There are a lot of issues here that can effect the epoxy and most of them have been pointed out in some previous posts and all the statements are true.
The first problem is the epoxy is thicker then most standard epoxies out their and like any problem, mils can be a contributing factor along with flash times, temperature, humidity, and right down to the gun and tip size being used.
One thing I will not do, is lower the viscosity of the epoxy as mils are also very important with an epoxy for corrosion protection and adhesion but I have also known as SPI has grown in the Do-It-Yourself and and learning applicators for some time now, that I need to do something and I have been working on solvent blends for the last year, on in off, to see if we can make this more forgiving.
All my testing of recent have shown, I have found an answer, so what I did on the last batch about three weeks ago is did a 50% solvent change of what I really wanted to do and watching that batch, I think we have it. Next batch we started to make of activator Friday and will be finished about Wednesday will have the 100% change and should really make this epoxy even more bullet or child proof.
To sum it up, the evaporation rate is changing less then 1%, so no noticeable change there in the application.
Other change you may notice, is in a first coat wet application, any surface contamination or bad air gun adjustment, should not have as a drastic effect on the smoothness and less likely to see a creator or popping issue. Could still happen but it will really need to be abused.
Also the curing over night is much better, even with four wet coats with no flash time, at 72 degrees constant.
Nothing else changes at all.
The first problem is the epoxy is thicker then most standard epoxies out their and like any problem, mils can be a contributing factor along with flash times, temperature, humidity, and right down to the gun and tip size being used.
One thing I will not do, is lower the viscosity of the epoxy as mils are also very important with an epoxy for corrosion protection and adhesion but I have also known as SPI has grown in the Do-It-Yourself and and learning applicators for some time now, that I need to do something and I have been working on solvent blends for the last year, on in off, to see if we can make this more forgiving.
All my testing of recent have shown, I have found an answer, so what I did on the last batch about three weeks ago is did a 50% solvent change of what I really wanted to do and watching that batch, I think we have it. Next batch we started to make of activator Friday and will be finished about Wednesday will have the 100% change and should really make this epoxy even more bullet or child proof.
To sum it up, the evaporation rate is changing less then 1%, so no noticeable change there in the application.
Other change you may notice, is in a first coat wet application, any surface contamination or bad air gun adjustment, should not have as a drastic effect on the smoothness and less likely to see a creator or popping issue. Could still happen but it will really need to be abused.
Also the curing over night is much better, even with four wet coats with no flash time, at 72 degrees constant.
Nothing else changes at all.
