Hi everyone, Sorry for my long first post but I've tried to include all the relevant information. I'm making a fibreglass mudguard for my bike. I'm currently creating the plug that will be used to make a mold. Once I have the mold I will be using standard laminating techniques and polyester gel coat for the finished surface of the items coming out of the mold which I have no problem with.
I've gotten the plug to a reasonably finished state and given it a coat of primer from a tin. This showed up quite a few imperfections in the surface. I decided I needed a high build primer that would give me some thickness that I could sand back to a perfect finish before finishing with some sort of gloss coat. As the tins are quite expensive and I've been after a compressor for tyres/blowing filters etc for a while, I decided to invest in one yesterday. It's a Wolf Sioux 50 litre, 2.5hp, 9.5cfm, gravity feed spray gun with 1.5mm tip.
After a little research though, I'm totally confused as to which paint(s)/(varnish/coatings!) to use. Basically I want the cheapest/easiest stuff that I can use with the above equipment, that will allow me to build up, sand/polish smooth, and get a gloss finish. It doesn't have to be uv stable, mechanically tough or last longer than a week and I don't care what colour it is. All that matters is to get a gloss finish as this will create the surface of the mold. The surface of the plug will be waxed and then covered with an epoxy tooling resin to create the mold after which the plug will be thrown away.
I really like the sound of water based (acrylic?) paints for lots of reasons. This is probably a very naive question but what would stop me using cheap screwfix acrylic primer to build a few layers and then finishing with some gloss spray cans that I have left over?....or do I have to enter the mysterious (to me) realm of 1k, cellulose, synthetic, laquer, clear coat???
Thanks in advance for any help.
I've gotten the plug to a reasonably finished state and given it a coat of primer from a tin. This showed up quite a few imperfections in the surface. I decided I needed a high build primer that would give me some thickness that I could sand back to a perfect finish before finishing with some sort of gloss coat. As the tins are quite expensive and I've been after a compressor for tyres/blowing filters etc for a while, I decided to invest in one yesterday. It's a Wolf Sioux 50 litre, 2.5hp, 9.5cfm, gravity feed spray gun with 1.5mm tip.
After a little research though, I'm totally confused as to which paint(s)/(varnish/coatings!) to use. Basically I want the cheapest/easiest stuff that I can use with the above equipment, that will allow me to build up, sand/polish smooth, and get a gloss finish. It doesn't have to be uv stable, mechanically tough or last longer than a week and I don't care what colour it is. All that matters is to get a gloss finish as this will create the surface of the mold. The surface of the plug will be waxed and then covered with an epoxy tooling resin to create the mold after which the plug will be thrown away.
I really like the sound of water based (acrylic?) paints for lots of reasons. This is probably a very naive question but what would stop me using cheap screwfix acrylic primer to build a few layers and then finishing with some gloss spray cans that I have left over?....or do I have to enter the mysterious (to me) realm of 1k, cellulose, synthetic, laquer, clear coat???
Thanks in advance for any help.