Hey guys I’m a beginner shapers I’ve done probably 8-10 boards at this point (some different designs, some of the same design). I wanted to try solid resin tinting and color block stuff.
I’m working with mica powder (black diamond), greenlight bright epoxy, fast hardener (my shop temp this time of year is around 60 f), a EPS Marko 6’0” M regular blank, 6 oz E Glass and 4 oz Warp Glass.
The Bottom: I didn’t seal or spackle the blank which I realize now was my first problem. I didn’t realize every little sanding mark and cross hatch would show up much darker than the actual lam color.
The Top: I spackled the blank pre lam and it came out much better but still not nice and even.
what the trick to getting epoxy color to spread out evenly? I realize most of my issues came from not resin sealing the blank after shaping, what do you guys use to resin seal? Just plain clear resin? Microballon mix? Or should I just spackle?
Also what should my corse of action be to help hide or make my mistakes look more intentional? I was considering tinting my hot coat a grey color to help darken it and give a weathered kinda look
This is post lam, Pre hot coat
Thank you for info or advice you can give me to help me get even clean resin tints!
So, are you trying to get three different colors on one board? I don’t know anything about powered pigment or tints. Greenlight is an Epoxy/EPS specific supplier, so I am sure they have come up with something that is supposed to work well. I use Duratec Colorants and have been happy with the results. A few comments on using colorant with Epoxy/Eps. Seal or fill the blank. Spackle, Epoxy slurry or just a seal coat of Epoxy resin. Afterwards sand the blank. Take it through a couple of grits to 220. At this point there will still be sanding scratches, patches etc that will show when tinted. It is possible to tape off the stringer and prime with an Acrylic Primer. Primer helps to even up the surface. My experience with Epoxy resin is that it requires more colorant in each batch of resin compared to Polyester in order to get a more solid, even color. You will never get an EPS tinted blank to look as good as a Polyurethane blank. The solution is to paint EPS. Usually Pastels look the best. The darker the color, the more the scratches and imperfections show. Just like painting a car. Dark colors show everything, white or light colors hide. Like I said; You’ll never get tinted EPS to look as good as tinted Poly.
If you want to be near PU tint look, you need to have a blank that look near to PU before lam. For that double seal with epoxy white tint/micro/cabosil peanut butter texture. Sand between.
That slurry seal would most likely work as well. The idea is to seal and make the surface of the board the same texture all over. I always load up my Epoxy Resin with lots of colorant when I attempt to tint an EPS/Epoxy.
I get around dealing will imperfect colors by doing epoxy resins swirls. Some people really hate that look ( @resinhead) but I like it.
One trick for color that I learned the hard was is to never scrape the bottom of your bucket to get that last little bit of epoxy resin out of it. You are likely to get some over colored bits off of the sides that didn’t mix well. You’ll end up with ugly color blobs that may note cure entirely.
Epoxy tints are always a pain..opaque colour a little easier… free lap bottom with a cutlap deck works if you get the colours right…..cut lap on foam narly…beads pulling out bleeding and the fact that epoxy will go rock hard over masking tape very small window for green trim
I’ve done both PU and eps foam resin tints. About 25 boards total now. Half and half. EPS foam should be sealed with spackle. Make it a mayonnaise consistency with distilled water only. Slap in on the entire board. Sand w/ 120 grit until you start sanding foam again but all the voids have spackle in them. That’s the best way to make a consistent color. For color, do lighter colored boards. Imperfections won’t show up as easy. That or opaque. Stay away from greens and reds imo. Use a coffee strainer to catch the chunks of pigment that didn’t get mixed in well
Worst colours for tinting polyester or epoxy Dirty Colours browns ,steel blue, mustard kaki green…anything with black added. Hipster colurs hahah. Epoxy wise Pigment can be added to hardner makes straining easier….
These last few comments are all good advice/tips. I tend to go fairly opaque. Which means lots of pigment in my bucket. It hides all those scratches etc. you can usually just barely make out the stringer on one of mine. I’ve got two that I am going to have FeVer do for me and he’s going to tint them white. Hides everything.
