Alright a previous forum I posted was about a problem I had while hotcoating. I want to add to that but let me explain again what happened…
I hotcoated both sides with not enough styrene. The end result turned to be a disaster wen it cured. I went through about 5 sanding pads in literally 10 minutes because of the gummy stuff that was not sanding and sticking to my pad (ultimately destroying my pad).
With all that being said, members on here told me to slow sand it till I get past that gummy layer into the real coat. Is this true?? How can I do this? Any help would be great because im goin nuts trying to get these boards sanded nicely.
Quicker and easier just to put another properly surfaced HC down and start over. Everybody's done this, either by forgetting SA, brushing too long, or in the case of UV exposing to light too quickly. Live and learn.
It is not styrene that makes it sandable. It is parrafin wax. Surfacing agent is parrafin and styrene mixed, this is what you put in lam resin to make sanding resin for a hotcoat. Brush a thin layer of good hotcoat resin over the mess you've created. this time make sure that you added SA and not just styrene. Slow sanding will not work. The purpose of this 2nd hotcoat will to get your paper spinning without gumming, and eventually you will be sanding into your original hotcoat.
A couple things could be the matter:
1. you are not using SA (one or two capfulls per quart). sounded like in your post you only used styrene :(
2. SA has wax chunks that are not dissolved( put the SA bottle in warm water to melt the wax in the SA)
3. Kicking it too fast(wax needs about 5-10 min to rise to the surface and become sandable)
4. If using UV you need to wait AT LEAST 5 min before exposing hotcoat to the sun
Remember, you should see a hazy film on the surface of your hotcoat, this means that Parrafin rose correctly.
Also, styrene should not be added to hotcoat. Styrene thins poly. Add it to gloss coat. SA already has styrene in it!!!