Up until now I have always used PE resin, but I am currently deployed in Afghanistan and in my down time have decided to shape a few boards. I decided epoxy might be better for shipping it home, given it might get bumped aroind. I have read several articles on epoxy, but I need a little clarification.
Once the bottom coat has been laminated, how long should I wait to sand the laps? Im using slow resin cause i was concerned about the heat here. I’ve also heard your not supposed to sand epoxy before it cures due to toxicity.
Once the top and bottom are laminated, how long should I wait before I hot coat it?
At what point would I have to rough up the board, and please define “Rough up”? How deep do I need to sand it, etc.
24 hrs is safe but can be done sooner. epoxy dries without any tackiness, when it is no longer tacky it is safe to sand and hotcoat. if you do your laminations and hotcoats within 24hrs of each there is no need to rough it up. I would however take to oppurtunity to get the rails as flat as possible. unlike PE you can really get things flat before moving on to the next step.
If you flatten everything out very well before your hotcoats. sanding is much easier.
1. Once the bottom coat has been laminated, how long should I wait to sand the laps?
You can sand as soon as the resin cures to a hard state… with SLOW hardener it might be 8 hours but in hot temps more like 4-5 hours
Once the top and bottom are laminated, how long should I wait before I hot coat it?
You can hotcoat right after is has hardened (after sanding the laps down). If you hotcoat with a 48 hour window of the lamination, you will get a strong resin chemical bond between the hotcoat and lamination.
At what point would I have to rough up the board, and please define “Rough up”? How deep do I need to sand it, etc.
If you wait more than 48 hours to hotcoat the board it’s a good idea to rough up the board for a mechanical bond between the hotcoat and lamination… Just hit the lamination with 80 grit on a medium sanding pad and blow / wipe the dust off… you can also wipe down with Denatured Alcohol and drag the sticky side of masking tape all over the board to pick up dust and eliminate pinholes and fisheyes in the hotcoat.
Ok, great info. Basically as soon as the tackyness is gone I will sand. I got a 3M respirator with both vapor and the pink filters on it so I think I am good to go. In regards to what Huck said about skin contact, are you referring to its wet state, or sanding the rails within 24 hours when its no longer tacky? I have vynil gloves, but overalls are fairly limited here. Thanks again! My resources are hard to get, so I don’t want to screw up.