Band saaw blade

[krw]

It's just a few hours as the casting sets up, I think. It doesn't have to be fully cured. Just gets the bubbles out, AFAIK.

[krw]

I don't think that's a big problem. Bars, and such places, have tables with a thick pour on them. I haven't seen any yellowing.

There are dyes, too. It doesn't take much to turn the Epoxies opaque so it goes go a long way.

It looks like a lot of fun to me. The combination of wood and acrylics looks nice on chachskis.

[krw]

I think this is the best way. I'd then to avoid tear-out, trim to size using a compression bit.

[DerbyDad03]

It's based on the type of resin. The G-flex is definitely amber right from the start. The hardener is amber. Both the resin and hardener in products like ArtResin and Deep Pour are clear.

I make not want opaque. Some of the swirl designs are cool as are imbedded objects.

A few years ago SWMBO and I went on an "open studio tour" in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Artists, craft-persons, jewelers, etc. all opened up their studios and shops for a "behind the scene" look at what they do.

One guy owns a huge piece of land and uses his own trees to make live edge and epoxy tables. He had lots of tables with leaves and berries embedded in the epoxy. He showed me one table and explained that a while back he and his wife were cutting up a tree and a whole bunch of beetles came crawling out. He was about to stomp them but his wife stopped him. She gathered them up, put them in a jar and said "These would look really good in a table." Sure enough, he floated the beetles - live - in the epoxy, where they slowly died in various states of contortion.

I just poured 2 soon-to-be coasters. I may have f'd them up. We'll see after they cure and are sanded.

I overheated the epoxy and it foamed up on me. It went from lightly popping bubbles to Oh-Sh*t! in an instant. I'm hoping I over-poured enough that the cured foam will sand off. Maybe a re-heat will smooth the surface.

It could also be that G-Flex isn't meant for this type of pour and heating. But hey, that's why we try stuff with scraps.

[krw]

G-Flex is a glue, isn't it? The resins they use in arts-n-crafts is clear, AFAIK.

That was my point. Use very little or it'll be opaque, or nearly so.

Oh, how cruel. I'm not sure it's my cup of tea. I have ten, give or take, sugar maple 2x8x8s. They still have the tap holes. I thought they'd make a nice table top. Not sure what I need another table for, but...

I wouldn't expect it to be but experiments are how we learn.

[DerbyDad03]

G/Flex is not a glue. It's a "toughened epoxy". It's defining trait is that is more flexible than standard epoxies. I quote:

"This gives it the ability to make structural bonds that can absorb the stress of expansion, contraction, shock, and vibration."

The G/Flex resin is clear. It's the hardener that's amber.

Why wouldn't you expect it to be? If it's because you thought it was a glue, that makes sense.

The instructions don't say much about how thick you can pour it, other than "thicker layers cure faster than thin". As far as heating it, I think I just went too far.

The first couple of passes released some air like I've seen in a few videos but, after I removed the flame some bubbles appeared around the edges of the pour. When I tried to get rid of those bubbles it "flashed foamed" and actually started burning.

I hope to sand them tonight (after 24 hours) but I'm heading out of town for the Thanksgiving week, so it depends on how much packing I get done today. Stay tuned.

As an attempt to apologize for the thread drift, I suggest that swalker consider adding an epoxy stripe or river to his Lazy Susans. That might look really cool.

[krw]

OK, but it's not something intended for A&C. AFAIC, Epoxe is a glue.

Ok...

The result isn't clear. That's what matters.

I would expect the instructions to give the bounds. "Heating" could be/do anything.

I'm surprised that thicker layers cure faster. Wonder why.

[DerbyDad03]

We could spend hours debating definitions & terms, but I don't plan to. ;-)

Epoxy, epoxy resins, epoxy coating resins, casting resins, oh my!

The instructions for the G/Flex do discuss using heat for various applications, but they don't cover removing air bubbles to any extent. Barely a mention. They do discuss - and I have done it - flame-treating certain plastics before bonding and also heating some surfaces so that the epoxy thins out on contact and gets absorbed by the material a little better.

The thicker the layer, the more heat that is generated. More mass, less surface area for the heat to dissipate. In the best of cases, the extra heat simply speeds up the cure. In the worst of cases, you get an uncontrolled cure, nasty vapors, melting containers, and a frothy mess like I caused with the torch.

More here:

Anyway, I sanded my 2 coasters and applied one cost of wipe on poly. I wasn't expecting anything especially presentable...this was just a learning experience.

Here's what I learned:

Don't overheat the resin while trying to remove the air bubbles. Some of the foaming that I experienced sanded off, but on one dado it's all the way down to bottom of the pour. I didn't even attempt to reheat it to see if it would clear up. I don't plan on using G/Flex for the real coasters, so I'll hone my skills on the epoxy/resin that's actually made for this type of project.

I watched one video where the guy complained that he forgot to use sealer and therefore expected to get some bleeding. I wasn't sure what he meant, but I think I do now. You can see where the epoxy bled into the wood at the edges of the dado. Obviously, a nice crisp line would be more desirable. Deeper sanding might clear that up.

I may try planing the over-pour before sanding next time. The epoxy is so much harder than the Douglas Fir that I used that my ROS left a wavy surface. A drum sander might work too, but I don't have one. I guess the other option is to underpour and sand the wood down to the level of the epoxy.

Obviously, color matters. Amber epoxy and Douglas Fir don't exactly make a dramatic combination.

Anyway, here's the good, the bad and the ugly.