Gel coat and Epoxy if done correctly will it work?

Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Back

Home
»
Advanced Composites Forum
»
Mould Making
»
Gel coat and Epoxy if done correctly will it work?

Gel coat and Epoxy if done correctly will it work?

Author	Message
fastboats	fastboats posted 11 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 9, Visits: 94	Looking to make a mold of a small performance boat hull. I have read that in order to make a very good mold that will last a long time some use carbon fiber vs fiberglass mat in a unimold type setup. Once the part is setup and flanges in place can I apply gel wait for that to tack and apply a layor of carbon down and expoy coat over that? Or will the Gel delaminate from the mold? Thanks for any help and please go easy I'm new and learning as much as I can. Edited 11 Years Ago by fastboats
	Reply Like 3
Reply
Fasta	Fasta posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 468, Visits: 3.5K	The uni mold like many others is a no shrink system. It should be good. (note I have not specifically used uni mold but I do use another similar system). Basically these modern mould resins are filled with ?? and go a cream colour when the cure as well as getting reasonably hot 40-50 deg C but they are supposed to do this. In the past moulds were made from lesser resins and moulds needed to made very slowly and built up with just a couple of layers at a time so that they did not shrink. Then left for weeks if possible before demolding. Well reinforced etc etc. Things are different now. Epoxy will make great moulds too but they sure will cost more and take longer to make. Maybe not such a big deal for small moulds but very expensive for others even if it is just 3 or 4 square meters. If you really wanted to use epoxy then I would use a full epoxy system with epoxy gel coat too rather than make an experiment with vinyl ester gel coats. As I said last, a long lasting mould will mostly be dependent on a good hard (well cured) non porous gel coat and your release system along with good process habits etc. Experience helps too. Test things as you go with samples and prove your release to yourself before committing to bigger things. Fastacraft Facebook page
	Reply Like 3