Carbon Fibre Gel Coat?

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Carbon Fibre Gel Coat?

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AdamHutchin	AdamHutchin posted 10 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 8, Visits: 53	Hi, I've been reading through the forum but can't find the specific answer I'm looking for so wondered if anyone could advise? I have some previous experience (although quite a long time ago now!) of working with pre-preg carbon and wet lay up glass but have yet to try wet lay up carbon. When I used pr- preg carbon, it was just laid straight into the mold and vac-bagged. When I used glass, I first coated the mold with a gel coat, allowed it to go tacky, then laid in the CSM. With wet lay up carbon, I'm unsure of the correct process here and there seem to be different answers around the internet. I know it's a bit of a noob question but I thought I'd post here as this is where I'll be ordering the materials from and there are often differences between manufacturers products to consider too. My aim is to produce a few cosmetically pleasing, lightweight, non-structural parts. I will be vac-bagging the parts and have the resources to cure at elevated temperatures. My question is, can I achieve my goal by applying a layer of epoxy to the mold and proceeding with the lay up or should I allow that coat to go tacky before proceeding? I have seen different recommendations from different sources. Alternatively do I need a separate gel coat? I intend to use EL2 Epoxy Laminating Resin and "Easy-Lease" release agent, the mold contact surfaces are a mixture of mild steel and chrome. Thanks in advance.
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Warren (Staff)	Warren (Staff) posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Administrators Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 8.5K	We would recommend the use of a gelcoat cup gun such as our Gelcoat Spraying Cup Gun As standard it comes with a 4.8mm nozzle which we find is fine for spraying GC50 and other similar viscosity gelcoats. It does take a bit of practice to get the technique right so we would recommend spraying on a scrap panel to start with as you may well need to adjust the compressor. The Gelcoat Spraying Cup Gun should be used with an air feed pressure of between 60 and 100 psi. The gun will use around 5.8cfm at a typical 80 pressure of psi. Warren Penalver Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant
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