Ok folks, rookie needs help! So after watching resin tint cut lap YouTube videos over and over, I was ready. However I made a last minute colour change and the the pigment tin said mix at 10% I thought that sounds a lot so went for about half that (about 70ml to 1200ml of resin) I used 1% mekp as suggested on green light. So I’m pretty much 24hrs later and it’s still not kicked, to be fair garage temp was probably too cold but figured it would still kick. It’s gone a little but not enough to flip the board without the glass pulling from the board when lifted from glassing stand ( I did try) I’ve left a heater on in the garage and come home for dinner. Any help appreciated on how to get out of trouble and get to a position I can trim the lap? I’m guessing it’s a combination of too much opaque pigment mixed with not enough catalyst in too cold temps?
I didn’t realise that pigment was opaque as I’d originally planned on having a translucent tint now you can’t even see the logo I spent hours trying to print properly! What a balls up.
First off, just try to wait longer. Give it a full day or two in a heated garage. Even at 60degrees F it should kick if it has some MEKP in it. If you absolutely need to flip it and cut your laps with it still tacky, put some parchment or wax paper down on your racks before you flip the board. This will keep your board from sticking to the racks. Once you cut the laps you can flip it back over and take the paper carefully off. Then i guess coninue waiting for a proper kick.
I have never tried this and it may be super dumb… which it probably is… but if you were super, i mean super desperate to get it to kick, I have wondered in the past if that you were able to lightly, key being very lightly, mist some MEKP over the board with some sort of spray bottle, that maybe it would allow it to kick. This may also get you undesirable results… A. making it kick really hot, but unlikely, or B. kick at the very surface only and make sort of a crusty outer layer over gooey layer. But hey, your F-ed so might as well try. Good luck
Could also try to lay wax paper over everything and see if it kicks that way… maybe wont work though.
Mix a hot batch at 2.5%. Work it in. No problem
If you hit it with a second batch like Parsurf suggested, you can lam a new logo OVER the color at that time as well (with a little 4 oz patch). You will be back in good order!
Thanks guys, genuinely appreciate the help, I’ll put a new logo on over the previous one with a 4oz patch as suggested. I’ve just got back from the garage and it seems to be getting better with the heater, it’s definitely less tacky so I’ve left it on overnight and will re-evaluate in the morning as to wether or not to go with the hot batch over the top option. Probably a dumb question but if I need to, should I do that with the pigment as before or without any pigment? I’m aware you wouldn’t put tint/pigment in a hot/gloss coat but unsure what would be best in this situation?
Interestingly, I was thinking about the whole thing, and recalled this (speaking of Parsurf, uncured resin, etc…) I did some black resin pinlines on a board last summer. The resin didn’t kick, just barely in a couple hours. Too much pigment (and smoke) was my estimation. I called Parsurf all panicked and wanting to fix this shit. He advised me to relax and find something else to do for like, a week. I could probably have gloss coated over it, but I figured it might bleed and run. Anyway… I let that thing sit,checking it everyday after work. I eventually forgot about it! Apparently it set up, as, if I am not mistaken, I saw Parsurf on the beach when I was toting the board in question… He was like, “Haha! Told ya! What was it, about a week?” So, I guess the lesson in that story is: Pigment can radically affect the cure time (with poly anyway), and I think if you’ve got catalyst in there, shit’s gonna set someday. In fact, seems to me like the resin rep guy told me the stuff is ALWAYS hardening, with the addition of MEKP or not…
Still, whether or not you decide to send it with the second dose of resin, you can still do your logo lam as described with CLEAR, un-tinted resin. Good Luck. Sorry for the wordy input, but thinking about those gawd-awful sticky pinlines got me laugin’… never did gloss that one either.
I recently commented on MEK and Pigment a few months back. First; yes you need that room as warm as you can get it. 65—80. When you get it nice and warm you can shut it down. Gel time is based on % of MEK at a particular temp. You can’t expect to gel if you can’t maintain a corresponding temp to the %of MEK you are using. But more importantly; you must add a higher % of MEK to laminations that are pigment rich. The darker the tint or opaques require way more MEK. Based on what you said; you should have used 3 times as much MEK. I use 10-15 cc per 1 1/2 quart for a clear. I have used 30 —40 cc per 1 1/2 quart when doing an Opaque or rich tint with good results. You can make it kick by applying a HOT Cheater coat as someone mentioned. Also; use Saran Wrap or Wax Paper to flip your board. Cut two pieces and lay them on the wet lam at the spots where the lam will set on the rack when you flip it. Flip the board and cut the lap. Then when you flip the board back over it won’t stick to the rack and pull your cloth. Once you’ve flipped it back to lam side up. Carefully remove the Plastic Wrap.
