Hi,

Hi,

In the last video EC uploaded, that you can see here, they use a polyester gelcoat (compatible with epoxy) that will be available as soon as they can make it.

Dunno if its what you want, but thats the way i understand "in mould coating". Hope it helps.

 



 


    A $1000 electronic device will always protect a 10 cents fuse

We're getting very close to having stock on the Epoxy Compatible Polyester Gel Coat and we have a lot of confidence in this product so we're very excited about making it available.

2k lacquers and paints can be used (even though you might think that that cannot/should not) but you would need to do your own tests to find a brand that works and then there would be concerns about delamination over time, even if the initial bond looks good. The main problem you'll have is fish-eyeing away from the release agent. Lacquers/clear coats/paints that can be sprayed are low viscosity and will usually just fish-eye a lot away from the release agent, leaving you with hundreds of patches of no coating. There are additives which can be added to the paints to reduce this property but they don't always work very well.

I'm not familiar with the product that HP Textiles are listing but I'll certainly keep it in mind.

Best regards, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Hi Matt,

Yes, you can overcome any fish-eye problems by using PVA but then you have PVA problems - i.e. your parts will have a dull matt finish which will need to be polished off and can sometimes actually take quite a bit of polishing (not just a quick buff). I guess because we come from a commercial manufacturing stand point we always look for processes that reduce labour and so chemical release agents which leave a mirror finish gloss straight out of the mould are preferable to processes that require subsequent work.

I'll let you know when the gel coat is in.

Best regards, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

I'm just trying it now and the gel coat is fisheye-ing like crazy. It just refuses to stay put. I've let it start to cure a bit and brushed some more but it's not going to work so when it hardens I'm going to put a layer of glass on it with the epoxy then once cured, pop it out and start again.

I used 4 applications of easylease, let each dry etc then left 2 hours before putting the gel on to it.

Hi Mike,

It sounds like it's being too repellent. We have this problem sometimes with our flat sheet production when we first easy-lease the glass tables. We get problems with fish-eyes for the first few release and then it settles down really nicely for lots of release (maybe 30+ releases) before it starts to get a bit too sticky and we have to re-coat the tables - cue fish-eyes again until we've had a few releases off it.

Try giving the mould surface a really good buff with a microfibre cloth just to take the edge of the release agent; this will probably help a lot (we do it).

--Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Cheers Matt, I'll give it a try.  I just cleaned the mould thoroughly and it's now on its 4th coat of easy lease so I'll give it a good rub then leave it for an hour.

Matt - when the gel is just tacky after a couple of hours, can I just lay on the first layer of carbon, get it in place then spritz it with acetone to "stick" it down, then start adding the resin? (it's a standard wet layup I'm doing). I saw you did that in the bonnet video but that's infusion, just wondering if I can do the same and if the fabric will wet right through if I don't brush resin over the gel first?