Hey guys,
I think I may have gotten to the root of the evil. (Part of it anyway). I sanded the grips back to the carbon. Then I added another coat of the aero marine epoxy. I let it rest for 10 min after mixing for 6 min. It didn’t thicken up a lot but I put it on anyway - then MAJOR tiny air bubbles! I heated it but they seemed to keep coming. So, I left that one (foregrip) to turn under my drying tent. I mixed a batch of my threadmaster (my thread epoxy of choice) and put it on the butt grip. I saw some air bubbles but not as many. The thicker viscosity seemed to cover the small bubbles much better. So, I heated this grip, cleaned the dust particles with my tweezers, and put it under the tent!
Moving forward with the next set of grips I plan to:

1. Put a seal coat on the the foam core
2. Pay more attention to the grip after the wet layup
3. Give the the aeromarine more time thicken before application
4. Probably will switch to the west system 105 with the 207 hardener

As Capt. Mike said on his video AIR BUBBLES ARE DEATH!

The only thing I can’t explain is the discoloration (leopard like swirls) in the epoxy as I sanded it back to the carbon.
Anyone have any ideas? Or more suggestion?
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Jon Hood

Once you have sanded it close to the carbon fiber and there are no craters or low spots, you've got what you want.

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I've only built one foam core carbon fiber grip. I used the CFX kit available from Mudhole to build it. Before building it I watched and followed the procedure outline in a video I watched on YouTube. Go to Youtube and type in "Carbon Fiber Composite Grip Seminar"

The first one at the top of the page should be a video by Capt. Mike Pederson of Riley Rods. It's a great video and will really tune you in on making carbon fiber grips