|
The Fibreglass King
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 69,
Visits: 652
|
Hi BlackNdecker, No problem at all, nice clean up job! Keep us posted and good luck with your project. Kind Regards The Fibreglass King
|
|
|
|
|
Hanaldo
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 2.5K,
Visits: 28K
|
 Sure it does 
|
|
|
|
|
BlackNDecker
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 92,
Visits: 251
|
Thanks everyone for the input! I am definitely not giving up on this project. It's critical to my project. I spent the day cleaning and stripping all the silicone off the door:
|
|
|
|
|
The Fibreglass King
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 69,
Visits: 652
|
Hi blackNdecker, It is exactly how Hanaldo says, that your first coat has not cured enough or you have thin areas which get attacked by the styrene in the gel, Also you may have uncatalyzed areas!, you must make sure that the first layer is cured for at least 2 hours before applying the second coat, also when you mix the gel and catalyst you must make sure you have stirred the catalyst in thoroughly, making sure you drag the gel and catalyst away from the sides of the bucket!, Applying two even coats is definitely the way to apply brushing gel coat, hopes this helps ?? Kind Regards, The Fibreglass King
|
|
|
|
|
Hanaldo
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 2.5K,
Visits: 28K
|
I always apply 2 coats of gelcoat when using polyester, because my stuff isn't thixotropic enough to get even coverage in one. What you've got there is the result of applying your second coat too soon after the first one so the first one hasn't cured enough. The styrene in the second coat then attacks the first coat and causes it to wrinkle. Can also happen with one coat if you do too thin a coat, but given you are applying 2 coats I'd say that is your issue.
|
|
|
|
|
BlackNDecker
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 92,
Visits: 251
|
Thanks so much for the reply! Previously I had a catastrophic failure when I tried to apply 2 coats of gelcoat. Please see the link below....everyone told me that was a horrible idea so now I've tried to focus on applying one good coat??
|
|
|
|
|
The Fibreglass King
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 69,
Visits: 652
|
Hi blackNdecker, I also think you should definitely start again on this project. Firstly remove if possible all traices of the silicon. As mentioned before, this really is not a good material for the purpose you intended, a good product for this is modeling plastacine white is preferable as using coloured plastacine can stain your gel coat, when it comes to gel coat or fibreglass production you really need to try and control the temperature in which you are working for the chemicals to perform correctly, ideally the temperature should be no less than 17 degrees Fahrenheit / 8.3 degrees celsius and no more than 70% humidity you can measure both these conditions using a hydrogro meter these are inexpensive but very useful in composite production. I understand that you are doing this job in your garage but try isolating the area you are working in . Even putting up some tarpaulin and using a small electric heater will help! Preparation is important the on surface you intend to mould from, you need to make sure that the surface is clean and grease free, then I would recommend using either a chemical mould release system or a quality mould release wax I would recommend mequires mirror glaze no8 mold release wax and apply six to eight coats with one hour intervals between coats, As for the gel coat you really do not need such big amounts, 1 kilogram per layer would be more than sufficient, and apply two layers as evenly as possible, do this using a white bristle brush 2" or 3" leave the gel for at least two hours to cure, before laying any materials on to this. Hope you find this advice helpful ?? . Kind Regards . The Fibreglass King
|
|
|
|
|
BlackNDecker
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 92,
Visits: 251
|
Great advice. Thank you. I will work on refining my technique before I give this another go...
|
|
|
|
|
brainfart
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 198,
Visits: 1.4K
|
Silicone is very very bad! It's like teflon, no liquid resin will adhere to it and it wants to creep away from the silicone due to its surface tension. Hit your reset button, watch the excellent instruction videos on youtube again and start over. There's really no point wasting lots of money and material on full sized car doors, take a small worthless object and make a mold of it, testing ALL your materials and procedures. If you fail, start over and correct what went wrong. You will learn more from 10 failed small trials than from one failed big attempt. And maybe the eleventh attempt will result in a perfect result. Only then should you consider bigger projects which might cost you lots of invested money and time. This is a journey. Every journey starts with a few small steps. If you fail only one of them you won't reach your destination. So make sure you take those first steps properly. And on't take shortcuts because you might end up in a dead end. Others have walked this path before you, follow in their footsteps. Don't try to build a bigger, better mousetrap, just use one that is proven to work. Yoda - out...
|
|
|
|
|
BlackNDecker
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 92,
Visits: 251
|
Here is a pic of my door flanged prior to gel coat...you can see the silicone caulk all around the seams. I'm worried now about silicone contamination and if this will cause future problems. 
|
|
|
|