Hi,

Matt - when the gel is just tacky after a couple of hours, can I just lay on the first layer of carbon, get it in place then spritz it with acetone to "stick" it down, then start adding the resin? (it's a standard wet layup I'm doing). I saw you did that in the bonnet video but that's infusion, just wondering if I can do the same and if the fabric will wet right through if I don't brush resin over the gel first?

Hi Mike,

If you're doing wet layup then I would certainly suggest brushing the resin onto the gelcoat first and then dropping the fibre onto the wet resin. The resin for this sequence is that, hopefully, the wet resin wets into the fibre front-to-back, meaning that it pushes the trapped air away from the mould surface and towards the exposed surface. This makes a big difference when you're trying to get a bubble free laminate. If you put it dry into the mould and then wet it from the back then you'll always tend to find that you 'seal in' the trapped air and are left with tiny air bubbles in your laminate.

Definately go with wetting the mould and then adding the fibre. In addition, use a 'bristle roller' to release any trapped air bubbles. Add to much resin at the start and let subsequent layers of reinforcement start to soak up this excess resin. This is the sequence we follow to get better looking wet-lay.

--Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales