Done some using poly. Can the same ideas be applied to epoxy or is there diff things I should watch out for?
Thanks
i’ve never done it, but i imagine the rails would be very difficult to wet out without everything mudding up when using epoxy.
I was wondering the same thing a while ago after reading the post on fiberglass hawaii epoxy resin. I have never used epoxy but will have to change to it sooner or later because my neighbors are not too keen on the smell of polyester
If you used two different viscosity resins like an RR 2000 and 2020 to do a swirl would they still bond together well enough? would it help keep colors seperate in a splash or swirl?
Wheres Greg
I’ve done a couple with epoxy. None with poly. Both came out surprizingly good. The hard part is not “mudding up” the rails. With epoxy you want to be very stingy with the volume of material used and it seems with poly you just pour it on. That makes epoxy a little more of a challenge. Just keep the squegee clean. From the great Austin videos and Cleanlines guides, it other wise seems to work the same. good luck
how about if you swirl on the blank , let it dry , then laminate with clear epoxy or poly over the top of your patterns ? Would there be no “muddying” doing it that way ? Or , would the rails STILL be the problem area ?
I’ve never done a resin swirl , so I’m just wondering …would that method be okay ? Or, would the “added weight” be an issue ?
How many layers of cloth do people “swirl” at a time , by the way ? … BOTH of the two deck layers ? [does this use extra resin , compared to ‘normal’ [clear laminations ]? Sorry we don’t have those videos available here …I’d LOVE to watch them , and give a resin swirl a go , one day ! [are they available on the more universal dvd yet ?]
okay… thanks !
ben
I read somewhere in here that to stop muddin when using epoxy you pour your swirl, and before you squeegee off the extra, fold your laps onto it to saturate them instead of pulling the epoxy off the sides.
Wheres greg?
Quote:
to stop muddin when using epoxy you pour your swirl, and before you squeegee off the extra, fold your laps onto it to saturate them instead of pulling the epoxy off the sides.
ooooo…that’s pretty slick…i like that. epoxy swirls, here i come!!!
The last swirl I did was Epoxy (RR) It turned out just the same as the second to last swirl… which was poly.
I need to steal the digital camera back from my wife! I’ll post some images before these boards are gone (both for friends).
Both were deck inset swirls and tinted bottoms/laps, so I didn’t have any muddy lap issues. For this application they are the same - only the poly was Solarez and much quicker to set - even with the color which was almost opaque… the Epoxy took more time but the end product is the same.
All That said - I agree that you might not want to be as wasteful with Epoxy as you might be willing to be with poly in color work, so it makes me more careful. And… RR Epoxy = very little odor at all - so the neighbors are happy.
Since I don’t have a heated area to laminate…
Cooler temps - Solarez works the best for me but it is smelly.
Summertime - RR EPoxy - no smell - great to work with… but more time to flip time.
Eric J
Folded laps. I may try it, but wouldn’t that smear the colors too?
It may smear some, but as long as the colors are fairly well defined when poured I’d think you’d still get some nice variation in the laps.
And… the resin would be pretty thick when you fold up the laps to get some color in them so you should not mess up the deck color much. You will pull alot of the deck resin off to the rails anyway when you squeegee.
The swirl colors are always kind of a crap-shoot in my limited experience. I’d say rails be dammed… pour away for a good swirl on the deck/bottom and let the rails do what they will. Best swirls seem to have well defined colors so that they don’t just blend to mud.
Where’s Austin…?
Watch the Austin videos if you can - very helpful. (but you already said that…!)
Hey guys,
I dont use epoxy, its not my bag. But here is a quick problem solver…before you even swirl…take your base color and saturate your rails and flip them. Then go back, swirl, dump, and then squeegee quickly around rails/nose/tail to fling the excess off of the board before it runs down the rails. Then clean squeegee and clean your rails one more time. Get it?
Hope that helps.
Austin
PS. You can always do a clear bottom and swirl inlay.
