I’m on my second board using EPS (sealed with spackle) and Epoxy. I did a swirl on the bottom which came out nice. Then I wanted a light blue tint on the deck, which came out terrible. I could not get an even color. It was not the seal job. Every squeegee pass left a darker streak along its edge. No matter how methodical I was I could not get an even color.
Has anyone else had this problem? What are the remedies?
Look at any epoxy production board made by a company.
No tints!
Guess why?
So why isn’t it possible to do tinted boards with epoxy? I mean from a tech point of view, why does it not work?
Anyone know?
/Erik
If you want to tint it, buy a squeegee “per inch” and make it long 2.5’… use the smaller one to get the tint spread out then make 1 smooth pass over it with the long squeegee…
the “per inch” squeegee gets kinda expensive, so i’d suggest only getting it if you plan on using it alot.
edit: the per inch squeegee is very flexible, so it wraps evenly over the deck… just make sure to apply even pressure… (maybe have a second person to help)
Nothing is impossible… but…
Think…you use pourous foam. You then seal it with spackle, which is never even and consistent.
Now you want transparent color on the foam, either directly or with the laminate.
Then you pick one of the tougher colors to tint…and NOT mix in some white.
You’re battling a lot of factors here…
I’ve tried a couple of tints on eps with no good results. I even tried doing it with a second lam with bad results, too. I was actually going to try one more time. I was thinking that after sealing the blank and just before laminating, I would brush on some resin, little it cure a bit, then do the lam with tint. Seems like that oughta work.
Heres a green tint over 1lb eps. It was sealed with cabo and resin, but was far from perfect.
Ok as you know I’m a poly guy so take this advice with a grain of salt. But on poly most guys problems with tints revolve around not using enough tint in the mix. if you want light blue, use a heap of blue, then tune it down with some white. You really need to flood out the deck with epoxy or resin and let it wet out real well. Then you laminate or pull the excess off, using even presure every where. Any place where there is the slightest depression, nick, or pool of resin will leave a darker spot.
If your getting dark lines down the deck, it’s from the resin / epoxy coming off the ends of the squeegee…like a tractor blade. Angle the squeegee so it only runs off the end that is closest to you. Then on the next pass overlap the last pull, and repeat. Don’t over work the resin, it will just leave pin holes or dry spots.
Also you get uneven colors around the dome part of the deck. You need to cup the squeegee so it conforms to the deck shape, all the time using the same pressure. it’s pretty tricky, and takes a bunch of boards to perfect. Practice, Practice.
Resinhead the Dinosaur Poly Guy
Resinhead, dinosaur or not, your advice is perfect!
I did a blue lam with epoxy that came out bad. I hadn’t sealed the blank and all the pukas got filled up & made dark spots.
Next time, working yellow, I sealed the blank with epoxy & cabosil. When I mixed the tint into the resin, I strained the whole batch (VERY important) and then mixed in the hardener. Came out great. Work slow so you’re only spreading the resin through the glass & not pressing it or scoring lines into the EPS with your squeegee.
It also helped that the first one was on 1# and the second was on 2#.
I’ve done a few epoxy tint jobs, but they were on clark blanks. Came out even though, and my squeege is not longer, than normal (that was wierd to type).
Seal EPS with epoxy and dust or ballons (as Benny says) it should be better than spackle. Also - I think it would be hard with #1 EPS to get it even enough to not have some lowspots/darkspots.
Swirls work fine too with epoxy. I think easier than poly since it absorbs/sinks into the cloth on it’s own.
Your mileage may vary though.
Eric J
Do You have any pics of Your tinted boards Benny?
/Erik
Sure.
The famous “$14 Blank” board. Blotchy (not to mention bumpy):
And the yellow one:
I mentioned Blue as a medium hard color to to evenly.
Yellow is the easiest, can’t miss color.
Purple, dark, is the hardest good luck to you color…
Thanks Benny, they both look allright to me, a little bit hard to tell from the photos.
Nice blue color.
Im thinking about trying some tint on my next epoxy board, might be with eps or might use some xps I’ve got in the backyard
I’m still puzzled why my xps board hasn’t delammed when so many talk of delams, it’s from a DOW blank foamed here in Sweden should be the same process.
/Erik
Just how old is your XPS board that didn’t delam?.
Most closed cell styro is fine for 8 months, then starts the big bubble action. Some even make it a year with not very active usage.
Its a ton of blue & quite a bit of white as well…up close, you’d laugh. Most everyone does 
I think I’ve surfed my xps fish around a year and a half but not day to day usage. Waves are unreliable around here, but still used it quite a lot since it’s a small wave board
So what’s your secret? Care to share?
Some use stiples. Other’s lam dry on the deck. Even other’s use valves. Some go really low volume and thin.
But your secret is the best…
Stiples? What do you beat the blank with a wire brush?
That’s not a bad idea!
But usually, it’s some pattern rolled in by a metal roller with little needle like projections that penetrate into the styrofoam.
First saw it used with Woodwind board back in the mid '80’s…
Then some earlier MikeZaicheck boards had that along with kevlar 2.5 oz…
I was doing tints on a few boards on EPS… the first one gave streaks where the resin trailed off of the end of the squeegee… no matter how many passes I made, always streaks… so I got a long squeegee and made a final pass with it and it eliminated the lines…
he had mentioned the same problem I had, I just said what worked for me…