Thread: having CA trouble

I use two different ones on CA finishes myself

I use the Thin CA on the first two coats and I sand with 320 between them... Once that is dry on the second coat, I sand lightly and start applying Medium CA.. I put on 3 coats no sanding in between, let that dry, do a pretty good sanding with 320... I then do 3 more coats let dry, by now it is pretty uniform so I do just a very light sanding to rough the finish and do 3 more coats...
By that time I usually am good to go for a final sanding and polishing, Sometimes I do 3 more coats...

One thing that takes getting used to on CA is that it is the sanding, that is important, not the application Most finishes you want perfect application to get the best final finish... With CA you are sanding in, and polishing in, the final finish, so the smoothness of the application is secondary...

O.K. that makes more sense. I had done the first coat that seemed super thick, then sanded it down but was worried that even when I went as light as possible applying the second coat and it still looked super thick how was I going to get multiple coats on and not have it end up being too thick and end up with a bunch of gaps at the wedge end, etc. I've actually just applied the remainder of the second coat on the "face" side of the scales so I'll check and see how it goes with sanding after it's had the 24hrs to cure. I can check on some of the other CA's the next time I get up to the hobby shop and see how I like their applications. Thanx again G-man.

Michael

What is CA?

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

What is CA?

CyanoAcrylate as in (usually industrial grade) superglue.

Now, Michael, are you using CA or epoxy? The two are very different. Using epoxy finish is a different animal from CA.
I actually hate seeing most peoples flat work when it is finished with epoxy. The slow cure time allows the epoxy to run causing uneven finishes. Also despite what some people say you can get a finished product from straight application of epoxy. One more thing is despite what many people say if you look closely you can see a difference between straight epoxy "one coat" finish versus multiple coat or sanded down and polished.
I may have to start a thread on epoxy finishes. I don't know if anyone wants to know, but there are ways to get a good "one coat" epoxy finish with even results that only need a buff with a little Mother's or Maas.

-G

D. It's looking like I actually have the epoxy. When I made my purchase at the hobby shop he had all the CA's lined up thin to thick with these larger packages of the epoxy mixed in (small, med, Lg bottles of CA then large bottles of the epoxy). I probably should have paid more attention but figured that since he had like items all grouped together and I had seen other epoxy's on the other side of the isle that I was getting the CA that I was looking for. Thanks for asking, I probably would have been banging my head against the wall trying to figure this out for weeks

Michael

D: I'd like to see you start a thread on epoxy finishes. I've experimented one time, using the instructions found elsewhere on this forum, and I was pretty satisfied, but there were some issues where I'd like to see improvement. Of course maybe it was just my technique. Actually, it seems pretty simple, but I'm sure there are different techniques/products. Thanks in advance.

Search Cannonfodder / Dave's old threads there is some good info on how to do epoxy on scales in there,

Also G if you are going to do a step by step guide, check the Wiki and see if you can improve what we have in there....

Thanks in Advance "TiA"

The thread from cannonfodder is in the wiki in the section about making scales. Pretty good info but it could possibly be updated.