Hi all,

After solving many issues , I've come across another which is causing me headaches. I'm currently having issues with what seems to be voids or air bubbles between my resin and the fabric. It appears these voids become more apparent the more I sand the part for a smooth finish

Photo is attached. It seems the more I sand the part, the more of these bubbles that show. They are under the surface though 

Apologies for the poor photo quality. You can see the defects on the left hand side of the part

Its hard to tell exactly from the picture but it could be as simple as trapped air from laying up the resin on the fabric or the layers subsequently.   Certainly we would recommend storing the resins somewhere warmer as mixing when cold, the resin traps a massive amount more air compared to when working at 20C.  The difference in viscosity would be noticeable side by side - the resin would trap less air and being a bit thinner, would just go on and wet out a lot nicer than when cold.  

In terms of getting rid of them, ideally you want to sand them out - without cutting into the carbon itself. Obviously this means you may need to recoat with resin to build back up the thickness if you have had to cut quite deep.  

If they turn out to be on the surface and you don't want to sand them all out (due to large quantity for example), sometimes you can get them out fairly quickly by clear coating with lacquer.  A technique that often works is to manually rub some lacquer into the pinholes before spray coating.  This helps fill them in a bit better.  Otherwise what tends to happen is the lacquer sits over the top, then slowly sinks into the pinholes as it cures, leaving dimples everywhere.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant