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Thread: Epoxy resin tables
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1st June 2019, 05:40 PM #1Senior Member
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Epoxy resin tables
I'm seeking help here and also providing some guidance for those who want to have a go at one.
My first effort was not bad. I made a planing system for levelling out slab timber. That works a treat with a router and a flat bit. That is not my problem.
Next sand the wood to a fine finish. Give a little attention to the bottom of the work but it was flat anyhow. No problems again.
Box up your piece/ pieces in melamine. Seal all edges with a thin bead of silicone and rub wax on the melamine. If you don't, the epoxy will stick to it like s**t on a blanket. All good so far. Youtube is serving me well.
I went with pouring a thin layer of epoxy in the box then placing the wood on top, weighted down. Use a heat gun to remove bubbles in the epoxy. Simple and worked no problems. Let it set for at least 24 hrs..48 better.
Poured the epoxy, with colour, to nearly to the top of the wood...heat gun...no bubbles...on a winner! Let it set for 2 days. Looks awesome.
**** youtube guys said to fill in surface cracks of the wood with a toothpick...did that.
Removed from box, sanded down epoxy used to fill in cracks, happy with it, box it up again with a thin bead of silicon just below the level of the epoxy. Leave the bottom melamine alone. Just remove the sides. Only 2 if you can do it and sand the top of the wood.
Final pour of clear epoxy. Just to put a few millimetres of epoxy on top for a glass finish. Easy.
Bubbles! I sealed it though, so I thought. They won't stop. Heat gun...they keep coming. Like a zombie apocalypse. Through a crack no wider than a hair. Unstoppable! I tried pins, more heat gun, stood there for an hour.
End result was not good.
Question is...should the wood be sealed, both sides, before using the epoxy. Estapol, oil based, thinned down?. Epoxy resin is expensive. So is time and stress.
Any help appreciated mates.
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1st June 2019 05:40 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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1st June 2019, 05:59 PM #2Senior Member
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1st June 2019, 08:18 PM #3Senior Member
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Now I can see what you did, you were always going to lose that battle.
Timber should have been done separately, fully epoxy sealed and bubble free.
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1st June 2019, 08:34 PM #4SENIOR MEMBER
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I have done a couple of epoxy tables, althought not with large quantities of epoxy, I am not an advocate of using epoxy as a finish. I will just seal and sand my projects and then just spray finish the whole thing with satin pre-cat lacqeur. This stops the whole thing looking like shiny polished plastic.
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1st June 2019, 08:35 PM #5GOLD MEMBER
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you can probably sand it back and fill the holes with epoxy and re-do the top coat?
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2nd June 2019, 11:14 AM #6Senior Member
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Yeah, I'll get rid of the resin and redo it. I still think 50/50 estapol/ turps would be good for sealing the cracks. Sand off then use epoxy.
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2nd June 2019, 11:33 AM #7Senior Member
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I still think 50/50 estapol/ turps would be good for sealing the cracks
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2nd June 2019, 06:32 PM #8Senior Member
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I am going to try a trial bit of wood. Cyprus pine, cracks everywhere. The missus can use it as a pot stand if it works. I will do everything as normal except sealing top and bottom with a 50/50 mix. The more I think about, the more confident I am about killing those damn bubbles. Filling a crack, the width of a hair, with epoxy will never work. And they are the ones that give the grief.
I will not be beaten on this Feckit.
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2nd June 2019, 08:02 PM #9Senior Member
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Filling a crack, the width of a hair, with epoxy will never work.
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2nd June 2019, 08:43 PM #10Senior Member
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Check out Manor Wood on Youtube. Based in the UK, does epoxy and wood items like river tables for a living. He uses vacuum to remove the bubbles before pouring. He certainly does not seal the timber first, plnes it, pours resin, joints, planes, sands, then buffs the resin area with cutting compound.
If you like his youtube, he also has a patreon with full length, all details, videos showing every step of the process.
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2nd June 2019, 11:57 PM #11SENIOR MEMBER
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I tend to fill small cracks with Builders bog mixed with cement oxides for small cracks that are too small for epoxy and use the resin for larger cracks/defects.
I tried to spray a tabletop a while back which was riddled with tiny cracks and got bubbles coming up through the lacquer.
