outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

i bought some 20 dollar plastic/abs ducts from amazon and they're kinda cheapo and flimsy, but the glass ones are pricey, like 100 bucks a piece,
so i used them to make a combat mold, the real glass guys should get a good laugh off this one !

i sprayed it w/ fgci's brushable gelcoat thru a harbor freight 43760 siphon gun @ 55 psi.
i opened up the material valve and had about a 6 inch pattern @ about 12 inches away.
shooting the duct mold was an attempt to get the gun adjusted so i could spray gel on the engine hatch.
it went on wet and built up nice (no runs or sags) but it's a little orange peely (on the hatch).

i have to shoot the transom and dash and figure i either need to get this gun adjusted
better or just buy a gel coat gun.

now that we've all had a good chuckle, i'm looking for some suggestions.
1. to laminate the ducts i'm thinking ripping up some mat about 2 layers worth ?
2. gun adjustments ?
3. or which gun, the cup gun or the 20 ounce hvlp ?
i have to shoot the entire transom and the dash including the interior sides of the fairing so i will probably need to have a lot of gel poured and ready to go
for each project.
appreciate it.

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

i call the process a "quick n dirty mold" . . . . i do it all the time for short run parts. . . . .


1. yep just tear up small pieces of mat and work it up. Couple layers and your good . . . .
2. full auto . . . .
3. cup gun if you have it out for bigger stuff or just brush it on.

use a good release agent, i use Stoner products and the amount of pulls from a single coat is incredible.

https://www.stonermolding.com/

outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

thanks dave,
for shooting the the gel, my fault should have been more specific,
on the transom dash and fairing should i get the cup gun or the hvlp ?
not really sure the hf gun is up to the task or if shooting gel normally leaves an orange peel
i already know i'm effin it all up and figure a better tool will help me out

i already got ahead of myself and bought meguires maximum mold release and pva otherwise i'd go w/ what you suggest.
is it essential i use gel while laying it up ?
i was hoping i could pop part off mold and gel it later
thank you

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

i use Meguires and PVA as well. I would definitely gel the mold and most likely with the gun cup or brush. You will have a tough time getting all the fine air bubbles out at the surface if you tried to just lay mat in by itself. The HF gun is good for small stuff and only with the tip drilled out.

outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

thank you dave.
i'll brush gel on the duct mold, and get a cup gun ordered in the next couple of days so
when i shoot the transom i can have the gel pre poured and go for it.
please tell me the gel doesn't orange peel when shot out of the cup gun,
sanded 2 days on the hatch and just got it down to 1000 about 1/2 hr before sunset tonight. what a mother !

thanks again

dvr4hire

Outonsafari, I just went through this orange peel gel coat issue and I too was using the HF HVLP gun with the tip drilled. I talked to glass Dave multiple times and got tons of great info. What I learned is that when you spray gel onto a surface instead of into a mold it WILL be orange peeled NO MATTER WHAT! I tryed all types of patch aid, styrene thinner and high gloss and for what its worth none of them made a huge differance. Best batch I shot was unwaxed gel thinned slightly with both styrene and patch aid added to help it cure. I also shop PVA over it after spraying and it cured hard as a rock. had to sand dry to 320, wet 600, 800, 1200, 1500 then cut and wax. Its tons of work, no way around it. hope this helps

outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

wonderful ! more sanding
dave helped me quite a bit as well plus all his threads / posts got me here,
fiberglass coatings walked me thru shooting the gel, it took some time, all my fault.
problem is i have no idea so i'm like i just wanna shoot gel what do i need and how do i wrap it up,
and after i get an answer, i respond by saying i don't have a clue what your talking about
so the tech started right after sand with 80 grit then ---------------------------,then -------------------------------------,
then---------ok thats where i'm at what do i need from this point and how do i do it
so i have a new gun, materials and instructions, great customer service there.
gonna test fire today on scrap ply as the temp rises and if i can get the gun adjusted happy
i'll start goin for it.

here is the hatch after sanding

outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

so the plastic ducts that got all the work and thought they where good to go, i totally screwed up.
forgot to put the pva on after the parting wax, jinkied up the time schedule and the whole thing was a mess
that got sawzall'd up and thrown out.

just to be clear, i would rather make something than buy it but since i am not a body / glass / mold / gel guy,
the whole thing is a wag !

any body that can offer input it would be greatly appreciated.
the step by step as to how i did it is in the hopes someone will chime in and straighten me out,
not to say how it's supposed to be done.



last act of desperation



side project along the way, several failed fill sand and fair attempts. i'm terrible working w/ 3m premium for build because it dries so fast



i mixed west 403 microfibers with fgci's brushable gel coat until it was like peanut butter and smeared it on by hand using my fingers to get the radius all around.


sanded down pretty good and a fast thin swipe of the 3m filler it started to look o.k.




this is 16 oz. of regular gel activated @ 2 1/2 percent thru a 2.5 hvlp gun @ 17 psi. material valve wot, pattern turned down to hose.



it'll get another coat w/ patch booster after about 4 hours. then after a few days the plan is to sand only the mold down (not the table) (mask the table) and shoot the rest of the orange tooling gel coat on it, approx 16 oz's



if i screw it up again, then i'll just go buy something and put it on the hatch.

jeff32

outonsafari

iTrader: (4)

^^^, need glass dave to make & install them then touch up and buff the whole boat
can't quite get it all the way there by myself