[philB]

Originally Posted by redg8r

Yup that's clearly a bubble, my prior issues with epoxy were completely coating a bait & yet encounter a void in the finish before it setup. the void opened the finish all the way down to the paint layer. It seemed to "repel" the topcoat, much like oil repels water.

A bubble that size surely came out of the bait, but how did it do that without lifting or bubbling the paintjob?

Jerry

The air simply came up between the peg on the back of the eye and the wood at exactly the right time to create that monster I had drilled a blow hole for it. Ya live and learn. You can never get rid of the air content in wood, best you can hope for is to seal it in so it cant escape.

[redg8r]

Originally Posted by philB

Jerry

The air simply came up between the peg on the back of the eye and the wood at exactly the right time to create that monster I had drilled a blow hole for it.

Ahaa, makes sense, given the location.

[KcDano]

Red, I think philb, is implying the air migrated out from beneath the eye. Which originated from the hole drilled for the eye post. Which could have possibly been prevented if the hole would have been sealed with epoxy when attaching the eye.


Little late with this post Nice job of explaining yourself Philb

[philB]

BobP

Just as a matter of interest believe it or not I spent a load of cash on a large Sable brush purely for applying epoxy. That produced some of the best finishes to date but I could not say hand on heart if it was better than the chuck aways I use now.

KC.

I does me best mate.

[BobP]

Jerry, I think the bubble came out of a cavity behind the eye. I've had it happen on baits with 3D eyes. My theory - epoxy generates heat while curing, enough that an air pocket behind the eyes expands and Whammo. Generating bubbles under epoxy is one reason I don't heat epoxy finish on wood lures. I waterproof lures before painting and that also suppresses any air expansion in the wood but you never know when or where an air bubble will pop out under the epoxy and give you a headache.

[Vodkaman]

Epoxies are exothermic, they generate heat while they are innitially curing. This is not so obvious on the slow cure epoxies, compared to the 5 minute epoxy. But when using balsa, which holds a very high proportion of air, even a temp rise of a vew degrees, will cause significant air expansion inside the body. This explains why the bubble usually appears when it is too late to fix, because the epoxy has already thickened.

If this theory is true, then one solution would be to coat warm baits, then move to a cooler room to cure. Sorry for theorizing, but it made sense to me.

[Downriver Tackle]

Originally Posted by Vodkaman

Epoxies are exothermic, they generate heat while they are innitially curing. This is not so obvious on the slow cure epoxies, compared to the 5 minute epoxy. But when using balsa, which holds a very high proportion of air, even a temp rise of a vew degrees, will cause significant air expansion inside the body. This explains why the bubble usually appears when it is too late to fix, because the epoxy has already thickened.

If this theory is true, then one solution would be to coat warm baits, then move to a cooler room to cure. Sorry for theorizing, but it made sense to me.

Good point! I mixed up some 5 minute epoxy that's melted poly cups. Hot stuff!

First thing that need to be identified is if it's a fisheye, air bubble, or what happens to my baits when I heated them while curing. Solutions have been posted for all three.

What happened to my baits when I tried heating them to accelerate the cure wasn't a fisheye or air bubble. The clear had BIG low spots that were paper thin and it pooled up thick in other areas. Almost like little hot-spots developed and thinned that areas epoxy out to the point of it flowing again.

[philB]

DT

Mmmm some really good stuff surfacing in this thread. In my early days of epoxy coating I was doing the exact opposite of Vodkamans suggestion and I was coating cool baits then putting them into a cabinet which was heated to turn and cure, this produced some horrendous results, lots of craters and air problems which at the time was confusing to say the least. Maybe the solution is just to keep baits at the same temperature as the air in the room hence neither expanding or contracting ?

It would seem from what I have read so far that stable temperatures are an important factor in successful epoxy coating.

[hazmail]

Phil- although I seal mine right from the start, I also started sealing the acrylic paint on the last 1/2 dozen I made, just before going to US and (by my eyes anyway) they were by far the best and most consistent finishes I ahve done, so far. I sprayed them (air brush) with one good coat of "Clear Hard Shellac". I think this must fill any pinholes in the paint, and 'fixes' any invisible fine dust. pete

[clamboni]

Originally Posted by Vodkaman

Sorry for theorizing, but it made sense to me.

You can't help theorizing.........that's what you do.