Epoxy Rock Work Table Top & Counter Top


MarVer

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So to continue on . . .  I have been teaching myself and learning Epoxy for the first time. It looked like a fun thing to try. I started this 6 weeks ago . . .  and wow what a lot of work and a steep learning curve.

 

Don't you Love AND Hate those You Tube videos. I admire those who so work hard to put them all together and post them. IT ALL HAPPENS IN 15 MINUTES OR LESS!  . . .  Ha Ha What could be harder than that?

ANYWAY :

LQQking For Advise  On The Following:

I am at the point of having the forms stripped. More pics to follow over the next few days. BTW I used a Deep Cast Epoxy. This product is a very slow cure product . . .  ie. 84 hours to set and 7 days to fully cure . . .  Hense It will take time to show you the pics, and progress. This is not a project for those of shallow pockets. The two pieces you see and three smaller back splash pieces will require almost 21 gallons. FYI the best price I was able to find was $200.00 per THREE GALLON KIT plus tax and shipping. AT  the exposed edges only they are between 3 1/2" to 4" thick.

So here are the questions that you can help with.

Over the next few weeks I am planning to scrub the surface with120 git and then 300 ish sand paper Prior to Flood coating. PLEASE RECOMEND IF YOU KNOW  BETTER EXPERIENCE? . . . Grit of paper etc. between coats?

MY NEXT STEPS:

a) Machine with a 1/8 "round over bit on most of the edges

b) I will be also machine round over bit around the sink openings and garbage holes with larger radiuses TO SUIT.

c)  I will be Flood Coating using a 1/16" notched trowel and let the epoxy run off the edges. This epoxy is PE 100 . . . a 12 to 16 hour set and cure rate, ( temperature Relevant).

Question # 2

Sanding and polishing to a mirror finish ? I am hoping my flood coating will minimise the inperfections.

 

THANKS for reading and I look forward to your best advise.

Martin

 

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I wish I could offersome helpful advice, but epoxy casting is outside my wheel-house. For me, epoxy is just glue.

One question, what is that stone you are using? Is it soft enough to cut smoothly with a carbide router bit when you do the round-over? 

I suppose that is one bit of advice I can offer, use brand-new cutters for the work, don't cut to full depth in one pass, and make sure the bit is free of any shmutz before you take the final clean-up pass. You want to avoid any heat build-up.

Unless you want a satin sheen, you will probably get a better surface by pouring a thin topcoat and letting it self-level. Sanding and polishing back to gloss is a lot of work.

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Hi wtnhighlander:

Thank you for ur response. Perhaps this might be of interest to some of your members.

I love trying working with new materials and branching out from wood working such as welding and in this case stone. To answer your question the stone I used is a slate which is VERY hard . . . don't know the hardness scale  . . . but I went through 5  diamond disks cutting and shaping the stone mosaic.

I also bought an air driven wet polisher for stone around 250.00. . . It is much like any 5 " angle grinder BUT THIS ONE FEEDS WATER CONTINUOUSLY TO WHERE YOUR WORK IS. . . . 4 or 5" discs are driven by air and a water feed hose which passes through the grinder and feeds onto the surface you are grinding RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARBOUR WHERE YOU TIGHTEN THE DIAMOND DISKS OR SANDIING DISKS The machine didn't come with a guard like most grinders . . . so I took an old guard that I had from a burnt out grinder . . . modified it and fed the water line to a whole in the guard so as to feed directly onto the outside of diamond CUTTING WHEEL . . . This keeps the diamond cool so it can better cut the stone and also makes it totally dust free. If I didn't do that the diamonds ware away WAY TO FAST  and I would be breathing I a cloud of dust.

 I also have an old 10" Target water saw that I did a rock wall with the help of some super qualified stone masons who taught me an awful lot.

On the project above I was after a certain look which is looking into a clear water stream or lake in where you can make out the three dimensions under water. I also just wanted to play around with the metallic colours that you can do with the epoxy , A HEAT GUN AND A TORCH. I got a little carried away with the colour on the first pour  of the sink countertop and lost some of the perception of depth but it still turned out awesome non the less. BTW there is a stainless steel UNDER - MOUNT sink in there that is totally encapsulated in place by epoxy. Kinda cool when you see how I did it. Pics are a thousand words. Quite the formwork to dot it. EVERYTHING HAS TO BE LEAK PROOF  until the epoxy sets

On the Table Top I did something I mixed up about a gallon of the PE-100 standard epoxy ( not deep cast).see the 3 rd. picture above  After a 16 hour set time I mixed another 6 gallon deep cast pour OF CLEAR. see the 4th. picture above

As with all projects it is about the endless prep work  

In The pictures so far  it is difficult to see what I am talking about. the plastic hoarding around the pieces is to keep the pieces free of dust floating around in the room. I will share some other pics later to help you  better see it but there is 1/4" of epoxy covering the stone.

Epoxy can be used as a glue as we all know in wood working. But in this case it IS NOT SO MUCH AS A GLUE . . . BUT A MATERIAL TO COMPLETLY ENCAPSULATE.

Pardon the rambling on but the stone is back set from the edges of the forms to enable routing ONLY EPOXY AND NOT STONE. Also at top of the epoxy a meniscus is formed wherever epoxy  touches a form wall and that is why it needs to be routed ROUND OVER.

Any way thanks for reading I will post more pics as the work continues.

best rgards,

Martin

 

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