Lots of air bubbles in finished nose piece

[Jhucke]

I bought a squarenose nose piece from a seller that is always praised very highly on the boards, but I am a little disappointed with the work. I was hoping someone could clear up some questions I had regarding finish on the completed part.

First of all, the part took a month and a half to finally get to my door which I was a little angry about. Sounded like he just forgot about me. It was okay, though, because it was the off season and I was away in college anyway but really? That's too long. Anyway, once I finally received my nose piece, I noticed there was a few big air bubbles around some of the edges. No big deal I thought, I could easily fill them. I started sanding to prep for paint and on every single edge, the gel coat was starting to form little bubbles literally everywhere. I took them down a little more to get all the way through the gel coat and there are air pockets all over the entire part! 220 grit by hand not that it matters. I didn't put the air bubbles there.

I want to know is this a normal thing? This did not seem correct at all, shouldn't they have been filled in? This work looks terrible to be perfectly honest. I told the seller about it immediately and he said this was "normal" and I should expect hundreds of air bubbles like this. He told me he would make me a new part, once again, over a month ago, but I really doubt I'm ever going to get a new nose piece so I guess I will just fill myself. To top it all off, this part needs to be trimmed in order to fit onto my squarenose correctly.

Was not sure whether to put this is negative feedback or not because I wasn't sure if I would have been in the wrong.

 

[Jhucke]

It's like this on the entire part.



All I did here was push slightly with my thumb and it broke the gel coat to expose a huge air pocket here. Looks like the glass was barely saturated on that part too.

 

[simofx-1]

how much did you pay.... it would have taken a fair bit of work to get it too the stage its at already

 

[Byeai]

I want to know who also
That's not normal

 

[Vumad]

Its hard to see in the pictures, but The spots you see from sanding gel coat could be normal. Gelcoat does not always laydown like paint. It gets orange peel really bad sometimes. You could sand throuh the gelcoat and hit glass, but still see spots of gelcoat thats due to the orange peel. That is different than air bubbles though. I believe i see both gelcoat due to orange peel (normal) and air pockets due to bad layup (not normal)

A part should not have actual air bubbles in it. It especially should not have chunks missing like in the last picture. That is air. Air is weakness. A few stray small bubbles could be normal depending on the kind of prices you are paying, but that chuck missing and larger areas of are bubbles are not acceptible for any price to me.

The cause is likely dry spots or impropper/insufficient rolling. Vacuum bagging helps a lot, but vacuum bagging can still result in air pockets if using multiple layers without rolling or not using enough resin.

I would say the price should determine if you got a properly valued part. I choose to say value instead of quality because low quality and cheap can have the same value as high quality and expensive. Value is not price, its about did you get what you paid for.

The last picture would upset me, but if you went low bid, you may have got what you paid for.

 

[Jhucke]

Its hard to see in the pictures, but The spots you see from sanding gel coat could be normal. Gelcoat does not always laydown like paint. It gets orange peel really bad sometimes. You could sand throuh the gelcoat and hit glass, but still see spots of gelcoat thats due to the orange peel. That is different than air bubbles though. I believe i see both gelcoat due to orange peel (normal) and air pockets due to bad layup (not normal)

A part should not have actual air bubbles in it. It especially should not have chunks missing like in the last picture. That is air. Air is weakness. A few stray small bubbles could be normal depending on the kind of prices you are paying, but that chuck missing and larger areas of are bubbles are not acceptible for any price to me.

The cause is likely dry spots or impropper/insufficient rolling. Vacuum bagging helps a lot, but vacuum bagging can still result in air pockets if using multiple layers without rolling or not using enough resin.

I would say the price should determine if you got a properly valued part. I choose to say value instead of quality because low quality and cheap can have the same value as high quality and expensive. Value is not price, its about did you get what you paid for.

The last picture would upset me, but if you went low bid, you may have got what you paid for.

I paid $125 for the part.

 

[Vumad]

Realize you did low bid as blowsion charges $230 for that part. It would probably be flawless. Composites are very labor intensive. You paid almost half. Pic 4 is a defect but 1-3 is probably appropriate for the price you paid. Stuff like pics 1-3 are hard to eliminate completely. The difference b/t usable and perfect is substantial.

 

[Jhucke]

Realize you did low bid as blowsion charges $230 for that part. It would probably be flawless. Composites are very labor intensive. You paid almost half. Pic 4 is a defect but 1-3 is probably appropriate for the price you paid. Stuff like pics 1-3 are hard to eliminate completely. The difference b/t usable and perfect is substantial.

It's a tom21 piece.. I figured it wouldn't be that bad for how praised he is around here.

 

[Vumad]

220 may take off too much gel. Is the getcoat that rough? Sand with 600 then use a primer then paint.

Fill tiny holes sith finishing putty, then sand lightly wigh 220.

 

[Jhucke]

220 may take off too much gel. Is the getcoat that rough? Sand with 600 then use a primer then paint.

Fill tiny holes sith finishing putty, then sand lightly wigh 220.

I already started filling it with thickened epoxy. Yeah I realize that 220 might be a little rough but that doesn't eliminate the fact the air bubbles were still there

 

[Vumad]

Tom has a heart of gold. He would make more money dropping fries than what he makes on his composites. I can understand if you are frustrated but try not to get angry with him. The world would be a better place with more people like him.

 

[Jhucke]

Tom has a heart of gold. He would make more money dropping fries than what he makes on his composites. I can understand if you are frustrated but try not to get angry with him. The world would be a better place with more people like him.

That's why I didn't post a negative feedback because it's only partially not correct. He has had great communication, I just think I will fix this one up.

 

[Nate_D]

Somewhat normal for an open mold hand lay. At that price, I would expect an open mold method. Like Vumad said, that last pic is a bit much. It looks like the fabric didn't conform to the bend entirely and lifted off the gelcoat while curing, causing the large pocket.

These are the reasons why making affordable composite parts on a small scale is so challenging. If that part was infused, regardless of how the gelcoat lays down, (assuming the fabric is laid in the mold correctly) you won't have air bubbles that can be seen. You also will pay 3x as much for the same part. Labor triples and consumables come into play. And no one is paying $375 for a SN nose piece. It isn't until you get into larger, more expensive parts that the labor begins to be absorbed into the overall cost and pricing.


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