Just finished sanding a dark-blue sprayed board (S-Glass and RR) and have some exposed weave I’d like to try to minimize. Going to spot-coat those areas with a thin layer of epoxy and re-sand, but before I do, I have read you can brush on some styrene to help make the weave disappear. I am told that the weave really shows with S-glass (not to mention the blue background enhancing the white weave) so anything I can do to help the cause would be appreciated. I couldn’t find any Styrene Monomer at the local HD. Will acetone or some other thinner work? If not, where is the most likely place to find styrene?
How about only using e to wrap so as not to hit s glass. S glass is strong but best used under e glass. I would only use it on bottoms and as a deck patch. I even put my box patches on top as not to grind into the s. Also do you notice how milky it is on dark colors.
The other trick is a good prep then hot coat. I sand my epoxy lams a lot it will make sanding into s less a issue.
The trick with brushing on styrene to make weave disappear works on PE resin, but I dont think it would be good on epoxy. You can try brushing on xylene and then brushing on epoxy to get the epoxy to soak into the weave a bit more. The main thing you are trying to do is to get the epoxy resin to soak into all those small holes in the weave and the xylene may help with that. I recently tried the styrene trick on a PE glassed board and it worked pretty well.
If you’re planning on doing a gloss or finish coat, try misting some of the same blue you used to paint the blank over the spots that show the weave to hide it. Mask over any area that is’nt blue to avoid getting overspray on it. Then do the finish coat over it.
Weave showing over dark color is problem with any kind of glass when glassing with epoxy and way more of a problem with s-glass.
Do you think this paint misting would work if I plan to do a few coats of wipe on speed finish over top? (Behr Masonry/Tile sealer). This could be a real lifesaver…
I guess that would depend on the paint you’re using and the kind of speed finish you’re wiping over it. I’m figuring that a couple of coats of Krylon Crystal Clear would seal the paint good enough that you could wipe the speed finish over it and not smear or make the paint bleed. You may also try spraying the speed finish instead of wiping it on.
From my years working in the paint industry, I know that styrene monomer is NOT something you want to be near. It can pass through skin, it’s carcinogenic and it’s extremely volatile:
So I got some xylene and brushed it on over the white weave. At first it looked like the miracle cure, but when it dried it left a gummy residue that I had to sand off. I ended up spot coating the weave areas with epoxy thinned with additive F and a little extra xylene for good measure. Weave faded a bit but not entirely. Haven’t sanded flush yet.
For paint I was using tempera thinned with a bit of water. I am thinking for the spots I want to mist maybe I should try thinning the paint with my Behr acrylic sealer and see how that goes…that should lock up the paint on the board better. Then do a couple of coats of sealer over that.
Sanolocal, you bring up the idea that S glass should go UNDER e-glass. I have read on here that S-glass should go on top for greater impact resistance on the surface. But now I see the drawbacks of s-glass on top.