Which resin to use for desk

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Which resin to use for desk

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dmgeurts	dmgeurts posted 10 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 111	Having done some research I see that not all resins are good to use for table/bar/desk use due to the possibility of scratching the surface. Before people suggest normal paint, I've had plenty of bad experiences with this and rubber feet of equipment stood on painted surfaces for prolonged periods of time. Additionally I'd like to have more 'depth' in the colour/design of the desk. That said I'm not planning to embed coins or other objects in the resin. My thoughts currently: Base coat: EC "High Quality GP Polyester Laminating Resin" with pigment added over degreased MDF. Mid coat: same as above but with metallic flakes added. One or two top coat: EC "Pattern Coat Hi-Gloss - Tough, High Gloss Finish for Composite (Fibreglass) Patterns". I'd like to get a matt finish and am hoping to obtain this through not completely buffing up the top coat after sanding. Will have to wait and see which looks best. Optionally I could apply an automotive 2 part coat but due to the size of the desk it has to be made in situ so if I can do without it would mean I don't have to invest in spray painting equipment. My concerns are with the heat resistance of the resin (think of hot mugs and solder dropping where it shouldn't). My understanding is that the Polyester resin should be hard enough to prevent easy scratching. A heat resistant hard resin seems hard to find. I noticed that some model plane builders mix acetone into the resin to thin it. My thinking is that this would help in levelling the applied resin which would reduce the need for excessive sanding. Tags acetone bar polyester resin table
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Warren (Staff)	Warren (Staff) posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Administrators Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 8.5K	If it is still made by skinning then i would stick with our Epoxy Coating Resin as found in our skinning kits. The specialist "bar top" type resins seen in the US are mostly for much thicker castings or encapsulation of objects like pennies. Epoxies are generally all fairly hard wearing and all the epoxies we have are harder wearing than the polyesters we supply. Also most polyesters cure tacky in air contact which would not be ideal when skinning. Our Epoxy Coating Resin has a HDT upto 80C so normally you will be fine with most hot cups of tea as long as you arent pouring the straight from the kettle boiling water everywhere! Ideally you would want to post-cure the table in an oven to ensure it is fully cured throughout before use. Lacquering isnt a bad idea especially 2 part automotive lacquers as you can get the satin finish out the spray gun and also modern automotive lacquers are all UV stable. Warren Penalver Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant
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Dravis	Dravis posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 592, Visits: 1.9K	You state at the end of your post that you would like to do this work "in situ" Using Polyester based resins WILL give you severe smell problems from the evaporating styrene -- it will be there for a long time!!! Even though it is expensive, I would use Epoxy based resins.. The perfect one in my opinion is Wessex Resins "PermaCoat" it is almost water clear, and very tough... It can be used for all the layers, and can be tinted/filled to your liking.. Not cheap however .. I have a washbasin setup and an outdoor kitchen tabletop that is done with this, and while solder-drops probably will mar the surface (No resin/paint known to me will resist the heat from solder drops, apart form the specialist "heat resistant paints" which are "high solid content, non transparent") my two very different "tabletops" are still very nice and shiny after more than a year (one of them outside constantly, but not in direct sunlight. The "PermaCoat" shows no sign of discolouring or marking form hot tea-mugs or even cooking pots .. But in my opinion this also often is a result of the base material being sensitive to heat. The EC Coating resin is almost the same, but cures harder and less flexible than the "PermaCoat" I my opinion the slight flexibility of the PermaCoat is one reason for it being very scratch-resistant .. Regarding post-cure to elevate the Tg of a large flat surface, I have done it with a glass plate (EeasyLease coated :-) ) and a heat blanket for motorcycle tyres -- :-) "Sapere Aude"... Dare to KNOW! The written word is the only truly efficient vehicle for transmitting a complex concept from mind to mind... 103% of all people do not understand statistics... Do not adjust our mind, theres a fault in reality :-) Edited 10 Years Ago by Dravis
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dmgeurts	dmgeurts posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 111	Thank you. Good to get a better idea how to interpret the tech sheets of these materials. Any idea where to buy PermaKote? I don't see prices listed, do Wessex Resins sell directly?
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dmgeurts	dmgeurts posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 5, Visits: 111	Warren (Staff) (07/01/2015) If it is still made by skinning then i would stick with our Epoxy Coating Resin as found in our skinning kits. The specialist "bar top" type resins seen in the US are mostly for much thicker castings or encapsulation of objects like pennies. Epoxies are generally all fairly hard wearing and all the epoxies we have are harder wearing than the polyesters we supply. Also most polyesters cure tacky in air contact which would not be ideal when skinning. Our Epoxy Coating Resin has a HDT upto 80C so normally you will be fine with most hot cups of tea as long as you arent pouring the straight from the kettle boiling water everywhere! Ideally you would want to post-cure the table in an oven to ensure it is fully cured throughout before use. Lacquering isnt a bad idea especially 2 part automotive lacquers as you can get the satin finish out the spray gun and also modern automotive lacquers are all UV stable. Thank you. I have no intention of skinning with cloth as there's no need to add rigidity to the base material. The desk will be too big for post curing, hence the epoxy needs to be applied in situ. The smell of polyester resin is certainly something I hadn't considered (or researched).
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Dravis	Dravis posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 592, Visits: 1.9K	UV stability does not seem to be much of an issue, unless the table top gets direct sunlight for longer periods (through windows ) (I have an outside kitchen tabletop coated with PermaKote, it has sat outside now since early last summer, and seems unaffected by ambient light or weather. it does not get direct sunlight. I also have a work-top table in my metal-working shop, coated wit EC coating resin that was several years old before mixing and using it, it did go a bit milky, but hardened up perfectly and is very tough.. I just painted it on top of an MDF sheet, with a bit of wood stain pigment .. (alcohol based wood stain pigment) I'm sure that Wessex resins will point you to a supplier --- either online or near you The PermaKote works really well with the translucent pigments from EC ... "Sapere Aude"... Dare to KNOW! The written word is the only truly efficient vehicle for transmitting a complex concept from mind to mind... 103% of all people do not understand statistics... Do not adjust our mind, theres a fault in reality :-)
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