Hi all,

Still playing around trying to make my wheel spats. My moulds are made from ec epoxy  tooling gel coat and I've been using easylease release agent. One of my moulds has had 3 parts out of it now but what im noticing each time I de mould is that the glossy surface of the mould is left with a pattern of the cloth which I assume is traces of cured resin. Each time I've washed the moulds in soap and water and also used mould cleaner  try and remove it and then re applied the easylease as from scratch. Is this normal with wet lay up/vacuum bagging or am I going wrong??

How critical is the shelf life of easylease?, Mine (foolishly) came of ebay, the tin hadn't been opened but its age is anyones guess!!.  

Cheers

Craig

After how much time do you demould? might be that the resin hasn't fully cured and is still a bit 'soft'

Matthieu Libeert
Founder MAT2 Composites X Sports
website: www.mat2composites.com

Hi mattieutje65,

Been de moulding after 24hrs at around 20deg c. (ec epoxy resin) Would you advise leaving it longer?

Thanks for your help

Craig 

I'm not sure but I mostly wait 2 days (at +25°C) but not sure if this is the cause!

I sometimes get left with the same pattern, but it's normally when I've had a leaky bag

That's interesting, Im yet to have a fully airtight bag and had to leave pump running!!!. Do you know why it would cause this problem?. How do you clean your moulds when you've had this happen.

Cheers

I've no idea why it happens, maybe where there is no resin just leaves a thin film on the mould and the fabric takes the resin with it. It normally comes out with a bit of elbow greese.

I get the same pattern on my moulds, it's nothing to be concerned about. You don't need to wash it off, I just buff mine lightly with a clean cloth after each pull and then do one wipe with my release agent which is Frekote. This pretty much eliminates the pattern on the mould surface, and what does remain doesn't transfer to any parts.