Quote:
how about if you swirl on the blank , let it dry , then laminate with clear epoxy or poly over the top of your patterns ? Would there be no “muddying” doing it that way ? Or , would the rails STILL be the problem area ?
I’ve never done a resin swirl , so I’m just wondering …would that method be okay ? Or, would the “added weight” be a issue ?
How many layers of cloth do people “swirl” at a time , by the way ? … BOTH of the two deck layers ? [does this use extra resin , compared to ‘normal’ [clear laminations ]? Sorry we don’t have those videos available here …I’d LOVE to watch them , and give a resin swirl a go , one day ! [are they available on the more universal dvd yet ?]
okay… thanks !
ben
any thoughts , please ?
hey chip,
doing it on the blank the rails would still be a bit of trouble. It would also add weight. When i do swirls they are just 1 layer of cloth. any more layers and the colors arent as crisp. can you view the videos i make in oz? Hope that helps.
Austin S.
ive done swirls with both polyester and epoxy – if you do them both the same way then they will come out the same way
Ben (chipfisheranator),
doing a swirl on the foam and then laminating it with clear epoxy/poly works out fine – there will be no muddying
this is mainly done on the deck when the bottom comes up to a cut lap with a diff color or swirl ; or just when a swirl or tint is done unto the deck and stoped at like a one in., two in. spot towards the rail
very little weight is added
you should do the swirl on as many layers of cloth that you plan on using for that side lamination – say your using 2 layers on the bottom; do the swirl while you’re laminating both of those two layers – dont do a swirl on one layer then wait for it to dry and then do a clear layer over that, its more time consuming and has no benefit, but if you wanted to do it i dont see why you couldnt do it
addressing the rail issue
if you pour a hefty amount of swirled resin by a rail and then sqeegeed it onto the lap, then the laps will come out fine
i found with epoxy resin that one way you can get a good color on a rail is by wetting the lap with your base color completely and then taking another color you used and pouring it or squirting it out of a ketchup bottle onto the rails; it will work fine - fold the laps over, let it dry, and then sand any bumps left on the laps – the color will still be there after its sanded
heres an example of one me and grobeyy did
you can pour the lines starting at your tucked under edge to the end of your lap – and then pinline it off on the bottom to make it look like its own little seperate colored area
a pic of the lines on the cut lap (sun’s sorta in the way)
hope this helps
hey psychedelicsurf,
I cant say that i agree with you that doing both layers at the same time during a swirl has no difference in the final outcome. Over my time doing resin swirls keeping it to 1 layer of glass during a swirl keeps the swirls crisp and clean. The added layer of clear gives a depth that cannot be matched. Think about hotrods and how many clear coats they get to give them that deep shine. same principles different mediums. Check out the depth on this swirl.
All of my longboards come with a clear 4oz bottom layer and the depth gained is amazing.
Austin S.
Quote:
All of my longboards come with a clear 4oz bottom layer and the depth gained is amazing.
do you do a full cutlap right over the swirled layer, or do you do a short freelap à la gene cooper?
hey austin
thanks for letting me know. i never thought it would make a difference but now i understand your concept. il try it on the next i do. btw man kewl swirls on the boards especially the red one.
hey brandon,
we do a short freelap just barely wrapping the rails.
psychedelic,
sure thing man.
Austin S.
Quote:
can you view the videos i make in oz? Hope that helps.
Austin S.
do you make 'em on “region free” dvds at all , because I think your video system is pal isn’t it , whereas ours is ntsc [or whatever it’s called ??]
I would gladly purchase a dvd if they were available here in oz [I don’t have a video player any more , unfortunately, so I have no way of watching a vid [or any of my many ones either !]
ben
Quote:
do you make 'em on “region free” dvds at all , because I think your video system is pal isn’t it , whereas ours is ntsc [or whatever it’s called ??]
US is NTSC, Europe uses PAL. On DVD I don’t think it matters at all, however you player should be region free because that stuff is just bullshit from the movie industry to keep the consumers down. Information wants to be free regards, Håvard