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ever use a roller?

coolchange

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Building cowls (windshield) for my bass boat. Made plug from the 1 good plexi cowl and have it waxed and ready to pull the mold.
Whats your thoughts on using a roller to gel coat over the plug. I was also going to try a HarborFreight gun but it has a 1.8 tip and am worried about flow. Right now I'm just trying to pull my mold so I can put the plug back on the boat. Any recommendations?
 

coolchange

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Also the gel I have is at least a year old. Got it from my brother left over from some of his projects. Black tooling gel. The part I'm making is black, so would I really be better off with orange or white. I only plan on pulling 2 pieces, maybe 3 from this mold. Can I get away with plain gel, Non tooling?.
 

Gelcoater

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Not that it can't be done with a roller but you will have a hard time getting proper mil thickness.
What happens if the mil thickness isn't thick enough you might ask?
When you lay it up it will alligator.

So you might think roll it,let it tack up and roll again.
Gelcoat alligators too if a thin coat is covered by another heavier coat,not to mention if your mekp ratio isn't just right it would alligator anyway.

With a gun you can do a medium coat,follow with another and have a sound,consistent coating.

Good luck!
 

SCBLLC

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I've never used a roller, paint brush yes, even the sponge style. HF stuff is junk, find a cup gun if you want to spend $100.00 + , it will come in handy when building parts as well. If it's just a cheap quick mold your making you could get some neutral base and tint it red, much easier to see black over red. This is a good buy, tips run $20.00 each,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/G100-6-Prof...909?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c87b5b28d
and get some cups, http://www.ebay.com/itm/25pc-1Qt-Pa...0438647652&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr

Guns are slick, it doesn't take much to clean them, and if you're careful with the cup it can be used again, just let any gel kick first and clean of the rim.

When done clean it up and sell it on ebay.
 

coolchange

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So I got a piece out of a mold. Took the long way round, but I'm on the right track.
Splashed the plexi windshield and ruined it pulling the glass. It was stuck and I waxed the shit out of it. Should have used PVA.
So now the mold is solid but rough and has pin holes. And chips. Mix some gel and flo coat it and pull it across with a paddle, filling the voids. Now start sanding, and sanding, and sanding. This was a blessing in disguise because the plug (acrylic) was full of ripple from being vac formed. Now its ready to gel again. My brother had a cup gun and I tries to use it but didn't like the technique. So I found a gun on ebay, new and were being blown out because they don't have flow controls, you have to vary the trigger. 2.5 and shots primer like a big dog. Good enough for small gel jobs. Now shoot gel into the mold thick, and start sanding again. Again a hidden bonus. All the half dollars sized dimples are gone from the original windshield.
Shoot in the black and wait for it to kickoff. Looks good so lay in the first piece of cloth. I figured it would lay down easier on the gel and it did. But now its pulling color out of the Gel. Guess it wasn't dry enough. I look at most stuff like making pancakes, the first one always goes in the trash. So I go ahead and lay it up any way with layers of mat. Don't know exactly what I need thickness wise so I run 4 layers of 1.5. Next is pull from the mold to see if I had enough wax. I tried PVA but didn't like the way it layed down and would make more work on the final piece. Pulled it out without to much trouble. Now there is print through from the glass against the Gel. So I hit it with some 1500 carefully and it looks like it will buff out. Back into the mold (to hold the shape) and I'll get some more resin next week and lay in some more glass. I want these to be strong enough to lean on and hold onto while your getting tossed around in the boat, since they are ass high when mounted.
I've done molds and plugs that get destroyed when you make the part, gas tank, engine cowl, seats, fender. But this is the first gel coated mold, pull multiple parts, Ive done. Looks like my bass boat will be back on the water in a couple weeks. And now that it has cowls again, I can sew up the new cover,:D
 

Gelcoater

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So you made a pink mold.:gayfight


Lol,actually that's genius...unless you plan to make pink parts.
 

coolchange

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Had white gel and black gel and red pigment. Knew I was making black parts, could be making white maybe, but doubted I would make a pink one. :D Thanks again for your help.
 

SCBLLC

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Gel coat has a distinct smell when it's kicked off, almost a cooked smell. You should be able to smell it 30-40- feet away, smells like laminating time. You can put your fingers on it and slide it across with ease, any kind of sticky feeling it isn't ready. You're lucky it didn't just alligator all to hell, but then maybe it would have been better, scrap it and start over.
 
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