Best Way to Lay Resin on CSM?

[76SeaRay]

I did my first layup of some CSM on the bottom side of a couple of small deck boards. I wetted out the plywood with resin and then laid the CSM on top. I patted it down on the wet plywood and then tried to brush resin on the top. Found out real quick that brushing doesn't work. I finished them by "dabbing" resin onto the CSM until clear. So, what is the better way to apply the resin since the deck is a large area and simply dabbing the resin will take forever? Is there a roller that works better? I do have the metal rollers. Thanks...

 

[Scott Danforth]

the metal rollers are for knocking down air bubbles.

I pour and use a bondo squeegee

Have you watched Frisco's videos?

 

[JASinIL2006]

I poured it on the CSM and used a mini paint roller to spread it. I never found anything that worked wonderfully... everything seemed to catch CSM fibers. The little paint rollers worked best for me, though.

 

[todhunter]

I also am a fan of pouring the resin on directly and using a 4" mini paint roller to spread the resin and push it into the glass. Wrap the plastic part of your paint roller handle in blue painter's tape. The metal part you can clean with acetone but the acetone will melt the plastic handle. I leave my handle taped up and replace the tape every few months when it gets really gross.

For working glass into fillets and around curves I like a 2" chip brush with the bristles cut straight across about 1-1.5" long, and yes...I almost exclusively "dab" with the brush...I don't really use brush strokes.

 

[froggy1150]

You can get full sized epoxy paint rollers from lows or depot. I think they are purple but they are for resins. Those and the cheap 12" black plastic spreaders. I did try making a pvc roller out of 11/2 schedule 40 if i remember the size right.... it had a id the same size as a paint roller. Kinda worked but had a tendency to slide instead of roll. But after resin was spread i had to bubble bust with my metal rollers

 

[KJM]

I found late into my project, that those small rollers tend to cause the resin to get foamy and force tiny bubbles into the csm or other glass cloth. Thats what I used and I would leave a piece for the night thinking it looked good and find in the morning that it looked less transparent due to all the tiny bubbles coming together. I found pouring small amounts and working it and chipping it worked best even if a little slower. I never could get much satisfaction from those metal rollers and I had 2. But that was probably something I was doing wrong.

 

[JASinIL2006]

When I had trouble with those bubbles, it was usually because I didn't wet the surface thoroughly before laying down the CSM. Especially over bare wood.

 

[tpenfield]

I usually lay CSM on resin rather than resin on CSM . . .

 

[76SeaRay]

Thanks all for the info. Yes, I have watched FriscoBoater's entire series. I will give the squeegee a try and check out the epoxy rollers.