I was wondering if anyone has had similar issues with the uni-mould tooling gelcoat not curing after 3+ days. The gelcoat has been mixed with the recommended 2% MEKP hardener along with 2% wax additive and has been brushed onto MDF board that has been machined to the shape of half an aerofoil. I have attempted three different moulds with two different results. One having looked like it was hardened and ready for polishing however under the wax layer the gelcoat was still meallable, and the other result being that the gelcoat was still practically as it was applied. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Not heard of any curing issues with the gelcoat before.  What temperature are you working at?  How long have you had the gelcoat?  What sort of release agent are you using? 

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

+x

 

Warren (Staff) - 3/9/2020 4:16:06 PM

Not heard of any curing issues with the gelcoat before.  What temperature are you working at?  How long have you had the gelcoat?  What sort of release agent are you using? 

Temperature is around ambient temperature depending in the day between around 10°C. I'm unsure on how long the gelciat has been around for as it was purchased by a colleague and no release agent as we're trying to use the MDF as  plug with the gelcoat to allow for a proper surface finish

Ambient temp is the problem, gelcoat won't cure at 10° with 2% catalyst. Even with 5% catalyst it wouldnt cure, ambient temp needs to be an absolute minimum of 15° to work with gelcoats. 

Can you warm your working environment or even just the plug up at all? Theres a good chance the gelcoat will still cure if you can get it up to 30 or 40°.