Ran out of RR and picked up some FH epoxy after a surf up in Ventura over the weekend. Never used FH epoxy before. Used it on a fill coat and seemed to work well similar to RR. On the second board that was already lammed with black pigment with RR, I used the FH epoxy to glass on some twins before the hotcoat. Mixed the FH epoxy used to glass on the fins without any tint/pigment, 40:100 as the label indicates. Next day I sanded the fin glass and did the fill coat. I noticed right away that the dust from sanding the FH epoxy around the base of the fins didn’t wet out clear and looked milky white against the black pigmented board.
I’ve done multiple black pigment boards with RR epoxy with the same method and never has a problem with the dust not turning clear when wetted out with the fill coat. Has anyone else had this problem with FH epoxy? I don’t really care what peoiple think a solution may be cause Im going to continue to use RR. I’ve been using the same method for a while and havent had any problems with RR, there weren’t any contaminants this time around, just a different epoxy. I’ll post a photo when I get a chance later tonight.
I could be wrong, but I believe Greg Loehr recomends using Additive F when doing glass ons in his film Epoxy 101 Glassing. If I remember right he states that it will prevent the "milky" haze. That could be the differance in your case. If you have used RR with Additive F , but didn't when using FH.
I use a little F in every batch. Lams just a little like a 1/3. It really helps in prep. You won’t get a bunch of gummy bears all over the paper. Since I sand the lam pretty much to a rough finish look. Using 60 grit. Prepping time save sanding time. Plus it make the hot coat look like a gloss. That fin panel is hot epoxy burn. The epoxy gets to warm in the bucket while you wet things out. So it is to close to kicking ( bucket time ) and thickens to a point it wont penetrate the cloth fibers 100%. Next time slap that shit on as fast as ya can and wet it all out. It may seam a little sloppy but you’ll have plenty of time to clean up your mess. Using the F will also clear out some of that burnt cloth look. Its like when ya set black future boxes. I have used f like styrene on a chopped 1" brush to clear out shattered glass from heavy grinding. Just remember to get that epoxy out of the bucket and on the board ASAP for best results. You could sand it all off and try again just be careful to not sand into the color. Fixing shit sucks but what better way to learn how! Good luck
One more thing to think about. I was told by Greg Martzs a long time ago was the olny way to wet out a bubble/air free lam is with lots of resin. Twenty bucks of extra epoxy on your board will save ya hours of repair work fixing shit and a whole lot of grief.
One more thing to think about. I was told by Greg Martzs a long time ago was the olny way to wet out a bubble/air free lam is with lots of resin. Twenty bucks of extra epoxy on your board will save ya hours of repair work fixing shit and a whole lot of grief.
Glass was saturated. It was wet out really well on wax paper. Add F was used in the mix. If it the resin was too hot seems like it would show on the fin as well. I know wher the dust was and it was easy to see that was the problem during the fill.
From the pic it looks like the rope was a little white? That tells me it wasn’t saturated. Ive never seen resin or epoxy dust showing up. Did you wet out the surface of the fin and around the fin before laying down your fin panels? Wetting out your work area is key to a clean fin job. More is better? A nice thin layer of resin allows bubbles to slip out when pushing out the extra. It also looks like its only under the patch and not around it. If it was from dust I would think you would see some of that same dust all over the place. Not just in or under the patch.
I also just noticed that each layer is dirtier looking which tells me its in the cloth not on the surface of the work area. You put two layers of cloth because I can see both of them the top one looking dirtier then the bottom one. Now had you cut your cloth out and set it aside and it got covered in dust and dirt from your work area it would also show up like that. Keep everything clean and the job comes out clean. Its hard to tell by the pic but I think grind it off and do it again. Thats what I would do. Keep it clean.
The roving was completely wetted out, thats reflection from the overhead lighting. I’m thinking problems with the glass not fully saturated should have appeared on the fin as well since the glass was evenly saturated on wax paper before going on the board/fin. Thanks for the advice/info on the issue. Got me thinking. I’ll try to recreate the problem on scrap foam when Ive got the time.
Any chance the cloth had been exposed to moisture? Could you have frothed it by over use of squeegee?
Just for kicks you might try laying up some scraps of that same cloth on a dark surface using two different batches of epoxy - one with and one without Additive F. Make sure the solids in the additive are thoroughly dissolved.
If you can find it, maybe a third batch with the epoxy thinned with 5% Xylene.
I'm not knocking the stuff but I seem to remember reports on Swaylocks about cloudiness over dark colors and wood as a result of Additive F.