Lightly brush UV activated resin over the mess.
Put in sun.
Too much pigment is retarding the cure as well as cold temps. Don’t know what brand pigment you used but we recommend no more than 5% pigment to resin ratio with our Premier Pigments. The resin will cure over time when adding any amount of MEKP but you may have a weaker lamination with all that extra pigment getting in the way of internal chemical bonds.
It’ll all turn out fine n the end. No worries.
Ok, little update. Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I got sick of driving to the garage before and after work in the hope it had cured, to see it still hadn’t!
I got the garage as warm as I could in the midst of a British winter (60 degrees) with a new heater and put a clear coat over at 3.5% mekp. Although it seemed to gel after 20 mins or so, 2 days later still not hard or near dry enough to flip for trimming the laps. Gutted. I guess now I’ll have to sit back and hope it will cure eventually once the cold spell moves on?
On the positive side, I’ve got another blank to do after this (once it’s warmed up) I’ve realised how important ambient temperatures are in a glassing room, the colour is rad (or will be with about a fifth of the pigment), I’m learning by doing and there’s a good chance I won’t miss the window for trimming the laps before it gets too hard.
A smooth sea never made a good sailor!!
Sorry you had to go thru this. I didn’t think about you being in the UK and the possibility that you might be using pigments and laminating resin that I am not familiar with. If your hotter “cheater coat “ didn’t do the trick; You will just have to wait it out. Keep the room warm and check it everyday. It will eventually harden up. The one I had trouble with was Opaque and had lots of Yellow, White and Tawny pigment in about a U.S. quart of resin. My first mistake was probably just using tooo much pigment. Could have used less and got the same effect most likely. Secondly; I didn’t use enough MEK. I was never taught % MEK. Was taught to use CC’s per volume. I think their is a Fiberglass Hawaii YouTube video featuring Otis(well known master glasser in Hawaii) in which he uses 30—40 cc in enough resin to do a blue tint on a longboard. That’s probably about 1 1/2 quart of resin. 30—40 cc is a lot of MEK. But when I tried it on the next one it went off without a hitch and provided me with plenty of time to flip the board and cut my laps. The yellow and Tawny board actually drained for 3 or 4 days. I mean resin running off the board and had to be squeegied every so often. I finally kicked it with a very fast and hot filler coat. After that it was fine. Lessons to be learned my brother. Lowel
I think Lowel mentions a good point… in addition to bumping up catalyst ratios with pigments, not overdoing it with pigments, adjusting temperatures, etc., it definitely pays off to become familiar with the particular resin you’re using. Different brands have slightly different formulations that may include greater or lesser amounts of accelerator. The accelerator (usually some sort of cobalt) is not the same as MEKP. In days past some resins were labeled ‘pre-accelerated’ but I haven’t seen that in awhile.
One thing no one has mentioned. Where do you store your resin? Is it kept in the same work space where your heater can’t get the ambient temp above 60?
I’d bet that the resin is even cooler than 60 when you mix a batch. It will only get cooler with time, as you work.
Keep your resin in a warm room with ambient temp above 70. Or, pour enough for the batch intended into a plastic mixing bucket and put that in some hot water for a while to warm it up.
Yes, you’re right and make a very good point. I have had stored it in the cold garage, the first thing I thought as soon as I hit it with the squeegee was “I’m sure it’s thinner and easier to spread around on the videos I’ve watched?” It’s kind of making sense now. Unfortunately I didn’t have the foresight to get it up to temp enough for the clear coat either, which I think has meant I’ve ended up using too much resin on each coat so far and having what looks like a pretty iffy hot coat at this stage, due to it all being a bit too thick and taking so long to settle. I’m confident I can pull it back from here though, with some careful sanding and better hot/gloss coats done in warmer temps! I cut the laps today as it has got a lot harder but if I’m honest, it was still far too early. I now know when is too early though, and it is drying so all good! It’s definitely not going how I planned/hoped, but I knew it wouldn’t be as easy as the good guys on the internet make it look!