Your lay-up appears to be too dry. Make sure you get good saturation. Do only a few layers at a time, for better control. If using poly resin, a light styrene wash will restore color/hide dust spots. For epoxy, perhaps, just perhaps, a wipe down with denatured Alcohol may be helpful. I don’t work with epoxy, so the foregoing, is speculation on my part. Or, hold your nose, and make poly resin panels.
Not sure what type of epoxy you are using, but I use entropy resin epoxy and I hardly smell anything at all. Sure there is a very slight smell but if you are using it in a well ventilated area it dissipates pretty quick.
I also agree with the other 2 posters that it looks like you may not be saturating the glass enough when you wet it out.
…hello; that fiber brand is premium so not the problem. Take the time with the others 3 that I mentioned and you would finish without that problem.
I put them in order of importance regarding that problem.
With epoxy you do not have a limited time to work so think about it in the lay up process.
Bear in mind that if you use too much solid pigment can contribute to that (not completely dissolved) I did not mentioned due to most of the times the people use the “paste” or liquid ones.
Another important think is about the roll and technique used for the hand lay up. If you press too much and with a dry application; that is prone to what happened. That premium fiber solved part of that; if you had been used chromium washed would be worst.
Again, think about the techniques several times before to do the job; those are the problems not others.
I have been making fins for all the boards that customers want glass ons for the last 33 years.
It looks like your panel is just a single color. Have you heard of G10? I can see laying up multiple layers if you are going for a unique custom muli colored panel, but, if you just want a single color then I would recommend buying a sheet of G10.
while doing the roll technique i had the feeling i was pressing to much but i did not know better
would you advise leaving the roller aside ?
the tint is liquid and usually works well when glassing a board
thanks for the list i hope it can help others in the future
Old Skull I have let the panel to rest for two weeks at more or less 66°
Swied, i had no knowledge of this product
i must say it doesnt have quite the charm of the self made color panel and it does not seem easy to find in a wide range of colour where i live but i sure will give it a try
it seems like a good and affordable shortcut for foiling practice and faster work…
here are a few pictures of the finished fin, the dryness of the lamination still shows
i will see how it performs which in the end is what matters most
thank you all for taking the time to share your knowledge
and if i may add a couple more questions
set aside technique which from what i read is a great variable… what would be a reliable amount of resin per square yard for someone new to fiberglass layup ?
do you think compressing the layup with weight makes a substantial difference ?
One thing you might consider doing when you lay up future panels; Do the lay up on a piece of tempered glass. I have the tempered glass door out of a stereo cabinet that I am setting up on a wooden frame with a light under it. Old coffee tables, stereo cabinets, tempered sliding doors etc can be found at Goodwill and Habitat. I’m going to build a frame the size of the glass and put a light in the box. I’m going to try a couple of different lights(fluorescent and LED)to make sure I get the right lighting. Minimum glare etc. this will enable me to see the consistency of saturation, dry spots and bubbles. I knew a guy in the old days that did his panels using such a setup. Seemed to work good. I would think you could apply release agent or paraffin wax to the glass.
if you want a better job, first use a far fluid and long time set resin, for example a resin make for infusion. A step forward is to do it in vacuum bag with drain for good resin draining. An other step is to put the part under vacuum under pressure so it help compacted thick panels more. Ultimate step is to it by infusion under pressure.
I hope to be able to do it soon, for full carbon foils parts. for fins glass panels vacuum bag with wright resin is the way to go for me.
To the question of how much resin, some suggest that 60%ish cloth and 40%ish resin is an ideal layup for weight and strength.
How this plays out for me is that I weight the cloth I want to laminate and consider the core material. I also weigh resin and hardener so the math is pretty easy.
For EPS foam and for plywood cored parts, the core is ‘thirsty’ so I end up mixing about the same weight resin as cloth. I usually ‘short’ myself just a little and mix a little more if needed rather than mixing too much and having a bunch in the cup. If I make too much, I also fill in craters in my concrete garage floor with any extra when possible.
For additional laminated layers the amount of resin is less since the core is sealed. For fill coats it is even less as there is no cloth to saturate.
The fin panels have no core, and they are more of a volume problem rather that a square yard/area like glassing a board, but I would probably start at 50-50 to keep it ‘juicy’ without being so ‘soupy’ that the cloth layers are ‘floating’ and not a bonded system.
I would try to work in a warmer space, 75-80 F or 23-26 C so the epoxy is flowing and soaking the best it can without it being so hot that the set time is also accelerated.
I vacuum bag plywod parts but have never tried a fin panel nor have I done infusion.
I am a hack, a dozen boards and a small boat under my belt. I like to google stuff too and read up like this link: Wet Layup – TotalBoat
I’ve placed a heating pad underneath the waxed glass and used very slow very thin epoxy when attempting to ensure best possible clarity, System 3 clear coat epoxy.
Plenty of working time even at elevated temperatures.
Excellent lighting able to be moved for different angles and reflections, and eyesight magnification can go a long way towards achieving the perfect fin panel but a bubble roller squeegee and proper pressure are all techniques to be learned as one goes
I like the idea of light under the heated waxed glass, I’d not thought of that before.
I had forgot about using a “bubble buster” roller. When I get set up, I’m gonna get a couple of different ones (bristle and metal) and see what works best.
yes i use one made with polyamide for compacting layers of thick carbon (up to 10 layers of 600gr biax en UD) before vacuum bag. i go with roller between each layers then over peel ply to saturate it then over drain and it force lot of resin over it. i use it on fiber glass over foam, not so a good idea…
