I have been getting lots of info off this site for quite a while so I guess its time to register. I have been shaping for about a year, and I am about to finish my 1st eps/epoxy board with resin research epoxy. let me know if I got this all planned out right.
board is sanded (100 grit) and ready for hot coat.
wipe with denatured alcohol and wear gloves to keep oils from hands off. tape off the rails so the excess epoxy drips off the tape. mix up hot coat, use 3" chip brush and do it to it?
I have participated in some hot coats at the shop where I learned from, just never did one all by myself. any tips / tricks are greatly appreciated…
Handyman, Sounds like your on the right track, but there are many here who will try to derail you with their stupidity. Think about this: Clean boards are much easier to hot coat. Residual dust, wax, and even the oils on your fingers are your real tangible enemies. Ratios, and mixing well are important, and brushing technique ensures success. That’s what you need to understand, comprehend, to the point where everything just flows. Laying down a good hot coat or gloss is an art itself, and those are the basics. Here is a pro tip, that I use with the cheap chip brushes from your local supplier: dab the brush side, into the sticky side of a piece of masking tape to pull out loose hairs, don’t be to aggressive, or passive, and you’ll pull out a few strands and some particles that if you didn’t would end up in the board.
sand it then hotcoat it. you dont need to do any wiping. you dont even need to tape it off if you do the deck first. you can blow off the dust from sanding with compressed air (from an oiless compressor or a line that has a oil trap on it)
I have a oil compressor and I have touched it with my bare hands, so i may have contaminated it. I guess I should have told you the whole story. the guy that was teaching me hot coated the top and bottom (I watched and helped) and he used about 4ml of additive F in the hot coat batch (16oz resin 4oz fast hardner 4oz slow in a 80+ degree room), I questioned that and he told me" that much F and it will be foggy". I figured he knew what he was doing, I was wrong. the result was a wavy fish eye mess that I had to sand all off.( so I have a very thin coat of hot coat left and some spots where I hit the weave) after a few more things that pissed me off I took the board and said I will figure it out on my own. so I am going to follow the directions to the note.
I bought a gallon of resin and a half gallon fast hardner and a pint of additive f.
I just want to have the cleanest surface when I hot coat to avoid any more problems.
I’ve posted this a hunderd
times at least , so has Bert and some others. It’s been coming up a
lot lately and I know the archives can be a big pain so I want to do a
fresh posting.
For glossing I first sand to 100 grit. This gives me a nice surface
to gloss. I don’t wipe with anything accept a dry rag and then dust it
finished with my hands until I can feel it’s clean. I use my bare hands
for this but I’m careful not to leave any fingerprints which can cause a
seperation. This might sound weird but once you get some dust on your
hands you no longer run the risk of getting any human oil on the board.
Btw, wash your hands before doing this , preferably with GoJo.
Now tape off around the perimeter of the board and curl the tape with
your fingers to allow the resin to drip off without dripping to the
other side… I like 3/4 inch 3M tape … the regular masking tape, tan
colored stuff. When I gloss I double the amount of Additve F (2ml per
ounce of hardener or 2% of mixed total for the metric guys) which gives
me better flow and a cleaner surface to polish. I use a new 3 inch chip
brush every time I gloss. A used, cleaned brush is an almost sure fk
up. Before I gloss I wrap tape around my hand, sticky side out and
force the brush bristles into the tape. This pulls out loose hairs so
you don’t have to pick them out of the gloss.
Mix the resin/hardener/add F and pour half the resin down the middle
of the board. I like glossing with 2040 resin, it flows better and is
easier to polish. “Snowplow” the resin running lengthwise from end to
end to the edge trying not to run the resin off the edge and onto the
floor. Using the right amount, which is 1 ounce (30ml) per foot of
board, will give you the right mil thickness for a gloss. Plowing a
bunch on the floor will force you to work harder when it comes time to
polish. Make sure at this point that the resin goes all the way to the
tape line. Now pour the second half and plow the second side of your
gloss. I like to do a quick cross stroke with the brush and then
lightly go from end to end again. If you do have any seperations
happening because of fingerprints, rub them with your finger and then
brush back over the area. This will dilute the oil the board picked up
from your hand into the resin and the resin should then lay out. After
that LEAVE IT ALONE and let it flow.
After shooting the second side, let the board cure at least overnight
and then polish. You begin with 400 grit and then 600, 1000 and
finally 1500. Then use polishing compound to buff out the scratches and
some Maquires paste wax for the final buff.
one thing that i would like to add is before i lay down the hot coat ill pour some resin down and squeegee it all over the board, then off the board, this will help fill in any pin holes and pick up little dust particles
well I followed your advice and didnt wipe with alcohol. taped off the rail and mixed the resin per the directions and I think it turned out pretty damn good.
