Been having constant issues with tiny bubbles rising to the surface with the fill coat and gloss coat, sometimes breaking the surface other times not. It’s happened on all my boards a little which wasn’t really noticeable but the last one looked like the night sky… but red!
I can’t figure out what it is! I’m in the UK, workshop gets cold and all my materials are left in there. I bring the resin and wax in styrene inside 12hrs before filling and glossing. The resin doesn’t have a good viscosity otherwise and the wax and styrene need to mix in the warmer temp after seperatring in the cold. Saying that the bubbles have also happened a little in the summer. I only use 1-1.5% catalyst so it aint cooking or anything silly like that. I don’t wipe down the lamination with solvents, just an airline and wipe with dry cloth. Im using Seabase’s ISO 10 and their wax in styrene 2%. I mix the resin slowly by hand for a minute of two, brush length ways, diagonals and lengthways again. Can’t believe it mechanical as the resin has an age to dry for the bubble to come out
Why would sanding dust be white though? would it not go clear? I did think dust maybe as i sadly have to do all my board work in one room.
But most of the white spots don’t show until the board is sanded and polished… which leads me to believe they’ve filled with dust and cutting compound.
I’m fairly certain i could see lots of tiny bubbles rising to the surface of the gloss coat.
Is the red a lamination or a spray? If it’s a spray, this can be common with reds and its crystalization of the pigments. Try mixing a little calcium carbonate into the mix before spraying. Learned this trick from the best airbrusher on the West Coast (Sways name: Atomized). If not a spray, I would say you are not laminating hot enough, either in temp or mek, allowing the resin to soak into the foam and producing bubbles. The pictures are not hi-rez enough to really tell, more info would help in troubleshooting this. Just my 2c…
All resin tints, I don’t seem to get the problem in the lamination. Just the fill and gloss coat. Open the picture in a new tab and it’s a much bigger picture. Cheers
Dust is always the quick response but it’s not dust, these are tiny bubbles under the wax surface. I find that laying down a gloss coat in a cold room increases the chances of getting these specks. Also where the resin lays down thicker it’s worse. When it’s cold like that I warm the room with a heater and the problem disappears. Also a dash of styrene to thin it out helps.
Had good luck with formulated finishing resin or ISO with wax. Specks are a consistent issue when using ortho (like 249A) and adding wax or a 50/50 mix. The sanding coat isn’t really a problem if you’re glossing over it.
They also sometimes don’t show up until it’s been polished and sits for a few hours as the polish with dry in the holes.
Genes solution seems like a good one, if it’s cold and the resin is cold it goes down thicker and thus won’t allow the air to escape. When it’s sanded they open up.
I’ve had em show up on a black section of a polish.
Ah ha! Sounds like we have an answer. Cheers guys!
As it’s generally cooler I add 1% of wax in styrene to the gloss resin to aid curing as prescribed. Do you think this is making the situation worse? Better to just add styrene and leave it longer before sanding. I find the gloss alone takes ages to cure and not as easy to sand.
I gave up trying to heat my workshop as this was causing problems during lamination… like my blank wanting to breath!!!
Recently I’ve only been able to get it to around 12degreesC because it’s so blinking cold!
…hello, you would have 2 situations: one is what Gene is saying the other that occurred to me several times is with the gassing. You can have a perfect lamination (included a pigmented one) perfect fill coat, then after a bit of Sun or change in the weather and you start to find these tiny bubbles in some parts.
Also I had problems with gassing onto the stringers due to humidity.
Heat the room. And adding wax to finishing resin makes the problem worse. I would just add a little styrene when it’s cold. I catalyze so it gels in about 12 minutes. My ratio is 3/4 of a cone filter of gloss and 30-35cc of catalyst, that’s at 60-70 degrees though. Shouldn’t take forever to cure., you’re in control of the dry time.
