Thread: Clear epoxy resin to highlight the cracks&holes in old, now milled sleepers assistanc

Hi Crowie,
Not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I did some slabs of raintree using West Systems epoxy filling voids. There are two types of hardener you can use with it and the one to use for a permanent clear epoxy is here, the 207 clear hardener which will not go yellow like the 205 or 206 hardeners. Of course this won't matter if he adds a black dye. The dye can be as simple as toner cartridge black or artist colours but they can effect the process if you add too much. Apparently the secret is to add a tiny amount and it seems to have worked OK for me. You can buy specialty epoxy colorants but I have no experience with them. Biggest issue I had was with stopping it all leaking out the bottom of the holes.

Hope this helps.
Cheers, Ian

I have used epoxy to fill the gaps in flat work and on some turned objects. I have mainly used black dye and some colour power.
Some things to consider.
Best to seal the underside to prevent any going straight through.
Work with smaller batches.
Pour slowly to avoid too many bubbles. Can use hair dryer to burst bubbles.
Dont overfill as that is just a lot of work to clean up later.

Forgot to mention with the advise from this forum I have used coffee grounds mixed with epoxy to fill larger gaps. After it dries and you are sanding or cutting it gives a nice smell of coffee. So I take a break and have a cup of Tea.

Hate to say it but there is no such thing as a permanent clear epoxy. Many of the clear casting epoxies are certainly better and last longer but all will get a yellow tinge over time. I use Megspoxy HX as it is one of the better "clear" epoxies and is also low exothermic so you can do thicker pours with less cracking. It is also cheaper than the others

Got to agree with sensei above, there is no such thing as 100% clear epoxy. They all will yellow to different degrees over time (how long they take will depend on how much you spend!). Your best bet would be to trundle down to your local boat builder, find the filthiest person there and ask them. You could also find a company called Nuplex http://nuplex.com (if in Sydney) who supply a lot of boat builders and know a bit about it. If you really want to go crazy, find a surfboard manufacturer who specialises in EPS boards and hit them up. They need resin to be as clear as possible, even adding what looks like a blue tint (but isn't) to make boards look whiter in sunlight. Dion Chemicals (again in Sydney) http://dionchemicals.com make an epoxy called CET specifically for surfboards. This, to my knowledge is about as clear as you'll get, It is expensive and goes off quicker than normal epoxy, so you may want to be careful with it.

The thing to remember with resins, is the more they pool, they hotter they can get when going off, which can increase the yellowing.

Pigment is easy, part A + pigment to desired colour, then add part B hardener

Hope that helps.

Read an article by chris Schwarz and he used an iron oxide pigment, Mars Black. Said the result was black as tar.