Solarez Fingerprint?

[MMP Custom Lures]

Hey everybody,

I decided to start using solarez low-voc dual cure for clear coating and I noticed that even after an hour of curing under a powerful UV nail curing light that you can still smudge the finish with your finger. One thing that maybe causing it is that I haven't been stirring it too well before applying. Could too thick of a coat also cause this?

Thanks for your help.

[BobP]

When I tried it, Solarez always cured hard within 5 minutes.  But the end product isn’t always a slick hard dry surface because a small part of the Solarez resin can end up as a liquid on the surface of the coating.  I think if you wipe the coating with some alcohol it will resemble what you’re looking for more closely.

[MMP Custom Lures]

Ok, thanks Bob. I will try that later today after I finish painting.

[MMP Custom Lures]

I tried it a few times, but to no success. Most of the time it stopped fingerprints from showing, but it also made the surface more satin than gloss. Any other suggestions? Maybe I should try denatured alcohol. It's starting to get on my nerves, although it's probably a result of something I am doing wrong.

Thank you.

[fish pirate]

The type of Solarez your using has a waxing type agent that comes to the surface during curing to help in curing and never goes away unfortunately.

[MMP Custom Lures]

On 2/26/2021 at 7:04 PM, fish pirate said:

The type of Solarez your using has a waxing type agent that comes to the surface during curing to help in curing and never goes away unfortunately.

After about 2 weeks of air drying fingerprints won't stick to the lure, so I wouldn't say never goes away. Bob's idea with the alcohol worked when I tried it again, last time I had sprayed on 70% so it was uneven and resulted in a rough surface. This time I tried cutting the alcohol by 20% with water and applying with a microfiber towel, resulting in a glossy finish. It seems very hit and miss with the amount of fingerprints, actually stirring the resin helped and so did using a lure turner instead of dipping. I will post an image as soon as possible.

[BobP]

Solarez is intended for surf board finishing.  The wax flakes it contains and the white blush that it develops doesn’t matter much on a large white surf board, but it does matter to many lure finishers.  I couldn’t use it for that reason and defaulted to using it as a quick strong waterproof undercoating, for which it was excellent.  My quart of Solarez eventually hardened and was thrown away.  Jmho, if you want a uv resin that hardens to a clear coating, you want a “doming” uv resin.  The only two I know of are Alumi-uv and inexpensive Chinese casting uv resins sold on Amazon, etc.  alumi-uv has excellent reputation, but it is rather expensive.  The cheaper Chinese stuff works ok but the bottle I have takes longer (30 minutes) to cure under my uv nail light.  I’ll try sunlight on my next batch of lures to see if that works better, since sunlight has all wavelengths of uv while uv lamps don’t.

[MMP Custom Lures]

It does seem Solarez is a bit finicky, but Alumi-uv is more than I can afford. Maybe I should give D2T a try. For now solarez works and I just wipe the top coat with alcohol. I don't suppose anyone here has used the KBS spray on stuff? At this point if I could find a thin, quick drying top layer to put over the solarez I woukd be content with it. Normal rattle can clear coat melts on contact with soft plastics (I learned that the hard way), but I wonder if automobile touch-up cans are different. 

Best regards,

MMP