Has anyone had this happen? This is the first time I have used a pigment additive in my epoxy and also the first time using a liquid mold release called Frekote 700nc. I was attempting to apply my first coat of epoxy to my plug as I have done on my first plug with good results. As soon as I started to brush it on, it started to separate. I was able to wipe it off very easly before it cured. However, I am wondering if it could have been the pigment additive.

This is only the second mold that I have done. The first one worked fine other than my plug construction, and plug surface quality was poor. So, this time, I did a lot research on construction techniques and proper plug surface requirements. After reading about different mold release types, I choose to use a liquid type. From what I have read, you can achieve a better molded part surface finish.

Any input would be great.

Thanks,

Lee Adams



Lee Adams

www.melleen.com

info@melleen.com

Hi Lee,
Chemical release agents are too slippery to paint a Gell coat or resin on to. What should work is to apply the freecoat as recomended and then apply a coat or two of wax release agent. The wax will adhere to the Freecoat and the resin will adhere to the wax. This is a better release than wax only.

Brian.

Yeh, pretty hard to brush gelcoat over Frekote. You can spray your tooling gelcoat if you have the equipment, but the easier solution is to do as Brian suggested. Just make sure the release wax you use is SILICONE FREE. 

frekote do their own wax release-freewax

I prefer the chemlease wax but have been told there is freekote 700 in it ? but only used these on tooling for ltm pre preg not gel

A bad case of fish-eyeing. As said, wax will help massively in getting that intial layer of gel down.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Sorry for the late response everyone... Brian, Thanks for the quick reply... You saved my weekend! I did just as you said and applied the wax after the frekote, and it worked but I had to keep spreading the epoxy until it started to thicken, because if was still fish-eyeing in a few spots.  Hanaldo,I checked my mold release wax and it was silicone free, there is so much to learn! Thanks!!! f1rob, I checked into chemlease but it was not available locally. Warren, Fish-eyeing is not very cool, but I guess this is how you learn.Thanks!! Thanks EVERYONE!! 

Lee Adams

www.melleen.com

info@melleen.com

Its a problem with the modern chemical release agents. They are too slippery. Great for pre-pregs and vacuum processes like resin infusion, but not so fun for wet lay!!

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Well, the first mold came off of the plug no problem, using the frekote then the wax; the second mold did not. It was completely bonded to the plug and I pretty much had to destroy the plug to separate them. I was feeling real good about molding these parts, but now I am back to square one. I have watched all of the videos on the EC site and have tried to follow them, but maybe there is something else I am doing wrong.

My plugs are made out of MDF, they are sprayed with a Vinyl ester gelcoat and sanded and polished.

I went with a chemical release agent after seeing that the PVA release agent was creating a texture on the mold.

I applied 3 coats for the chemical release called Frekote 700nc, then 3 coats of Rexco partall past #2

I am using a ebay casting epoxy resin that says it works for laminating also, I'm using chopped strand fiberglass for the mold. (I recently read chopped strand is not combatable with epoxy, but I had it, and it worked on the first mold that I made) I will be switching to a vinyl ester resin with chopped strand for future molds.

Does anyone see something that I could be doing wrong?

Thanks

Lee

PS it there any help section on the forum? I am unable to post pictures now.

Lee Adams

www.melleen.com

info@melleen.com

Could be any number of things wrong. How much did you buff the wax after applying it over the Frekote? You may well have buffed too hard, removing the Frekote. 

Hi Malleen,

The explanation for what's happened is likely to lie within the informationyou've given but I do need to remind you that you're posting within the EasyComposites Technical Support forum which is intended for our customers to gettechnical support on our products. As far as I can make out, the wax, semi-permanentrelease agent, 'ebay' casting resin and even pattern coat all seem to beproducts from a range of manufacturers but not from ourselves. Whilst we arecertainly here to help as much as we can, it gets very difficult to offerreliable advice or support to products that we don't sell and don't necessarilyknow. Not to mention the fact that it would be difficult to stay in businesssupporting only the products of other manufacturers and suppliers.

If you have general questions about composite materials, rather than needingsupport from Easy Composites' technical staff, then the any forums within the'Advanced Composites Forum' would be the place to post them.

As a quick bit of advice in the right direction for your problem, the fact thatit released fine the first time and not the second time has got to be the mostsignificant bit of information here. First time round you had a chemicalrelease agent and then waxed over the top of it. The second time round, did youre-apply the wax, or re-apply the release agent, both or neither? - The combinationof chemical release agent and wax can be very effective but it's fraught thingsthat can catch you out. Chemical release agent over the top of wax will liftthe wax and contaminate the release agent at the same time. Wax over releaseagent is OK but you should know that what happens when you separate the mouldfrom the pattern is that the wax will generally be lifted off the pattern andcome away with the tool. This means you're down to chemical release agent onthe pattern although it's not 'clean' and will still be carrying enough wax tocontaminate a chemical release agent if you then apply it over the top again.Therefore, your second release preparation should be only wax, or,alternatively, a full strip down of the wax and chemical release agent (using asuitable MouldCleaner) and then re-apply the chemical release agent as per manufacturers instructionsbefore re-applying the wax as per manufacturers instructions.

Also, you might find it very helpful to add some FumedSilica to your epoxy resin so that it behaves more like an EpoxyTooling Gelcoat and will be much easier to apply to a release preparedpattern or mould without fish-eying away.

I've explained the above in detail because this information should be helpfulto others who may be using our Easy-Lease Chemical Release Agent and Number 8Mould Release Wax in a similar way to how you've described so hopefully you andthey might find this helpful

All the best, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales