My process is much like yours BUT I use premixed lam resin, and add my own surfacing agent and a shot of styrene to thin things out. Results are fine, within the somewhat dusty limitations of my garage.
Wonder about the mixing you’ve done, and the amount and quality of powder that went in.
Physically, sags suggest that either there’s shrinkage going on, or that the underlying resin, next to the hot coat, is not going off when the resin above and exposed to the air, is gelling. Hmm.
Bambam are you suggesting he set his finish coat off faster? I’m always afraid that the wax won’t rise, but Clayton (helmethead) always says to set off the finish coat really fast, so I suppose his wax always rises…
Howzit Kensurf, Most of the time it’s due to too much resin left on the board so it separates. If the surface was contaminated you would more likely get the fish eye affect not separation. Yes some times a fast kick off will stop it before it happens but I have seen where slower kick times will make the resin actually reflow back over those spots and fill them in. One trick is to mix more resin and paint over the separations right after the first batch kicks, this will require some extra sanding during the rub out process but that’s better than resanding the whole board and reglossing it. Separation can also occur when doing a hot coat. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Kensurf, I would say you were lucky before when laying it on thick, it doesn’t have to be thick,glossing resin loves to separate if to thick. But you are probably trying to get it thick enough so you won’t rub through when you rub it out, right. As for bad gloss resin, yes you can get an old bad batch. The way to tell if it’s bad is you will see white residue in the bottom of the can,shine a light in to the can to see it. Now if it’s bad it will usually not kick as fast ( probably take twice as long or longer )as it should so just add some lam resin and a little extra S.A.to it and it will kick faster.Shaking the can will not remix the residue back into the resin. Shurlustre is the way to go for rubbing compound but if it’s not available use some course compound and then fine compound, this is how we did it before shurlustre came along. Have you tried my gloss mixture? Aloha,Kokua
I’m about to do my first gloss coat and I’ve been reading all over about your famous mixture, but for some reason I can’t find exactly what it is. Does your mixture entail adding additional styrene (10%?) and surfacing agent (5%) to gloss resin?..or is it a recipe for making gloss resin out of laminating resin?
I’m planning on using straight gloss resin from the can (reichhold), with about 4% catalyst. But I get the feeling that your mixture calls for additional styrene and surfacing agent. Am I correct?
Howzit speciak, You've got it just add to the glossing resin, run everything through a filter even the gloss resin, then stir in the center of your container so it makes an eddy which draws every thing down the middle like flushing a toilet. The only thing is I use 25 cc's of catalyst sincw our humidity is high so you might have to adjust. But there are others who have used my mix and maybe they can chime in and give you some info on the cat amount. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Kensurf, First use one of those plastic quart containers that shows measurements on the side. The amount of glossing resin is determined by how big the board is. Now add 10% styrene and about 5% S.A. to the mix. Like I said before I use 25 cc’s cat but that might not apply to where you live due to your environment conditions. Yes you can use catalyst with UV resin ( that’s how I do my hot coats). The gloss job will be a little thinner but smoother so you won’t have to sand it much during the rub out process.Hope this is what you need.Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Kensurf, Yes I use catalyst with UV resin,in fact the only time I don’t use cat with it is when doing laminations. You will need to use cat when doing fin boxes and leash plugs. Don’t understand what you mean by “or should I through in the cat just because” or do you mean throw.when you get a nice smooth gloss you can start the deck with 400 grit but even with a smooth gloss I start with 320 on the bottom with a blue hard power pad. Aloha,Kokua