Clear Coat finish....fighting pinholes

[onlinedime]

Trying to get a nice finish with no pin holes. I have been clear coating trying to fill them but it has become labor intensive..

This will be mainly wet layup and some pre preg work.
For the prepreg I tested film adhesive which seemed to work as a base coat however it seems the film adhesive has small fibers in it that are white and stand out on carbon to much.

For the wet layups I have heard of gel coats as a surface coat which work good but havn't tested or researched yet. Has anyone used a gel coat before for the base? Is there a big difference from just brushing on epoxy and allowing to tach prior to layup?

Thanks,
John

 

[Lflex]

John,

I design and fab medical tables, I had the same problem with pin holes and small areas of no flows. Look at your tooling. I had most of my problems with the tooling surface. Check for resin build up, pits, cracking of the tool surface if composite, and clean all release residue. Check your methods to ensure release agents are dry before place material on tooling.

From the people I talked to, this is an industry problem. See Advanced Composites website for more info at

http://www.advanced-composites.com.

Northern Fiber Glass Sales, Inc. at

http://www.nfgsales.com.

Call Richard Hewett at 603-926-1910. He is very resourceful.

Larry