I’m sure some of you have seen or made a bar with stuff (coins, sea shells etc.) embeded on the top in a clear resin. My question is where can I get that resin? Would like a brand name and maybe a cost. Went to the big orange store and the guy in the paint dept. didn’t have a clue. Any help would be appreciated as the bar is built and I just need to finish the top.
Marc
Replies
You want polymer resin, equal parts resin and hardener. It's not cheap. Here's a source: http://www.klockit.com/products/dept-94__sku-GGGEE.html
If you use cheaper polyester resin with a bit of catalyst, the finish is more brittle and likely to crack.
If the bartop isn't really thick, you'll need a matching coat on the bottom surface to prevent the wood warping as the plastic shrinks. This can be polyester, however. Good idea to finish the bottom side of the slab anyway.
plain ol' boat epoxy resin works.
dont overdo the hardener.
This is really great stuff, but likely a bit past your price range, even though described as 'low cost'.
http://www.pr.afrl.af.mil/successes/transfer/ss51_96.htm
Carefull with the boat epoxy, If your sustrate is not dry you may have some blushing going on.
My forte, Lou
pretty sure the last one I helped my painter with he bought everything at HD.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
This is the cheapest place I've found:
http://www.cherrytreetoys.com/prodinfo.asp?number=24-100-6&aitem=6&mitem=7
I've used it for coating wood tv tables, etc. which my wife has painted scenes on with acrylic paints. Behaves virtually identically to the Envirotex epoxy which seems to be the most commonly available at paint & hardware stores.
Don
Used to be that something called "bar topping" was sold in craft shops. It was two parts, and came in containers from a few ounces to gallons.
(And I never seem to have trouble imbedding stuff in it. Not always the stuff I wanted, though.)
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
So I was gonna ask this same question a week ago. A client asked me about making a top with this resin....so about pricey what would the resin do to build a 40' top?
Thanks
Dan
When I coat a tv table (the folding wood tables you can get almost anywhere to put your dinner on while you enjoy the modern version of family mealtime watching TV), I use about 10 oz. to cover the approx. 1.25 square feet.
I believe they call for about 8 oz. per sf, so that works out about right. That gives you about a 1/16" coating - usually pretty sufficient, but sometimes I get spots which don't wet out, and end up putting a second coat on (which can be a little lighter).
At 8 oz per sf, that gives 16 sf per gallon, but you should allow a fair amount extra in case you need to go multiple layers, if the top is out of level, etc. If you're talking 40 square feet, I'd get a 4 gallon kit for the $128 plus shipping from Cherry Tree:
http://www.cherrytreetoys.com/prodinfo.asp?number=24-100-6&aitem=6&mitem=7
Unless your design allows you to dam it up around the edge, you usually just let it drip off the edge & trim/sand off the drips after it's hardened. There's also the issue of using a propane torch to pop the bubbles, and finding a way to keep dust off it for the several hours it takes to harden enough to not have the dust leave permanent marks (I figure 36 hours before I want to really handle the surface).
You'd definitely want to do some smaller tops first to practice.
As far as the OP's wanting to embed shells or other things in the finish - that implies a much thicker coating, so there might be cheaper options. Or, one could rout out holes in a wooden top to drop the object down. Bubbles would probably be an issue with just about anything embedded - might want to encase irregularly-shaped objects first, then put that down & coat it.
Don
also called lucite resin think i'm gonna build a coffee table for my mom and embed all the kidney stones i've passed and saved over the years was gonna have them set in gold loops onto a necklace for her, but it could be a problem in damp weather she owns a gun
Probably not the best place to get it, but this is the stuff I've used.
http://woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=4140
Thanks for the great info. As always I knew I could get an answer here.
Marc
Of course, if you'd wanted a CORRECT answer we assume you'd have gone somewhere else.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin