can't get rid of epoxy microbubbles

Submitted by Nancy N - Sat, 11/2/24 » 2:25 PM

Hi,

Maybe someone can provide some insight: I am at the point of "coating" my Eastport Nesting Pram with "2 or 3 coats of unthickened epoxy." A a plan to test out the means of applying the epoxy, I decided to do the seats first.  Well, no matter what I've tried, I cannot seem to apply the epoxy without ending up with a rough surface, due to, what I believe are sometimes called "microbubbles." They are barely apparent when the epoxy is in the cup, but I believe they are still there (a magnifying glass might help). At the same time, I also believe the act of applying the epoxy (with various kinds of rollers, mostly,  introduces more bubbles.

I have tried:
1. Warming the epoxy, both mixed and each part separately, by placing cups (bottoms of) in warm water.
2. Making sure the room temp is 74/75 degrees F.
3. Tipping with foam brush. Tipping with bristle brush. (no difference)
4. Gray foam rollers as sold to me by CLC. (I think these introduced more bubbles.)
5. 1/4" nap rollers
6. Smearing on, by hand with a non-linting cloth, an extremely thin coating of epoxy first. This was when I thought the wood might have been outgassing for the first coat. It might have worked for that, but further coats had bubbles.
 

I have called CLC tech support numerous times to get advice (Liam and Terry now know to expect my calls)!  In the end, Liam says I just have to sand them out.

Sanding them out creates more issues. Basically bumpy or "orange-peel like" surface with shiny spots surrounding where the bubble-induced bump used to be. If I sand any more, I will sand off all of the epoxy that I just applied (and cured).

Help! :)  Is this standard, and it will happen on the entire boat?  I've spent over a month on these darn seats, all supposed to be a "quick" experiment.

Thanks in advance!


11 replies:

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RE: can't get rid of epoxy microbubbles

 » Submitted by Nancy N - Sat, 11/2/24 » 2:26 PM

   Oh I forgot:

Also tried using a heat gun on the just laid-on epoxy, which lots of web sites say to use to pop the bubbles. Didn't work.

RE: can't get rid of epoxy microbubbles

 » Submitted by Laszlo - Sat, 11/2/24 » 5:45 PM

Have you tried foam rollers, which will introduce bubbles galore, but then tipping the surface with a dry foam brush? The bubbles from the foam rollers seem to be of the correct size for the foam brushes to get rid of, at least for me. When I do this I find it very important to make the epoxy coat as thin as possible. I usually go for 5 - 7 very thin coats instead of 2 - 3 thicker ones. That also minimizes runs and subsequent sanding. Any chance of some pictures?

Laszlo

 

 

RE: can't get rid of epoxy microbubbles

 » Submitted by Nancy N - Tue, 11/5/24 » 7:30 PM

Hi Laszlo,
Yes I tried that. I tried very thin coats also - same problem. I have some photos but cannot figure out how to upload them here.  It seems you have to provide a link to them, i.e. posted elsewhere like on your Google drive? 

RE: can't get rid of epoxy microbubbles

 » Submitted by Nancy N - Tue, 11/5/24 » 7:39 PM

   Oh sorry, ignore my last remark in the previous post. Here are some photos. Note that while I show only a small area, the bubbles are all pervasive over the surface, but I couldn't get the camera focused plus the lighting to show a wider area than what is circled in each pic. Also these were taken, I believe, after only one coat - I've since tried to do more, with different techniques as I mentioned in the first post, but it still comes out with bubbles.