Anyone used this stuff? I love the way it looks but worry about the amount that needs to be used to achieve the nice deep color - about 1/2 oz per quart of resin. The manufacturer (Environmental Technology) hasn’t done any tests on how much dye can be used before it affects resin strength properties. I also thought about using the dye in both the lam and hot coat to get the same color with a lower dye/resin ratio than if all the dye is in the lam layer. I really like the look of transparent vs. opaque. and want to use it on my next board. I REALLY appreciate any advice on using the transparent tints/dyes. Thanks
A buddy of mine tried doing the colored hotcoat thing and it worked great untill it was time to sand the hot coat. After sanding the green resin tint was about as gracefull as a dirty hair filled wax job. Also if you expirement with the colors and pigments i think you will be surprised with how little pigment is required to achieve a dark color. However, from personal expirence darker colors always look better than lighter ones. When in doubt add more pigment. Just make sure you mix it really thouroughly. The pigment will clump together during the first thirty seconds or so of stirring it then begins to break apart and disperse evenly. darren
I’m pretty sure were talking apples and oranges. I’m not using pigment, its transparent resin dye…really a different animal.
I only know of one thing that colors resin and thats Transparent or Opaque pigments. There the same thing, or I should say they work the same way. One is usually a paste, the other is usually a liquid. If your having trouble with your transparents add a little white pigment too it. And I think lighter colors are easier than darker colors, Yellow or orange is the easiest and cranberry or purple is the worst. Every gouge, scrape, or blow through with a dark color will really stand out if the blank is not blem free. Add the pigment to the lam coat and don’t event try to do it to the hot coat unless you are a really good hot coater and sander. If you get any sags or sand throughs your screwed. -Jay
Transparent pigment then. From my limited experience, I’ll be using about 1/4 oz per quart of lam resin to get the DEEP color I want. Adding anything in that quantity concerns me. Anyone use find they need to use that much to get a dDEEP transparent blue? Any resin problems?
I just got a sample of some new “dye” in a little squirt bottle from Dale at The Surf Source in Florida. They want me to try it out to see how it works as a tint for surfboards. I believe it’s a product from another industry, it’s really thin, looks like scope mouthwash. I’ll try it on a stock board soon and post some results…
dale have anymore? im calling in an order tomorrow, i think ill ask him about it. or where it comes from. i wonder how well it would work. still not sure of difference between dye and pigment, as ive never ehard of dyes before.
Mitchell, Adding lots of pigment won’t effect the board but, add only enough pigment to the resin to produce the desired color. Do not exceed 2 ounces of pigment per quart of resin, (Thats about 2 shot glasses of pigment, thats a lot of Pigment). Test it on a piece of scrap foam before proceeding with the project. Addition of pigment may slow resin gel, especially 2 oz’s worth. Correct by adding more catalyst, or do as I do use UV catalyst additives. Good luck. -Jay
Is Surf Source the only place on the east coast were I can get pigments for tints?Any one know of any place else ? I have axcess to a good choice of opaques but NO tints,any help would be greaty appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Thanks Jay. I’ve been worried about exceeding 1/4 oz per quart and that wasn’t enough to achieve the color I was looking on my first board. The stuff I bought is called “transparent resin dye” on the bottle.
The bigest problem that you will run into is getting a smooth uniform color once laminated. What may end up happening is that patches will be darker than others and certain spots might be lighter than others. Unless you are a VERY skilled laminator chances are you will most likely run into this poblem. Now here;s the kicker, the darker the tint the greater the magnification of this problem. Lighter colors are easier because there is much less pigment in the resin to spread evenly. Think of it like using an airbrush. If you hold the airbrush down to hard in certain spots and not hard in others the job will look splotchy and non-uniform. Pigmented resin has the same characterisitics. You must achive a level uniform dispersion of resin in the lam coat otherwie your board will look spotty. Also vertain colors are harder to achive this uniformity than others. Dark blue, and greens are rather dodgy. Whereas it is simpler to get a deeper yelllow or orange. My advice would be to do a very light tint on your first board and builf up to a darker color with each successive board. BUT if you are the impatient type, and aren’t we all here is some advice: FIRST, DO NOT DUMP ALL THE PIGMENT IN AT ONCE!!! Start by adding about a quarter of the amount you think you need because chances are you will use less than you thought. Remeber with resin pigment even a small amount will add a lot of color to your resin. For istance to do a longboard ina baby blue, I would add less than teaspoon. Anyhoo, prepare a big test patch of faom with a bunch of 4" x 4" scraps of the SAME glass that you will be glassing the board with and begin testing. To test transcluceny of the resin draw on the foam scrap with a sharpie or pencil, do this to see how much the resin covers the markings. Keeping adding more more pigment until you are pleased with the color transparency. The more white pigment in the mix the more opaque the color gets. If you want transparencey then do not add any. For instance if you want the color to be lighter in tone, do not add white to it. Get a color wheel that shows you how each color interact with each color. This will make mixing very easy. Mix only the same manufactures pigments with each other. Do not mix diffrent manufacturers. First rule of mixing color: add dark to light colors and not the oher way around. Using UV resin is great but up to only a point. Once your resin gets very deep (dark) the UV resin is not an alternative because the darker the color gets the more it prevents UV light from penetrating all the way to the foam. But I have done some fairly dark medium tints with no problem, so I cannot tell you where the threshold is. I bring this up because if you can use the UV resin it will give you more time for lay up. Mix enough uncatalyzed pigmented resin for ENTIRE BOARD with some left over. ALWAYS STRAIN the pigment with a paint strainer prior to glassing. Look at Cooper surfboards and Hunt Customs websites for inspiration. Have Fun Drew
Tint is for transparent color (like looking through colored cellophane), pigment for opaques (like paint). That said, a little pigment can be used to approximate a tint, but will not produce the same transparent effect. You almost cannot go wrong using yellow tint. The blank has to be really clean b/c any dents or scratches will fill with more color and show as darker areas, especially with darker tints like blue or red. NEVER COLOR A HOT COAT. You think you can sand evenly? I tell you not. BTDT. Add a little at a time to your resin. Too much tint makes less difference than too much pigment. Straining should not be necessary unless the color is really old. If you get new color that’s grainy or uneven, take it back and demand a refund, it should not be that way. But it will get there over the years. Stir well unless intending to achieve the acid splash effect.
Yeah;someone else, I love yellow tints and pigments,they always look good and are the easiest I think.Has anyone noticed the hell you can go thru if you add a little black pigment to a color? Man, those micro-specks of black can appear out of nowhere during squee-geeing and AHHHHHHH! Even filtering doesn’t always get them out. To the person looking for another source of pigment or tint: Atlantic Surfing Materials,1-800-327-7516.
I use just a we little bit to mute colors. So instead of a candy blue, if you use a drop or two of black you get a cool, steel MANLY blue!!! Drew
An experienced glasser will tell you one strainer may not be enough, thalo green, blue tint and a lot of other colors need exteme straining. I used to stack several strainers atop one another, with 2 strainers on the top, covered by a scrap of 4 oz. for a pre-strainer. If the first gets clogged, pitch it and replace the initial strainer. I found an old Hamilton-Beech mixer on the side of the road on trash day, put the batch under the mixers and let it run for 10 minutes, then strain it, it lets you go onto other work in the mean time