I know there has been some chatter about using alcohol to reduce RR epoxy for glossing. BUT has anybody tried it, and what was your experience?
I think I’m gonna give it a shot on my current board. Rather than spraying polyurethane or brushing on concrete sealer … gonna try all epoxy
Billy
Yes, 5% works.
But I’ve been using MinWax acrylic floor sealer sprayed on. Liking that.
if you mix 50% alcohol and 50% epoxy and put it in a spray gun and spray the board very lightly and eavenly, you will get a decent finish… nothing great but it does work. I found that the best part of using epoxy spray over a epoxy surface is that it is a durable finish and it will not chip off, unlike other finishes. Be careful because there is a tendency for it to drip. Make sure that you use a laminating resin that has a long cure time because the alcohol must evaporate from the mixture before the resin cures. If it doesn’t, then you will have a rubbery mess on the board because you have dissolved alcohol in your cured resin. Remember that alcohol will not harden, only the epoxy around it will. I use this mixture all the time to fuel proof balsa and plywood around the firewall and fuel tank compartment on r/c airplanes. I also used it to waterproof the inner framework of my HWS
What about THIS … is the preference to have a faster evaporating alcohol or something with a slower draw to it?
Texanol® Ester Alcohol R6K33 is an extremely slow evaporating cosolvent and coalescing solvent for water reducible coatings. Its use should be restricted to 1-2% to improve flow and leveling, air release and other surface imperfections. Texanol is a trademark of Eastman Chemical. It is HAPS compliant.
heat your resin. i use 2cc per ounce hardener Additive F and 1cc-2cc per ounce hardener denatured alcohol. have had good results.
Were you able to eliminate all of those annoying little bubbles?
yep. i got those bubbles at first…but heating the resin made things flow much better…and a little denatured alcohol made them disappear entirely. just make sure you do your hotcoat/glosscoat in the most dust-free environment possible.
Soulstice is absolutely right… The denatured alcohol and heating the resin helps tremendously, as does leaving the resin alone after the walkout. Once the resin begins to harden at all, the bubbles show up. To make sure I get all the bubbles (even the ones I can’t see) I make a pass with a heat gun and watch them pop after walkout…too much heatgun will crater the surface, though, use light passes.
I only use the denatured alcohol for hot/gloss coats. I also don’t use X-55 accelerator anymore, as I kept getting brush marks, not enough time for the resin to self-level.
JSS
yep. i got those bubbles at first…but heating the resin made things flow much better…and a little denatured alcohol made them disappear entirely. just make sure you do your hotcoat/glosscoat in the most dust-free environment possible.
Yeah dust free… that is a tall order I must say because I have one room to shape and glass and even spastic bouts of vacuming won’t get all the dust… I’ve notice that minute dust particles can screw it up. On my next board I am going to try sanding wet 400-600-800 and polishing rubbing compoung to see if I can get a nice finish… what have you guys experienced with epoxy boards and “classic” rub outs?
Oh yeah, this business of spraying epoxy with a solvent requires full body protection and ventilation, otherwise you are tempting fate with regards to your health…
A note of caution. There are as many different “recipes” for denatured alcohol as there are manufacturers. Some slip water into the formula. Depending on the epoxy and how much water, this can cause cloudiness.
Check the label or MSDS to be sure your denatured alcohol doesn’t contain any water in the formula.
to get a good polish, you’re going to want to sand higher than 800. go to at least 1000. ideally, take it up to 1600. then polish with a multi-stage cutting and buffing compound. you’ll get a nice shine!
A note of caution. There are as many different “recipes” for denatured alcohol as there are manufacturers. Some slip water into the formula. Depending on the epoxy and how much water, this can cause cloudiness.
Check the label or MSDS to be sure your denatured alcohol doesn’t contain any water in the formula.
I ain’t gonna take any chances … 
Oh yeah, this business of spraying epoxy with a solvent requires full body protection and ventilation, otherwise you are tempting fate with regards to your health…
Good point, I forgot to add that. Make sure you wear Eye protection too!!! but it does spray nicely
Anybody tried using the higher modulus RR epoxies for glossing?
Seems like a lot of people are building boards with RR2000 and RR2020. I see on the Resin Research site that the 1980 is harder and promoted as good for high gloss finish.
Wondering if that wouldn’t be easier to get a good gloss with. Might even be able to get in on early enough for a chemical bond.
Just a thought.