Greetings! I am working on finishing up my first build. I am working with EPS foam on this current board a clone of the lost quiver killer in 6’8 with slightly moved forward wide point. I plan to make this one old school and white/clear with a simple emblem. Not sure how to go about doing the emblem….
I am planning a second board soon after and want to give that one some color. I am in South America I should add and not sure what is available to me for coloring. I have heard that pigment works better with EPS foam and is opaque. The shop I get my foam and fin boxes at only has hawaii fiberglass brand resin tint in blue, red, green and purple. My spanish is not the best but I swear my mentors glass man told me he is using auto pain?? Maybe he was talking about the pin lines etc…
Any advice is greatly appreciated and I hope to atleast get a solid color if I cant find the materials to do a true epoxy resin swirl.
Second whip will be a fish shape quad with some channels added.
i dont know how much of a good idea this is and i sugest a test batch but…i have seen a guy just trowing waterbased acrilic artist paint into the epoxy and using it as cheap pigment.
Still havent had the time to do a scrap foam test but maybe you should and post pictures of the result.
Logos can be made by running lightweight rice (mulberry) paper through a laser printer and putting them under the glass before/while laminating. Permanent marker sometimes bleeds from epoxy. There was a post here yesterday or so from @OSS1 or so on how to use a glue stick to adhere the rice paper to a carrier sheet to either run through a copier or for screen printing. Searching for rice paper on the forum should get you lots of tips.
Specific epoxy tint/pigments would be best, followed by regular resin tint/pigments or universal colorants (the kind used in a paint store to tint paint). I have never had trouble with standard pigments from the fiberglass supply shop. As you add ‘extra’ stuff to epoxy, its properties change like stiffness and working time. I would not go more than 5%.
Doing a test panel for both the logo and the color would be the best way to proceed. I have never added paint to epoxy for color, it might be a winner or might be a train wreck…
Instead of hear say; Search the Archives on this website. You will find everything you need to know. If those pigments are Fiberglass Hawaii brand, they will work fine. Go to the Archives. Start with words like ; laminate, logo, rice paper, Epoxy tints, sealing Epoxy etc.
Put white in a tint and it will become an opaque pastel. But why not save yourself the hit and miss trouble and just paint your finished shape before you glass. Lots of info in the archives.
Just for reference, I have used Acrylic Paint to tint epoxy with no issues as long as you keep the ratio under 10%. It’s great for colour matching repairs.
I will try my best to search the archives as you stated. I was hanging out at a local Shaper’s shop for a couple weeks and they had one board that where they just painted the foam hot pink before glassing. I watched them do a fabric printed bottom on another before glassing which they did with the board I originally got from him.
What kind of paint can be applied to the foam? Appreciate it!
Do not mix paint in your epoxy, you need to use pigments or tints. if you put paint in your epoxy you will fuck it up. You only use paint if you are painting on the foam. Epoxy is a tempermental product. So here’s the deal: Epoxy soaks into the cloth slowly, eps foam doesnt take color well…the color goes around the beads and not on the bead. So….use a lot of color, let it sit on the cloth a long time, and don’t over work it. Epoxy can handle up to 10% colorant, but pigments will plasticize epoxy and make it flexible. (this can be good, and it can be bad..depends on what you are after in a surfboard). if you are doing a swirl, be at peace with muted easter egg kind of vibe…the colors will blend. make sure you use same family of color wheel colors, R,Y,O kind a shit…if you do Orange and green, you will get baby puke. Good luck
Coloring past made for color resin buy at composit store. Universal color past for paint. Those products are pigments dispersed in base more or less compatible with resin. At least neutral heavy alcool. Like resinhead1 say they are plasticers they will modify mechanical properties of cured resin, less stiffness more elongation to break, lowering Tg and fatigue strengh. Keep it under 5% is a good idea.
You can use any water based latex paint to paint foam. As resinhead stated there are differences in the end result between EPS/Epoxy and Polyurethane/Polyester. Use flat paints like Tempra poster paints or flat interior house paint. No shiny or high acrylic content paints. Shiny paints will delam. The key to getting a nice paint job is two coats per side. Pastels are the best for EPS. Bright fluorescent colors have mixed result and fade fast. You can purchase colorants online that are specifically manufactured for Epoxy. I have found that Duratech colorants work well with Epoxy or Polyester resins.
I like Universal pigments as well. But they are not as easy to find at a paint store as they used to be. Paint manufacturers have come up with their own colorant and don’t like to sell colorant off their Color Wheel (computer). I see Universal for sale once in awhile in the “mom and pop” stores. I think you might be able to buy Universal Colorant online though. I have easy access to Dura Tech colorant from a supplier and have been satisfied with the results I get whether Epoxy or Poly.
I have access to Hawaiian Fiberglass tin and my shaper mentor owes me a little cash so I might ask him to help with the color on the second whip.
Time to install my fin boxes and get ready for the glassing!!!
I got some 4mm clear plastic to lay on the floor to protect the ceramic tile. Will that be enough to keep the resin from going through and ruining the flooring? Suggestions much appreciated!!!
Yes, that 4mm plastic will likely it will be sufficient, but when things can get messy, it will get messy. Don’t take my or anyone’s word for it, but take preparations! Murphy’s law exists and will smack you in the face when it can.
Make sure you have a small pot of white vinegar at hand and an old towel. When you are done laminating, clean any mess on your hands and or the ground with it and it will come clean. Don’t get that stuff on your board / lamination tho for obvious reasons. Also, might want to test white vinegar on a small piece of a tile, I know some a tiles are easily damaged or discolored by acidic liquids.
Back on the whole color topic, there is no other way than to just try it. Some colors look good, others look bad, but having a good pigment helps a ton. I have a rich purple that makes everything opaque with 2-3%. And with the same % pigment blue I almost get a tinted board, with that ugly eps bead look (from the same supplier).
Color theory does play a part in this whole story as well.
This especially goes for tints, but I found pigments with a higher value (like yellow) tend to look better, but lower value colors like dark blue are harder to make look good. If you see dark colored or blue board with tint and they look good, hats off to the laminator, you know they are good.
