Wax balls forming in hot coat?

General Discussion
1

Today I was hotcoating my 3rd board, and as I was cross hatching I started noticing clusters of little beads or pellets forming in the coat.  At first I thought it was something that fell in my resin mix, but I pulled one out with my brush and it seemed more like wax pellets were forming.  It happened again on the other side, with a fresh mix.  This never happened before on the two previous boards. However, this was the first time I’ve done it in cooler weather.  The mix I used was 1.25 quarts resin, 12.5 cc wax (approximately.  My dispenser goes from 10cc to 15 cc, so I have to guesstimate), 12 cc Styrene,  and 12 cc catalyst.  It was 58˚ F and I don’t know how humid.

I tried to take a picture of the beads, but they don’t photograph well.  I should probably note that I also used a little tint in the resin which I’ve never done before, but doubt that could be the culprit?  I understand it’s not the aesthetic choice for some, but aside from the wax beads the result made me happy.

Any ideas?  Nothing apparent in other threads from my searches.

 

 
2

Too cold is probably your problem.  When its that cold out I turn on 4 lightbulbs in my shed and it warms things up.  For hot coats I warm the resin and wax solution in hot water to get them nice and warm.

3

Yep.

Warm the room.

Warm the board.

Warm the resin.

Warm the Surfacing agent.

4

Ok thanks.  I heated the wax, but didn’t think about the rest of the chemicals.  Heating the room won’t be easy as the space heater Im using is using most of the available 20 amps in the room and the ceiling is 20’!  I’ll have to figure something out.

 
5

Stick containers of resin and surfacing agent in hot water until ready to use and use sun-cure resin.

6

It’s not fun pouring warm resin on a cold board.

Probably most important to warm the Surfacing agent.

Shake it well as stated above.

Cold weather and surfboard building sucks.

But it can be done.

Carry on.