Re: Plastic smoothing
Someone was asking about glass weight. I'd recommend 6 oz where you need
abrasion resistance. If weight is critical, then 1 0z glass where you
only need to stop checking. At least I've had good results with it.
However, it is a bit more of a pain to apply. The plastic trick might be
helpful here, I don't know. The light stuff does have a tendency to
wrinkle up, especially if you goop up the wood before applying the
cloth. I got mine from Defender. (I think that's www.defenderus.com, but
I won't guarantee it)
If I was doing the plastic trick I think I wouldn't try to cheap out but
would get some polyethylene sheet that was pretty thick, I'd guess at
least .020". I've got some that is .030" and at that thickness you can
have it pretty much perfect. Some of it comes textured on one side but I
don't know if it's enough texture to hold paint. Stiffer materials like
mylar could be thinner with same results. If I needed to hold paint I
might try peel ply or aircraft dacron but I think it might be more
uneven than the thick polyethylene because it is more flexible. All of
these things probably work better if you can glass while the surface is
flat and horizontal. If you put strong tape under the 1 oz stuff to keep
panel edges clear you can probably rip away the overlap when removing
the tape later.
Sanding the results ought to be a lot easier than normal glass because
you don't have to cut off high spots to scuff low spots.
I think if you saturate the cloth like you normally would than the
plastic will cause some of it to run out, but you haven't used more than
you otherwise would have.
BTW, when scaping, it's probably easier if done relatively soon. Sanding
should be done after as much curing as possible because the fresher it
is the more it goops up the sandpaper, especially if you stay in one
spot too long and heat it up. Maybe some postcuring at somewhat elevated
temperatures would help here. I really don't like sanding epoxy that
hasn't set for maybe a week.
Further idea: if you're blowing air into a Haz Mat suit, it might be a
good idea to use either a NEW shop vac or some other kind of blower. A
used shop vac is guaranteed to spew noxious stuff. But sounds like a
great idea.
abrasion resistance. If weight is critical, then 1 0z glass where you
only need to stop checking. At least I've had good results with it.
However, it is a bit more of a pain to apply. The plastic trick might be
helpful here, I don't know. The light stuff does have a tendency to
wrinkle up, especially if you goop up the wood before applying the
cloth. I got mine from Defender. (I think that's www.defenderus.com, but
I won't guarantee it)
If I was doing the plastic trick I think I wouldn't try to cheap out but
would get some polyethylene sheet that was pretty thick, I'd guess at
least .020". I've got some that is .030" and at that thickness you can
have it pretty much perfect. Some of it comes textured on one side but I
don't know if it's enough texture to hold paint. Stiffer materials like
mylar could be thinner with same results. If I needed to hold paint I
might try peel ply or aircraft dacron but I think it might be more
uneven than the thick polyethylene because it is more flexible. All of
these things probably work better if you can glass while the surface is
flat and horizontal. If you put strong tape under the 1 oz stuff to keep
panel edges clear you can probably rip away the overlap when removing
the tape later.
Sanding the results ought to be a lot easier than normal glass because
you don't have to cut off high spots to scuff low spots.
I think if you saturate the cloth like you normally would than the
plastic will cause some of it to run out, but you haven't used more than
you otherwise would have.
BTW, when scaping, it's probably easier if done relatively soon. Sanding
should be done after as much curing as possible because the fresher it
is the more it goops up the sandpaper, especially if you stay in one
spot too long and heat it up. Maybe some postcuring at somewhat elevated
temperatures would help here. I really don't like sanding epoxy that
hasn't set for maybe a week.
Further idea: if you're blowing air into a Haz Mat suit, it might be a
good idea to use either a NEW shop vac or some other kind of blower. A
used shop vac is guaranteed to spew noxious stuff. But sounds like a
great idea.