Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Sprayable epoxy tooling gelcoat ?

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic123.aspx

By Joe - 1/19/2012 7:06:32 PM

Hi, 
 
Can i add some product, for example acetone, to thin the epoxy tooling gelcoat a little bit so i can spray it?
I know it could not be "thinned" too much but I have a spray gun with tips ranging from 1 to 4.7 mm.
I had a try with my 4.7mm nozzle, and gelcoat seems to be just a little too thick to spray.
By Paul (Staff) - 1/20/2012 8:15:01 AM

Hi Joe,

Spraying epoxy is generally avoided because it's nasty stuff to have atomised in the air, however if you have appropriate facilities to handle that it may well be possible to 'thin' the epoxy down, in aeromodelling it is fairly common to thin-out resin with methylated spirit, acetone (as suggested) may also work, as could MEK. with any of these I would strongly advise running some tests to check whether the performance of the gel is comprimised, I would also suggest building the gel-coat thickness with a series of thin coats... This would give the best chance for any solvent to evaporate out of the coating.

Let us know how you get on with the tests.