I just got off the phone with a old friend who was working with epoxy resin on a table top project.He tried out a tip that was given to him concerning removing air bubbles from the resin after it was poured.He was told to spray 4 percent methanol based alcohol over it if bubbles appeared.He did and said it worked great.They disapeared like magic.Has anyone else tried this ? and will it work on laminations on a surfboard?
if you really wanna get rid of bubbles, your best friend is a blow torch or heat gun and a light hand. Won’t work in lams, but kicks much as on hotcoats and glosses.
can’t help but think that the methanol will only go just BARELY below the surface; it’ll help surface bubbles release, but won’t let any that are further down come up through the layer…
Thanks ,according to my friend [I was not there mind you] it reacted with bubbles that were well below the surface.Has anyone else experienced this? I figued that you could do this when hot coating ,but what effect would it have during laminations?
Sounds like it is reducing the surface tension, thereby allowing the trapped gas bubbles to surface and pop, then evaporating off. Clever.
Now what about additive F? Was he using that?
I just added a post to another question, but it is relevant here. I was using a hair dryer to dry pen lines while a hot coat patch was drying on the tail of a new fish. Inadvertantly heating that resin caused all of the air bubbles to go away. Worked great. Going to have a go with it on the gloss coat.
If you have a vacuum pump you put your resin cup under vacuum with little more than the tube and some left over bagging film. It will remove the bubbles without shortening your “kick” time.
Spray, like out of a spray bottle? Strange, I’ll have to try it! Have no idea how it would draw a bubble to the surface, as the alcohol would not have much chance to get down deep to reduce surface tension, but I really don’t know. Also, it will cool the epoxy as it evaporates.
If anyone else tries this, please post.
JSS
One problem with using heat on a EPS foam blank with epoxy resin is that you might get rid of the bubbles in the lamination, but if you heat up the blank you will get gassing to some degree. I think it’s best to make sure your epoxy is nice an loose/runny. Make sure it is warm, heat it up in the micro, but let it cool before using. And then when you laminate or hotcoat, take your time. Move about half the speed you do when use regular poly stuff, maybe even 1/4 speed.
I mean shit, you got with the fast hardner 20-30 mins of work time, and it stays gooooie for 45 mins! Take your time and don’t freak out thinking your running out of time…Go get a beer while it wetting out, let the epoxy do the work.
And by all means, if it’s not warm out, or warm inside your glassing cave…Dont Glass it.
After glassing with RR I’ve been setting up my portable lights. Yellow telescoping stand type with two glass enclosed lamps that get REALLY hot. This has taken care of my bubbles. Just turn em on and leave it to cure. I used to get these little volcanoes that turned into depressions during sanding.
Volcanoes, that sounds better than calling them “zits”. So I tried the hair dryer trick last night on the gloss coat. Damn it came out smooth and shiny, no bubbles. Probably better than I could get by polishing. I would compare this to Kokua’s secret recipe for polyester gloss coats. It looked that good. I’ll post a pic later today
please do MattWright. i for one am really interested in seeing.
also very interested in the spray. if anybody tries it, please report.
thanks,
Chris
