I have a metallic wrap that remains a bit tacky after 2 days of finish applied to it while my nylon wraps are nice and smooth. Is
There anything special that I'm suppose to do for metallic wraps? I've applied a second coat to all my wraps again and there's the same issue with the one metallic wrap.

Also, for situations such as this, do I add a second coat to eliminate tacky finishes or is there something I should do before re-coating to get a nice finish?

Thanks again!

If the epoxy was all from the same batch it isn't likely to be the fault of the epoxy, or the epoxier (you). I'm not aware of anything that would cause that but I have no idea what the make up of your metallic thread is. In the future you might try sealing it with color preserver and seeing if that takes care of the problem for you. If so, then there is indeed something in or on the thread that is causing the epoxy some sort of problem.

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you neaver said what temp you are at, it can cause problems , but from what you have said I would say the mix was not mesured correctly ,# 1 get it warm "" not HOT "" an see if that helps ,
#2 you might mix up a new coet an put it on top to see if that will help , use heat first just put in the sun for a few hours it should help a lot , SID

William Sidney
AK

you neaver said what temp you are at, it can cause problems , but from what you have said I would say the mix was not mesured correctly ,# 1 get it warm "" not HOT "" an see if that helps ,
#2 you might mix up a new coet an put it on top to see if that will help , use heat first just put in the sun for a few hours it should help a lot , SID

William Sidney
AK

you neaver said what temp you are at, it can cause problems , but from what you have said I would say the mix was not mesured correctly ,# 1 get it warm "" not HOT "" an see if that helps ,
#2 you might mix up a new coet an put it on top to see if that will help , use heat first just put in the sun for a few hours it should help a lot , SID

William Sidney
AK

Did you by any chance wash things off with alcohol before applying the finish?
I once had a couple of rods that took forever to cure...
In the end I figured out it was my cleaning everything with alcohol before I applied the finish that was causing the problems.

I know for sure the mix was probably not measured equally of both parts which is probably the beginning of the problem but I did however added a second coat of the same batch and my nylon wraps turned out good (or at least from what I think, me still new to this). So far the metallic wrap is still tacky-ish. I also used a lighter a few times while the rod was spinning.

No cleaning was done prior to the finish coating.

Sid,
For future reference, Go to Davis Instruments and get yourself a digital powder scale. It weighs in grains and grams. It also comes with a 50gr weight to calibrate the scale once in a while. Put your measuring cup on the scale and zero it out then mix 50/50. Pour your resin first then hardner. It's ok to add a tad more hardener but not the other way around. I agree put the rod in the sun for a few days and see what happens, then take it from there.

Dave Loren
East Bay Custom Fly Rods

Oh yeh, I CP every type of thread. Have had no problems.

Epoxy for rod finish is design around volume mix not by weight. If you do insist on using weight you will need to know the specific gravity of each component to figure out the weight for each. You will not be using the same weight because each component has a different density.

Chester

May your line be tight and your beverages be cold!

Additional hardener is the #1 cause of tacky finish. Measure by volume not by weight. They won't be the same.

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You can mix epoxy by weight if you wish.
However, if the epoxy has been designed to be mixed by volume, you will need to figure out the correct ratio to use, when mixing by weight.

You can either figure it out for your self, or you can contact the manufacture for the information.

Good luck

I alwas use syringes to measure epoxy to esure the right volume. and yes. both have different specific gravities so measuring weight is not good. In epoxy the ruke has always been from me, in a number of ventures such as Taxidermy, more hardener will yellow.

why play around stay by volum as the MFG. has stated , all of the MFG. say use volum I just stay that way you can get syn, cheep an keep for a long time don't mix them up
drill a hole in the top of bottle a little smaller than than the tip of the syn. leave the syn. in the bottle . as I am a small builder I have left it in for over 1 year an no problems

William Sidney
AK

why play around stay by volum as the MFG. has stated , all of the MFG. say use volum I just stay that way you can get syn, cheep an keep for a long time don't mix them up
drill a hole in the top of bottle a little smaller than than the tip of the syn. leave the syn. in the bottle . as I am a small builder I have left it in for over 1 year an no problems

William Sidney
AK

'Sid --- you wrote "I also used a lighter a few times while the rod was spinning." Personally I think this is a "bad plan" - especially if you held the lighter under the wraps or close to the wraps. I've found it far better to warm both components in a warm/hot water bath to get them "runny" and to speed the cure of the epoxy some.

Ken,
Read and understand your post.

However, I use gentle heat on every guide and butt wrap that I coat.

I use the gentle heat from the heat gun to thin the finish, let it flow and really penetrate the thread and migrate into the tunnel.

It works very well, as long as one uses only "gentle" heat.

Be safe

If you go past "gentle heat" you will get a wavy epoxy surface that will take sanding and a couple more coats to fix. My take on it is use just a "flash" of heat to break the bubbles, but no more.

Roger
Exactly why I do not like open flame. When needed I use a crafter's embossing gun (low heat / low airflow). It's too hard with an open flame to explain in words what is "warm" and what is "too hot"

Ken,
As do I.

i.e. I use an electric heat gun that allows for very good heat regulation.

Be safe