Greg: I was by your Tomahawk Location the other week but you guys were closed. I was bummed 'cause I’ve been looking forward to trying your epoxy. 30 mins. later I’m at Fiberglass Florida and lo&behold there’s Resin Research products. I bought a gallon and fast and slow hardners and additive F. The only thing I didn’t get was some brain picking of someone who was experienced with the stuff. I’ve read your posts from the beginning here but I hope you’ll indulge me with a few questions: 1) I use additive F in the lam coat right, is any sanding needed between coats for adhesion? 2) Can normal pigment (like F.F. sells for polyester) be used with your epoxy for tints? 3) How long can you wait between lam and hot coats (if you need to wait a few days is this OK)? 4) Can a thinner be used to improve flow for a gloss coat (maybe denatured alcohol?) or would warming the resin be better? Sorry to bug you with so many questions. I really appreciate and admire the responses you’ve given to this forum for both epoxy and polyester as well as design questions. Your contribution is tremendous.
Lance, I’ll take a stab for you. 1) I use additive F in the lam coat right, is any sanding needed between coats for adhesion? Yes, use the additive in all batches. You can give a light sand to knock down the lam…it’s not necesary, but makes a cleaner hotcoat and sets up for an easy sand. 2) Can normal pigment (like F.F. sells for polyester) be used with your epoxy for tints? Use epoxy pigments. They are different than poly tints. Check out Fiberglass Supply. 3) How long can you wait between lam and hot coats (if you need to wait a few days is this OK)? You can recoat as soon as it’s hard, although some have had good results sooner (check archives). I pull tape after 45 min. to one hour and usually wait about 3 hrs. to flip. It’s best to recoat quicker but you can wait days. Rough up the previous coat a little if you wait that long. 4) Can a thinner be used to improve flow for a gloss coat (maybe denatured alcohol?) or would warming the resin be better? Be sure the room and material (board and resin) is above 50 fegree F and use a double dose of additive F. The additive is like water and considerably thins the batch. Comes out glossy. One last but important tip: DO NOT sqeegee the epoxy around too much or else you’ll get a frothy mess. Just gently push it around and lightly pull excess away. Good luck, Gary Geist
Thanks Gary.