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Advice on use of Epoxy Resin
Hi all, first time poster here, looking for some advice on avoiding the dreaded bubbles in Epoxy Resin.
I am making a small table. The top is a piece of plywood onto which I am gluing some small wooden shapes (the shapes are 2.5mm depth). Some of the shapes butt up against each other but many are separate with gaps of up 10mm between pieces. The plan is to completely cover with 4-5mm of epoxy resin.
After I had glued all the pieces, I tried to seal the top by applying two coats of PVA glue(1 part PVA mixed with 1 part water). When I then applied the epoxy resin, bubbles started appearing in many places, which I then started to remove with a heat gun. As quickly as they disappeared more started to appear and it seemed that the more heat I applied the worse it got. After about 60 mins, still with lots of bubbles, the epoxy started to harden, leaving me with a completely bubble infested table top. I'm guessing that as I applied the heat, the trapped air just expanded hence producing more bubbles.
My questions are:
1. Is there anything else I can do before applying the epoxy so the bubbles don't appear in the first place? I have wondered about applying say a quarter of the epoxy as a seal coat, but won't the same problem happen?
2. Is there a length of time I should wait until I start applying the heat gun to the bubbles? i.e. wait until it starts to harden
Thanks
John
I am making a small table. The top is a piece of plywood onto which I am gluing some small wooden shapes (the shapes are 2.5mm depth). Some of the shapes butt up against each other but many are separate with gaps of up 10mm between pieces. The plan is to completely cover with 4-5mm of epoxy resin.
After I had glued all the pieces, I tried to seal the top by applying two coats of PVA glue(1 part PVA mixed with 1 part water). When I then applied the epoxy resin, bubbles started appearing in many places, which I then started to remove with a heat gun. As quickly as they disappeared more started to appear and it seemed that the more heat I applied the worse it got. After about 60 mins, still with lots of bubbles, the epoxy started to harden, leaving me with a completely bubble infested table top. I'm guessing that as I applied the heat, the trapped air just expanded hence producing more bubbles.
My questions are:
1. Is there anything else I can do before applying the epoxy so the bubbles don't appear in the first place? I have wondered about applying say a quarter of the epoxy as a seal coat, but won't the same problem happen?
2. Is there a length of time I should wait until I start applying the heat gun to the bubbles? i.e. wait until it starts to harden
Thanks
John
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