How do you get the bubbles out of the finish..I am using flex coat lite. I am mixing it in a small plastic 2 oz cup with a small paint brush. When mixing it turns foggy but with a lot of bubbles. When applied to rod the bubbles do not come out. Any suggestion? Thanks

Mixing it with a paint brush may be part of you problem. If I had to guess, I would say that the bristles of the brush are introducing the bubbles. I would stir slowly with a spatula (I use a tooth pick, some use drink swizzle sticks) for 3 or 4 minutes then por the finish onto a piece of aluminum foil. This serves 2 purposes. It will extend the pot life of the mix and also as it spreads out, it will allow the bubbles to escape. You can also blow on the finish and watch the bubbles pop.

You might also want to click on the LIBRARY button above and read the article by Rich Forhan on Epoxy finishing

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2005 09:59PM by Mike Barkley.

pour yor epoxy onto a plate covered with aluminum foil (shiny side up), blow your breath (with your mouth open, no pursed lips), onto the epoxy. You'll see the bubbles come to the top and pop right before you eye's. Works very well for me. Ypu can also use a blow hair dryer, but don't get it too close or you'll boil the epoxy and it won't set up.

Bill in WV

Hello Brad
If you search this forum you will find quite a bit written on this subject. Also in the library is a good article by Rich Forhan regarding applying Flexcoat.
The best way to get rid of bubbles is to minimize them during your mixing and applicaton.
tom Kirkman has a good article in a Past Issue of Rodmaker showing how to make a mixer.
Learning how to do this will make you a much happier user of rod building epoxy.
Some basics are:
Room Temperature should be about 70 deg F. You will still have plenty of pot life to work at 70deg. Cool Temperatures are not good.
Mix the epoxy using a flat piece of plastic or metal to stir it with and stir it slowly.
Mix thoughly and this is usually about 2 +minutes
Pour the mixed epoxy onto a clean surface so that it can spead out. Many use a piece of aluminum foil- I like to use clean plastic Yogurt caps or ?
Let the epoxy rest and to help any bubbles disipate breath onto the surface or use a straw and gently blow exhaled breath (which is rich in CO2).
You will see the bubbles disipate rather quickly doing this.
Apply the epoxy such that it flows off the applicator onto the threads. I like to use a spatula, some use a brush as a spatula. The important thing is to not paint it on as this will make many bubbles.
If you use flex coat you can use heat to burst bubbles and this works quite well with flex coat and some other epoxies. I use U40 LS Supreme and/or LS High Build and it does not need heat to disipate any bubbles formed by small amounts of air coming out of the windings, in fact heat is not recommended for LS Supreme as it has a low boiling point. This is a danger for all epoxies so go easy learning how much heat you can apply.
Very important for flex coat lite is to apply a thin first coat just enough to thourghly wet and cover the winding thread.

And last but not least is to practice on some windings on a scrap piece of blank. Remember you have put allot of time and $ in building the rod so spending a few $ practicing and developing your finish technique is a good thing.
Hope this all helps
Joe Kassuba

His Rod Shop
Joe Kassuba

Best thing to do is use a first "sealing" coat of finish to seal the thread. This coat must be thin enough to hold no bubbles under surface tension - ie., the finish must not pool up on the surface of the thread to form a shiny coat. Reason: if the coat of finish is not there bubbles will not be trapped.

The next coat can be thicker to build up the finish coat. Immediately after this 2nd coat gently flame the finish using a propane torch. How and when with the torch has been written aboutin previous posts.

Using these two steps I can apply finish that has been mixed into a froth and still not get bubbles. Of course I do not generally do this, but I worry little about bubbles in a freshly mixed batch to begin with. I mix and apply straight out of the cup with no problems.

I do not trust ANY finish to not hold bubbles. Be wary of ALL finishes. Just this past weekend I had a rod whose freshly applied finish that I did not flame, and it wound up with bubbles. (Got distracted applying finish to another rod) Fortunately wrap is mostly silver HT metallic - hard to see the bubbles, but they are there. The finish is I was using is LS supreme, on its own it did very well at holding bubbles. The other rod I I did flame and its finish ame out clear as glass.

Lou

Brad,

If you happen to be coming to Charlotte, stop by the RodMaker booth and see me. I'll show you how to obtain a perfectly bubble free finish without thinning, flaming, etc.

.............

Hi Brad - There could be a lot of complicating problems ie Do you use CP? Metallics? Are You mixing it fast? The guys have given you lots of great suggs. You can also try blowing the bubbles out with a straw or small tube, or lightly touching your finish with the flame from an alcohol lamp. If you continue to have problems please email me so I can give you some more in depth suggestions.

Guys thanks for all the good suggestions. I can see how this site is going to be a great resource to me and my rod building in the future.