Mould maintenance/repair

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Mould maintenance/repair

Author	Message
Massimiliano	M Massimiliano posted 5 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
M Group: Forum Members Posts: 167, Visits: 1.1K	Hello, two questions about moulds maintenance/repair. - I have some small areas (borders mostly) where the tooling gelcoat chipped off: what is the best way to replace it? If, as I imagine, with new gelcoat, is there a minimum amount of gelcoat that can be mixed to get the reaction or is ok to mix 10 grams of gelcoat and 0.2 grams of mekp? - how do you buff and polish small scratches in areas too small for a conventional rotary buffer? Use smaller tools like Dremel or it can be done by hand? Thanks
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Warren (Staff)	Warren (Staff) posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Administrators Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 8.5K	Key back the damaged areas then fill with fresh gel. I would look for a bigger batch, probably 25g or so just to make measuring the MEKP easier. If you have it, add some wax additive (Solution MW) to the gel to help the surface cure tack free - however its not the end of the world, you would just have to sand through the tack otherwise. Sanding and polishing by hand should be perfectly possible even in tight corners. Warren Penalver Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant
	Reply Like 4
Massimiliano	M Massimiliano posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
M Group: Forum Members Posts: 167, Visits: 1.1K	+x Warren (Staff) - 5/5/2020 11:51:14 AM Key back the damaged areas then fill with fresh gel. I would look for a bigger batch, probably 25g or so just to make measuring the MEKP easier. If you have it, add some wax additive (Solution MW) to the gel to help the surface cure tack free - however its not the end of the world, you would just have to sand through the tack otherwise. Sanding and polishing by hand should be perfectly possible even in tight corners. Thanks Warren, what compound and tool do you recommend for polishing?
	Reply Like 5
Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	+x Massimiliano - 5/5/2020 8:06:45 PM +x Warren (Staff) - 5/5/2020 11:51:14 AM Key back the damaged areas then fill with fresh gel. I would look for a bigger batch, probably 25g or so just to make measuring the MEKP easier. If you have it, add some wax additive (Solution MW) to the gel to help the surface cure tack free - however its not the end of the world, you would just have to sand through the tack otherwise. Sanding and polishing by hand should be perfectly possible even in tight corners. Thanks Warren, what compound and tool do you recommend for polishing? The NW1 compound that EC sell is brilliant, by far the best compound I have ever used. I dont find it works well by hand though, it is too aggressive to start with and takes a long time to break down, so your arm will fall off before you get a full gloss. Im also just not good at hand polishing though, dont have the patience for it. Using a machine, it is difficult to get into all corners and tight areas. Having a good selection of polishing tools and pads is the solution, but occasionally I might not be able to get some corners of the mould up to the full gloss that the rest of the mould has. For the most part, these areas are so small they arent noticeable on the finished part, and if they are then I use some of the TopFinish2 and EasyGloss to bring it up to par.
	Reply Like 6
Massimiliano	M Massimiliano posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
M Group: Forum Members Posts: 167, Visits: 1.1K	+x Hanaldo - 5/6/2020 2:42:07 AM +x Massimiliano - 5/5/2020 8:06:45 PM +x Warren (Staff) - 5/5/2020 11:51:14 AM Key back the damaged areas then fill with fresh gel. I would look for a bigger batch, probably 25g or so just to make measuring the MEKP easier. If you have it, add some wax additive (Solution MW) to the gel to help the surface cure tack free - however its not the end of the world, you would just have to sand through the tack otherwise. Sanding and polishing by hand should be perfectly possible even in tight corners. Thanks Warren, what compound and tool do you recommend for polishing? The NW1 compound that EC sell is brilliant, by far the best compound I have ever used. I dont find it works well by hand though, it is too aggressive to start with and takes a long time to break down, so your arm will fall off before you get a full gloss. Im also just not good at hand polishing though, dont have the patience for it. Using a machine, it is difficult to get into all corners and tight areas. Having a good selection of polishing tools and pads is the solution, but occasionally I might not be able to get some corners of the mould up to the full gloss that the rest of the mould has. For the most part, these areas are so small they arent noticeable on the finished part, and if they are then I use some of the TopFinish2 and EasyGloss to bring it up to par. Thanks Hanaldo!
	Reply Like 6
Massimiliano	M Massimiliano posted 5 Years Ago HOT Post Details
M Group: Forum Members Posts: 167, Visits: 1.1K	+x Hanaldo - 5/6/2020 2:42:07 AM +x Massimiliano - 5/5/2020 8:06:45 PM +x Warren (Staff) - 5/5/2020 11:51:14 AM Key back the damaged areas then fill with fresh gel. I would look for a bigger batch, probably 25g or so just to make measuring the MEKP easier. If you have it, add some wax additive (Solution MW) to the gel to help the surface cure tack free - however its not the end of the world, you would just have to sand through the tack otherwise. Sanding and polishing by hand should be perfectly possible even in tight corners. Thanks Warren, what compound and tool do you recommend for polishing? The NW1 compound that EC sell is brilliant, by far the best compound I have ever used. I dont find it works well by hand though, it is too aggressive to start with and takes a long time to break down, so your arm will fall off before you get a full gloss. Im also just not good at hand polishing though, dont have the patience for it. Using a machine, it is difficult to get into all corners and tight areas. Having a good selection of polishing tools and pads is the solution, but occasionally I might not be able to get some corners of the mould up to the full gloss that the rest of the mould has. For the most part, these areas are so small they arent noticeable on the finished part, and if they are then I use some of the TopFinish2 and EasyGloss to bring it up to par. I tried Nw1 by hand on corners and I have to say it worked pretty well, thank you. @Warren it would be very nice and useful if one of the next video tutorials would be focused on polishing and smoothing. There are many how-to polishing videos on the tube but mostly are about flat big surfaces like hulls... while I have not found anything on small and contoured parts.
	Reply Like 6