been using DNA (methyl hydrate here in Canada - 99.9%), and for the 2 times I have had a complete gloss coat disaster(fisheyes and craters) I isolated it as spraying the wrong type of clear coat to seal paint pen artwork.
I still sometimes get pin holes that I have to seal after, but figured that it was a temperature issue. (renting a room in a big building; hard to control temp accurately) I’ll try a tack cloth and see if there is a difference.
MY biggest and regular problem with glosscoats is small dust particles, always end up having to sand it… might try the water trick.
I think it was Oneula or SharkCountry who posted a long time ago about making your own tack cloth. Dry cheesecloth & epoxy resin (no hardener). Only the smallest amount of resin, not even saturated but only damp, if possible (they may have squeezed it out, or blotted it with towels or something, I don’t remember). But it picks up dust just fine and leaves nothing incompatible behind…
Now that is a smart trick!
Thanks Benny! …and thanks to Oneula or Sharkcountry.
K.I.S.S. !!!
I’m pretty convinced that 90% of the little specks you have to sand down on an epoxy gloss coat come from the brush and from bubbles that haven’t burst. We’ve gone to using 4 inch foam brushes (I know, I know… everybody swears that you HAVE to use a natural bristle brush because it carries more epoxy) that leaves a thin veneer of resin that’s twice as clean as a gloss coat put on with a brush. I believe this is due to two things: (1) no dust in the foam brush compared to tons of tiny particles and bristles that fall out of the brush as you work, and (2) a thinner coat that allows tiny bubbles of air (that were worked into the mix as you stirred) to rise to the top and escape quickly, before the resin sets up. A thicker coat could kick before all the bubbles have a chance to rise to the surface.
Also, using a heat gun will make the bubbles rise to the top faster, as will putting it in the hot sun. Just watch out for bugs.
Get the big dusty off with a paper towel, then use cheese cloth as a tack rag. You can get it a little damp if you think you need too. Really all you need to do is compress air the surface clean, but watch out for rusty spitting compressors.
The less stuff touching the surface the better. Also watch out for hand lotion, sunscreen, aftershave, soap residue, etc. I think you get the picture. The less touching the board pre-gloss the better. This goes for a poly gloss too. Use the paper towels to pick and turn the board over with. Just a little carefulness goes a long way.
Hi Ryan,
I’ve added DNA to RR as an experiment. It does thin out the epoxy and shows less brush strokes. It doesn’t affect the cure of the epoxy. It works but is very tempermental to temperature. I brushed on the epoxy at night and in the morning it was still gooey. I was panicking but then I put it under the sun and boom it hardened quick. Resin Research has an alcohol additive to thin out epoxy as well: alcohol thinner
HTH
Rio
!!!nEvEr UsE ALkEyHaUl WhIlE yOu gLaSs !!!
Howzit Johan, if you rub to hard with a tack cloth it will leave a waxy residue so just lightly run the tack cloth over the board to get rid of dust. I use them when preping projects for varnish work.Aloha,Kokua