I have read the archives and had some advice on here before (which fixed my issue back then) but having new problems with gloss.
I am using Taupo gloss resin. I have heard some say using normal hot coat resin will be fine, just takes a bit more work to polish up. If that’s the case I might switch to that option as I kinda enjoy sanding and polishing anyway. I have also been told gloss resin comes up to a better overall shine than polished hotcoat resin which is why I am still using gloss resin.
Anyway, I sanded the hot coat smooth as a baby’s ass. Perfect, only a few weave spots, as good as I have ever got a board before gloss. I acetoned it so its completely clear of dust and grease etc. taped the rail line, checked humidity (50% ish) and got room to around 22-23 degrees C which is perfect as far as I know.
I used a good clean glossing brush, and used plenty of resin (quite a bit left over). I did everything as normal, cross brushing and finishing with light end to end strokes. It flattened out beautiful, like a mirror when wet. I let it go off then returned to pull tape and saw the surface has horrible lines and marks all over it, its not smooth any more
Here is a pic of when wet followed by after it cured. Does anyone have any conrstructive tips or ideas on what could cause this?
Thanks. resin during this build has been kicking quicker than usual so i dropped the MEKP down a bit. Shop said lots of people have said that about this batch of resin. I used 1% MEKP in it (usually 1.5% in the past), so you could be spot on there. Just didn’t want it kicking on my brush as has happened before! Will go with more catalyst on bottom side and see, thanks very much
Hmm, doesn’t look like that was the problem. I kicked it much hotter this time, 1.5% catalyst which is the max i ever used before and same lines on the other side. weird!
if there only was a resin system that was two parts resin and 1 part hardener and the speed of cure was with the hardener selection but not amount. And the ultimate resin would be that just described and you could use it for lamination, filler coat and gloss coat.
Nice board btw. I think it can be fixed and easily polished to showroom quality with some elbow grease. Not a fan of the chemical solvents for cleaning dust and the grease off boards.
Sanded second coat
Soap and water scrub
Final coat result awaiting final sanding and finishing
All praise to green room epoxy blanco resin, west coast fast hardener.
Thanks for the input. That’s a gorgeous finish you have there. Soap and water - not tried that. I did get some 400 net which i have on a velcro pad and started with water as I always find weave in the past and wanted to go very light on this, i really don’t want another coat of resin on this board as its heavy enough already. Elbow grease will do it i think yes, but i just don’t get why the gloss sometimes does this. I have had occasions where it went on like silk and mirror finish before any finishing. Just has me completely stumped
It’s a result of wiping it down with acetone. If you feel you have to wipe it down with something then I think Windex works best
Also I suggest you stick with glossing resin. Lots of problems with lam/sanding resin concoctions, Sometimes pits just under the wax surface that leave specks in the finish. Especially over dark colors and amplified with low temps or humidity.
hands down gene is the expert and has the most interesting avatar of all sway members. PAy attention to all gene suggests. We all can’t be gene or balsa or mcding when it comes to start to finish builds. You have mastered many of the difficult steps for a total start to finish board of your own build You should be proud on how well you are doing. Be encouraged and hear what the polyester resin master’s have to share. Hopefully you can find a local master who can show you the ropes firsthand so youy can sort out your resin activator issues. Of course epoxy resin will automatically sort it out.
Hmm well that’s a new one on me and could well be the answer, I do use a lot of acetone to clean it down, maybe a bit over paranoid about delams from grease (result of lots of reading, but maybe overreacted to it!). The only problem I have with that theory (in principle anyway) is that acetone evaporates very quickly and is definitely long gone before the resin goes on. I will try reducing or going without the acetone in future. Maybe isoprop which i have here?
The big problem I see with using a harsh solvent like Acetone or even Denatured is that the solvent can break down whatever your rag is made of and smear that all over your board. I just stay away from that stuff. I’ve washed with Dawn and let dry completely without problems and never tried Windex but I will give that one a try. Biggest thing to me is a dust free work space which is something I’ve struggled with working in a tiny shed for all steps of the process.
Thanks for putting me in the same “basket” (so to speak) as Gene and McDing but I think this is a bit exagerated. Still learning everyday from posts like this one.
Ditto, I have a very dusty space and can’t really fix that, so i just spend ages blowing dust away and wiping down. I do manage to clear the dust fairly well considering the space I am in (barely enough room to walk around the damn board!)
Breaking down the rag is an interesting point too. Never heard of Dawn or Windex but will look for something similar
You make it sound like epoxy is the ‘next coming’, and it is especially nice. I love epoxy and use it more often than pu but I have found it isn’t always the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’ve had problems with pigment in epoxy, for example when I add the hardener, the epoxy color thins out due to no pigment in the hardener. Is there a fix for this (must be)? Also, what about pin lines? I’ve tried pinlines using epoxy (fast hardener) only to watch it run smoothly over my tape. Is there a way to get epoxy to kick faster for pin lines? How about cure times? I’ve had epoxy that needed 3 days to ‘fully cure’ before I could sand it. I know this doesn’t happen with all epoxies but it does with some. I’m not trying to sound accusatory or downplay how great epoxy is, but I don’t think it’s the end all/be all of glass. Any suggestions to my problems would be appreciated.
I am interested in answers to those questions too. I can see epoxy is cool from the way people are so ‘converted’ by it, but I also know I don’t need a whole new set of learning right now. I am pretty happy with how I am going with PE at the moment, one or two more boards to feel fully confident I think, then I hope to try epoxy to see what all the fuss is about! The only reason I will do so is to reduce the chemicals/risks as I want to teach the kids to make boards and not doing that until I have seen the light
No, not at all, I am pretty religious about that (not as religious as epoxy advocates I must admit :-D). If I so much as touch the board with a fingertip, its with latex gloves on