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4th June 2019, 08:19 PM #12
I do a number of river/resin hybrid tables and use Megapoxy HX. For the form I use Corflute I get from my local plastic supplier for ~$20 for a 2.4x1.2 sheet and silicon as the sealant. It doesn't stick completely to the epoxy but I use a debonair anyway.
Yes you need to coat/seal your woodl before casting otherwise the heat from the resin curing will draw out bubbles from the timber itself. You can seal with a lacquer or a coating of the casting epoxy, as long as it is sealed well all over, with no entrapped air.
The resin you use makes a huge difference. The polyester resins are cheaper but they shrink, smell bad and don't stick to well. The epoxies are best, but there are coating/laminating/casting/casting low exotherm types, and the heat they give off during curing is very different for each. Heat causes cracking so you need to be careful. A lot will need to be cast in small layers due to the heat. Once finished and sanded flat etc it still needs a topcoat. I personally prefer a floated self levelling epoxy as the top coat followed by clear car lacquer to give the table more UV resistance and desired gloss (I tend to use satin finish on my tables).
I've been casting with resins for over 15 years and travel Australia demonstrating casting and stabilisation to clubs and private get togethers. Normally these are slide shows, one for casting and another for stabilisation, but I do also do actual demonstrations using resins and wood but they require resins/pressure pots/stabilising chambers etc etc and take a LOT of prep and time to complete in stages (resins need overnight to set, stabilising can take weeks).
Here's my last table I did, using WA Giant Mallee burl and 20 litres of smokey grey translucent resin (1.2m x 0.9m), over a wrought iron stand.
burl table.jpg burl table top2.jpgNeil____________________________________________Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new
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4th June 2019, 11:09 PM #13Woodworking mechanic
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Beautiful work.
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6th June 2019, 11:39 AM #14GOLD MEMBER
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wow great work! Is this the megapoxy hx you use?
https://www.marbleceramiccorp.com.au...-adhesive.html
Do you get heat issues with it? What depth can you do with it?
What do you use to measure and mix epoxy? I found that a lot of it mixed by volume and its a huge pain in the to get accurate esp when doing large mix - any tips here? (whereas if it was by weight one can just use a scale). Do you also use a paint mixing attachment on a dril?
Also, what are you using to colour your epoxies?
This is a somewhat unrelated question but do you know of any 2hour epoxies? Most of the ones I've found are some in smaller bottles and very expensive. I just want to use it for general gluing of stuffs.
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6th June 2019, 09:12 PM #15
Yes
Megapoxy is the only true low exotherm epoxy available in Aus that I am aware of, however, others are being developed. The maximum thickness depends on the total volume of pure resin. This table was cast 50mm thick and could have been done in one pure heat wise due to extent of timber in the cast, but I didn't want to risk it and the issues with bubbles, so I did it in 2 pours (15 litres and 5 litres). I've done 100x100x100 pure resin, in a pressure pot on a cold night, without any issues. I've done plenty of large pepper grinder blanks up to 100mm sq by 400mm long with as low as 50% wood too (again in pressure pot on cool night). Without pressure I do only 50mm cubed as a guide, but with outside temps less than 21C. There are also preparation techniques to minimise bubbles in a cast, such as percoating/sealing and stabilisation, of timbers and other permeable products being cast into the epoxy/resin.
This table was done with translucent dye from Barnes. I use pigments (for solid colours), micas (like Pearlex, for swirling colours), and dyes for translucent colours. I also use metals, crushed stone and glow in the dark pigments/dust for special effects and requests
I measure with the appropriate sized containers, syringes/beakers/buckets/drums. Megapoxy HX does have some slight flexibility, whereas many other brands, are very critical re ratios. I tend to use small ice-cream sticks, larger flat sticks for quantities up to 3 litres, large flat sticks for larger quantities. I mix for at least 2 mins scraping the sides and base regularly, Megapoxy HX is cloudy until thoroughly mixed at which point it becomes crystal clear and thinner. I then add my colourants and mix again, let stand for a few minutes, then mix again. In cold weather or for small quantities I ensure it starts to warm before pouting, to ensure the exothermic reaction has started, large quantities are not an issue (actually the faster and colder the better, the exothermic reaction will create enough heat) indeed keeping it cool becomes the issue.
Gluing stuff is different to casting, gluing you use an epoxy glue, whereas casting is done with a casting epoxy. There are many different types of epoxies - glues, casting, low exotherm casting, laminating, top coating, gel coating, float coats etc etc etc.Neil____________________________________________Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new
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