How do you feel about Duratech’s new top coat? 904-040 or 046 I believe. I have problems with fish eyes over pva, I’ll try mist coating.
I personally have never tried it.
Those who know…
if you place the IMC clear coat and lay the reinforcement and infuse before the clearcoat fully cures you should get a chemical bond, no? this should prevent the delamination of the clear coat right?
… please comment.
thanks
It all depends on the IMC and the resin. I often did the layup days after the clear-coat was applied and never had a bonding problem. You will have to experiment with the options available to you to see what works.
Wow, I didn’t know this was so popular. I’ve always done it this way and thought I was just too cheap to spring for gelcoat! Never with clear, though. I coat the mold with ease release 200 from Smooth-On, let dry, then a few coats of Rustoleum gloss protective enamel, and then my layup. Not a class A finish by any stretch, but glossy and tight. So durable I can purposely try to scratch it and can’t even mark it. You’d have to be hellbent on digging into the surface with a screwdriver to mark it up. It’s as if it actually becomes 1 with the layup. Not just a coating. Try it, it’s amazing.
how does it hold up to UV?
I use Duratechs high gloss top coat - 046 then send the parts out to clear coat. Sometimes I’ll clear my self and the duratech works very well as far as print through and adhesion goes.
It’s Rustoleum. It holds up great. It’s an exterior paint that’s really for metal but works on everything.
Question about the semi-permanents. When you say, “The first coat into the mold must be a very light mist coat. I do this by just barely opening the product release stop on the spray gun. This allows for a very controlled first application. This first mist coat must set before you can progress…”, are you talking about the first part? I thought the reason for semi-permanent release is that you only need to use it again after 3 or 4 parts. Do you use semi-perm release every time when laying down paint?
Thanks!
I’m talking about spraying the IMC. Semi-perms will cause paints and and clears to fisheye. You get around this problem by spraying the first coat of IMC very lightly into the mold and letting it set-up. Once it sets-up you can follow with a heavier coats. This problem will happen regardless of the number of cycles you can get with a single application of release.
You will need to test how cycles you can get with your IMC and chosen resin. In many instances I apply a fresh wipe of Frekote every cycle.
Gotcha. Thanks!
Hey guys, I’m new here and I’ve done some reading and it sounds like you guys are having good success using the Duratech clear coat as an in-mold coating. The only IMC I have used before is from HP textiles, as I learned the infusion process in Germany and that’s where that IMC is produced. I’m having a very hard time finding a similar product in North America and I’m having problems trying to get that IMC shipped over here. I’m trying to find a high quality IMC for visual carbon with infusion. The Duratech high gloss clear coat has been working great for you guys?
Apparently the HP Textiles IMC is a modified 2 part polyurethane clear coat, is anyone using something similar?
Any 2k (2 part) urethane is good enough from my experience. You can just use an automotive grade clear coat that has good UV protection properties
Has anyone tried IMC with a PE resin with success? I’m still using orthotholic infusion resin… I’ve tried US composites 635 thin epoxy with the medium hardener and it doesnt seem to be as strong as the PE resin… Any recommendations for a cost effective epoxy that will work well for production runs? each part requires a quart of resin so I will need something that works well but cost efficient for a 5 gallon bucket
I use Frekote 770 and have lately been tying to figure out IMC since post clear coating sucks.
Ive had the same problem as described earlier-the Frekote repels the IMC.
Ive tried mist coats and waiting 2 minuites in between coats to buils up layers.
Problem is even when catalyzed at the lowest %, the Duratec clear gelcoat with high gloss additive kicks off before I can put a 3rd coat on and it sets up in my gun, ruining it.
Is this still a problem with 2K automotive clears and the German Composite clear?
So does automotive clear with UV protection literally work the same as IMC specific products?
Ive spent alot of money and havent found an answer to an IMC yet.
Thanks guys
Mix smaller batches until you get a feel for it. When I started, I used to mix a first batch of 50ml, and then however many batches of 100-200ml depending on how big the job was. Try to anticipate how much material you will use for each wet coat (you will likely waste some material until you have it worked out). Have them all ready to go so you can just catalyse and spray. Spray the mist coats with the 50ml batch. Then spray 100ml of acetone through the gun, and check the coating (always spray some onto your flanges so you can do a touch test). Wait for it to set up to a stage where it is very tacky, but you still get a little bit on your finger. From here you should be able to spray your wet coats, and leave them to set up the same as before.
yes, 2 mins is not long enough. As Hanaldo says; mix small batch just enough to mist coat, wait until becomes very tacky (maybe 15-20mins). Then you should be able to do a full coat. In some cases, fresh moulds you need to do a couple mist coats before you can apply full coat.
Are you guys referring to Duratec top coat or automotive clear coat or German Advanced Composites IMC or clear gelcoat with duratec hi-gloss additive?
Duratec.
That said, I don’t see why the same techniques would not work with any coating. All you are doing is letting the first couple of mist coats set up to give the wet coats something to adhere to so it doesn’t bead up. The only thing you may need to play around with is the flash time, but I would think that at 20 degrees most coatings would flash inside 15 minutes.
What is a good matte or low gloss alternative (or additive) for a IMC?