[thegolfer]

The golfer,

Your block looks pretty nice. I'd suggest vacuum deairing the epoxy before mixing the material up. If possible, a few percent of BYK 525 deairing agent will also help. In about 30 formula tests, I never saw that problem although I always vacuum degassed and tended to use a smaller amount of epoxy and used a pretty thin epoxy.

Regards,
Cameron (ckelloug)

Thanks Cameron. I like the idea of both the vacuum degassing and the use of deairing agent. I will look into finding some of the BYK 525 here in Australia. Building a vacuum degassing chamber might be a good excuse to finally but a venturi valve.

Thegolfer, what type of epoxy did you use?

I used West System epoxy with their 206 slow hardener. I used this type mainly because it was the easiest resin to get my hands on that had technical speciations available. There were a few other "no name" epoxy resins around but I couldn't find any product literature on any of them.

looks nice. a propane torch will get rid of most of the larger bubbles and foaminess. just run the torch gently over it after the pour.

to get a properly smooth bubble free surface (one you intend to use mechanically) I think vacuum degassing as mentioned is probably the best way.

The propane torch idea sounds good also! If it can easily remove the bubbles/foam it might be a winner.