So, my brother asked him to shape him a board, which I just finished. I was ready to start glassing, but he asked me to wait so he could have a graphic printed to laminate onto the board. So, he came to me with two full-board laminates printed on rice paper. I would like to use UV resin since it has been so hot, and I don’t want it to kick too fast, but I am still unclear as to whether the resin will kick all the way through with a graphic on the board. I have read on here that some guys use a small amount of catalyst with UV resin in order to make sure it kicks all the way through. So my questions are:
Do I need to add catalyst to the UV resin in order for it to kick all the way through?
How much catalyst do I mix in? Does it have to be 1%, or can I use less?
Should I just use laminating resin and catalyst, and laminate the graphic as a separate step?
At least use PMEK for the “first” batch to get all the board wet, then put you graphic on, squeege it down properly then do the lam over the graphic with UV if u want to. But be sure to clean all dripping all “PMEK catalyzed resin” or it’ll kick off on the rails before you do your lam properly…
If it’s for a small board, just do it with PMEK, entirely. With a light % if you want a bit time… but at least you’ll be sure to have it all fully cured.
Do what you’d normally do, IME no problem using normal catalyst ratios with UV cure resin, just don’t let UV light get to it unless you want it to cure, quickly. That’s the beauty of it, if you’re ready and you want it to go off, just pop it in the sun and it’s done.
In a nutshell if you use UV cure without cat, then it will not cure unless UV light reaches it.