Home Brew Epoxy Surface Coat?

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

Hey guys. Haven’t posted all winter, it’s just too cold and damp in my shop to play around with composites. :frowning:

But, the sun is coming out so Im resuming some of my composites projects.

So anyways, I’m in western Canada, apparently one of the hardest areas in the civilized world to find epoxy surface coat in.

My question is, can you just tint some epoxy and maybe add come cabosil as necessary to make it brush on nice? Or would these additives give you some sort of really brittle surface coat that is also difficult to paint once the part is pulled?

Thoughts? Or if anyone has a source for epoxy surface coat near Vancouver, Canada that’d work too!
Cheers!

#2

yeah you can do exactely that. If its a structural part I’d say go with actual epoxy tint but I;ve done lots of parts this way and just used poly tinting agents and have worked out just fine.

don’t use too much Cab and mix it thoroughly.
Good luck

#3

I’ve heard of using baby powder (talcum powder) as a surface coat for making molds. Give it a try on a test panel. Mix to peanut butter consistency and spread out.

CCE

#4

I ran into a similar fix last night…didn’t have a surface coat, so I used plain PE resin, and added a good helping of West System microfibers. Problem solved!