Thread: Epoxy rollers

Your epoxy roller has a cardboard core with a very thin (about 3mm) foam cover.

To be honest, I've never gone looking at all the rollers on offer so I can't comment on the differences but the above matches the description sold to my by Duck Flats for poxy work ... and I'm still working my way through my supply, hence the lack of research

Richard

buy any 12 inch roller and cut them in 1/3rds on the bandsaw. You can get 4 inch rollers for about20c that way. Use once and throw away.

The thin foam rollers specially made for epoxy avoid overloading the surface with the stuff.

Saving money and saving runs.

The idea of cutting them up is very sensible ... I normally buy a 75mm roller cage just for that reason. If I am doing a 20 footer I might use a whole roller.

I have some stuff about epoxy here ...
http://www.storerboatplans.com/Faq/faqindex.html

Mik

Use rollers with a plastic core tube, they don't fall apart like the cardboard ones do.

A nice roller I've found is sold at the home improvement stores as a "door and trim" roller. It's small in diameter, has a plastic core, tight nap (foam) and can be had in various widths, from 3" to 9".

I don't know if these are available in your country, but I love them.

I definitely don't have the right technique - can't even get the West foam rollers to work for me.
What I have found though is a short nap roller (not foam) at Bunnings that gives acceptable results. I imagine other hardware stores would sell something similar. The only drawback is that you need to give them a good brush over before use or they will leave small fibres on the surface. It's not really a problem though as they disappear with a light sanding which you would do anyway before varnishing. Can't remember exactly what length the nap is but pretty sure it is under 6mm. I reckon if you could get a 3mm nap in a non foam roller it be great.
I also buy the longish ones and cut them into segments.

Some sites recommend wetting out by pouring epoxy onto the glass and spreading it with a squeegee - my experience says don't do it . It puts on far too much resin and the glass floats, giving a very uneven surface.

The squeegee method works great, but you have to make sure you add enough resin only for the glass to go transparent. And it is easiest if some of the workpiece is horizontal or near so .. so you can pour the epoxy out on the surface before distributing it with the sqeegee. Using the squeegee with medium pressure will remove excess resin from the glass pretty easily and migrate it toward areas where you need the excess resin.

The surface of the glass should have the weave quite visible when you finish with the first coat and the sqeegee. If you can't see the weave, there is waay to much resin.

I might use a sqeegee for the second wet on wet coat if the surface is relatively flat once the first coat becomes tacky. But for verticals I will have generally swapped over to a roller.

Best wishes
Michael

I posted this link in another thread but thought the link is also applicable here as it may help others.

http://duckworksmagazine.com/03/r/ar...ass/bottom.htm

cheers

The Black One

Been a long time since I've been here. Still building though..

On the question of rollers; I do as suggested above, buy them at Bunnings and cut them into smaller rollers.
If I'm going to use a roller (or a brush) within a couple of days, I put it in a zip lock bag and stick it in the freezer. 10 minutes out of the freezer and it's ready to use again.

Cheers, Pete