I have a question. I’m making my carbon fiber parts using dry cloth then infusion. I’m always having to sand the part out of the mold and apply a surface coat of clear epoxy, sand more, sometimes another epoxy coat, sand more, then clearcoat. The parts are cosmetic.
Can i gel coat the mold prior to infusion with the same epoxy i use to laminate with? Would this help me avoid all the sanding and surface coating after the part is pulled from the mold?
Spray clear gel coat on the tooling before laying up.
yea, go with the clear gelcoat then infuse
why is it that you are not getting a nice shiny surface straight out of the mold?
Does it have bubbles or pitts in the surface?
If there is something going wrong with the infusion then perhaps there still might be imperfections present even if you lay the reinforcements on the gel coat.
You can’t get a glossy finish with infusion unless a surface coat is used.
The fibers are pressed against the tooling surface and give a shiny but semi flat look.
I’d actually like to know where my earlier post reply went to :rolleyes:
I beg to differ, if you polish the mold you should not have to use a surface coat. This part infused and was pulled right out of the mold.
Please keep this on topic. Posts with replica answers will be removed. It was the same as post #2.
I too have had very nice surfaces straight from the mold. You can infact see some fibers that are pressed against the mold but all if would really need for the very shiny look and finishing would be a spray of clear coat. That’s not to say that it has the same depth to it as a gel coated part would though… but the surface should not need sanding.
I’m thinking that if there is somethign that is not being done correctly that is leading to a rough surface despite a nice mold surface that it would be better to solve the issue causing the problem.
How much vacuum are you pulling?
maybe it’s just my infusion work that needs work on. Come to think of it these parts infused too slow and not enough vacuum inside the bag… the resin was moving really slow so i lifted the bag some and forced the resin to infuse the part. :o
I need some spiral wrap bad. I don’t have any luck unless i use sprial wrap, even on small parts. Plus i use stretchlon and that sucks down into the green flow medium possibly slowing the flow of resin. But other bag materials i have seen suck because they are like mylar almost… no flex or stretch to them. My parts always come out with pits and pin holes, tiny air bubbles on the edges of the parts. usually those pits, and bubbles are right on a bend line or on the outer edges of the part. P’s me off. :mad:
the problem is that your using green flow medium, that stuff sucks, I have never got a good surface with it. the resin always flows to quick and the laminate tends to have a low RC of 30% vs 40% with the red. my suggestion is switch to the red and get some stretch bag 2000 from Northern and youll be mint
Good call. I noticed a few of my infusions looked a little dry. Always used green.
“get some stretch bag 2000”
Does that bag stretch as much as Stetchlon 800? Does Northern FG supply sell it by the yard so I don’t have to buy a half or full roll?
Got some i can buy off you? I can get the red flow medium or enkafusion.
CarbonJoe, what flow medium and bag material are you using for infusion?
it has some stretch to it but not enough to go in to the red flow medium cells. best thing about the bag is that its very tuff and doesnt get leaks often. northern will only sell it by the roll. i might be able to get a little to send to you
I use the red flow medium and Richmond green HS-8171 bag.
My response, was just saying to use DURATEC CLEAR TOPCOAT, it is a little different from actual polyester GELCOAT.
Even though post #3 IS the same response, it is not mine anymore.
Honestly, not that impressed with the response here seeing as I am a contributing member.
[QUOTE=CompactDivisions;18276]My response, was just saying to use DURATEC CLEAR TOPCOAT, it is a little different from actual polyester GELCOAT.
im looking at doin the same but in a wet layup and vacbag, so your saying spray the mold with duratec clear topcoat let dry then lay up epoxy and vac down? Can you do the same with a epoxy primer coat as well?
no don;t spray epoxy!!