Epoxy Resin??

[kmmcrafts]

I have a ton of keychains I made about 8 years ago.. They are silhouette cutout and then glued to a backer with a hole drilled for the chain.. I used the InLace material on some of them and sold them for a while.. they was good sellers at the time but the ones I have on hand wouldn't really look good with the red or black inlace.. so I got to thinking about the resin.. would rather have a clear probably gloss.. 

The first chain I made is one I use and have carried for a long time.. still holding up well with the inlace.. The reason I never sold the others is I thought the cutout would catch or snag the insides of the pocket or ?? and damage the pocket and or the cutting.. so i really wanted to fill this cutout.. back at that time.. i'd never heard of the epoxy resins.. and I have no experience with them at all.. Is this stuff strong durable stuff? Like if I coat the whole keychain will it wear off quickly?  If I only fill the void area.. can i sand it flush and buff it out shiny again.. 

I guess my real question is.. Is it strong and durable and how would you do this.. Just fill the void as level as you can without creating a lump. or lump it up and sand it down.. I'm contemplating buying some of this stuff.. If I do.. what's the shelf life of it? I have other projects I'd probably use it on eventually but.. from what i see a gallon works out cheaper than a 16oz. but then mayby not if I only use 16oz and the rest goes bad LOL.. 

Looking for any tips or advice on these.. I need to do something with about 100 keychains that have just been setting in limbo for a Looonnggg time.. I need to move them out.. Heck.. if they are still good sellers.. Maybe I'll make many more of them, LOL 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Well Kevin I will share my knowledge from the pen turning world because Epoxy resins have become popular there and I have used them with good success. First off there are many types of epoxy resins out there from casting resins to bar top resins and everything in between. The casting resin is the one you want. It is durable when cured and as I said used in the pen making hobby so it has to be. What makes this stuff a good fit is it dries super clear, does not require a pressure pot to get rid of bubbles, polishes to a high shine, and as I said durable but also sticks to everything just about. That is why it gets used for pens. I shown this pen, my scrollsaw blade pen, here before but I made this last year for a contest and it was cast in epoxy resin. The 2 leaders in the market are Liquid Diamonds which this is and Royal Palm. Both are very good and not sure on price but bet they are comparable. There are many new players and I have no knowledge of how good they are. If you are just coating things you could get away with bar top resins but you want one that is super clear. Most have a yellow tint. 

 

No to the buying gallons unless you are going to be doing a ton of these. Shelf life is about one year if stored in cool but not below freezing temps and not high heat. It is a 2 to 1 ratio mix that is crucial. We use a scale to measure the parts. Those are cheap. This stuff is water thin and thus gets in all the nooks and crannies but needs a mold to hold in place. Silicon molds are great because when sprayed with a mold release agent the resin does not stick to it. I use Stoner mold release. A little goes a long way. This stuff does not generate alot of heat as it cures because it cures very slowly. Usually 24 hours. This gives those tiny bubbles a chance to rise to the top and burst. A small hair dryer can help this too when passed over it. You do not go crazy when stirring but need to stir thoroughly getting all corners of the cup or container. That 2 to 1 ratio is critical. It will generate bubbles but will dissipate. It can be tinted and things added to it. 

Without seeing the item I can not suggest what or how to cast. It can be sanded planed cut but then needs to be polished. In the pen turning world we polish with Micro mesh pads and use water as the carrier. You could put on a buffer and use white diamond and then top with an automotive wax. Good luck.

Edited February 7, 2019 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[kmmcrafts]

Beautiful pen,  Thank you for all the great information.. I'm glad I asked the question as I almost just bought it and gave it a try for myself.. I didn't realize there was casting type and all the other types.. so who knows what my out come would have been because of these different types..

Again Thank you for taking the time to shed some light on the topic,

 

 

[OCtoolguy]

Kevin, I'm curious as to what you are doing. Can you post a pic of the key chains? I am trying to learn something here too.

 

[kmmcrafts]

7 hours ago, octoolguy said:

Kevin, I'm curious as to what you are doing. Can you post a pic of the key chains? I am trying to learn something here too.

 

So basically what I have is a silhouette cutout on one piece of 1/8 bbply and another 1/8 “ ( backer) contrasting wood like Walnut and glued them together. I was using the “ unlace” resin material for some of my keychains but some I kinda wanted wanted to keep the natural colors of the wood. But some of the cutouts have pointy spots that I thought would snag on someone’s pocket or purse so I felt they needed filed in with inlace or epoxy resin. I just never got around to doing them in part because I didn’t know what to use. 

Below is my keychain I made back in about 2008. It’s a wheel horse lawn tractor logo filled in with red and black inlace. The inlace is sanded flush to make a smooth snag free keychain. This is quite worn from 10 years of carrying in my pocket etc.

This is what I was wanting to do with clear epoxy so the backer wood color would show through rather than the colored inlace.

 

Edit To Add: Many of the ones I have done that need finishing is patterns that Steve Good  did years ago.. If you go to the pattern catalog and search "key" in all categories the patterns I did was on the second page all the way at the bottom.. These used to sell real well and quick easy to make a bunch of them by stack cutting 5-6 at once.. Some I made are from 1/16" hardwoods glued to a 1/8" backer.. The plywood ones look nice and these are so small many times they can be cut from scraps or odd places on a stack of ornaments that I make such as doing four ornaments on a blank.. the center of the blank has enough room to cut a stack.. sometimes two stacks of the keychains.. or the backers..

Edited February 12, 2019 by kmmcrafts

[OCtoolguy]

27 minutes ago, kmmcrafts said:

So basically what I have is a silhouette cutout on one piece of 1/8 bbply and another 1/8 “ ( backer) contrasting wood like Walnut and glued them together. I was using the “ unlace” resin material for some of my keychains but some I kinda wanted wanted to keep the natural colors of the wood. But some of the cutouts have pointy spots that I thought would snag on someone’s pocket or purse so I felt they needed filed in with inlace or epoxy resin. I just never got around to doing them in part because I didn’t know what to use. 

Below is my keychain I made back in about 2008. It’s a wheel horse lawn tractor logo filled in with red and black inlace. The inlace is sanded flush to make a smooth snag free keychain. This is quite worn from 10 years of carrying in my pocket etc.

This is what I was wanting to do with clear epoxy so the backer wood color would show through rather than the colored inlace.

 

Edit To Add: Many of the ones I have done that need finishing is patterns that Steve Good  did years ago.. If you go to the pattern catalog and search "key" in all categories the patterns I did was on the second page all the way at the bottom.. These used to sell real well and quick easy to make a bunch of them by stack cutting 5-6 at once.. Some I made are from 1/16" hardwoods glued to a 1/8" backer.. The plywood ones look nice and these are so small many times they can be cut from scraps or odd places on a stack of ornaments that I make such as doing four ornaments on a blank.. the center of the blank has enough room to cut a stack.. sometimes two stacks of the keychains.. or the backers..

I'm still not sure of what you want to do. I see what you have there but what is it you intend to do differently? I've never heard of "inlace" so that's a mystery too.

 

 

[Sparkey]

I pretty much agree with what John said. I also use it for making pens, seam rippers and bottle stoppers. If you sand the resin you will have to sand it to very fine to get rid of the scratches and make it clear again. I usually sand mine up to 12,000.

[kmmcrafts]

4 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

I'm still not sure of what you want to do. I see what you have there but what is it you intend to do differently? I've never heard of "inlace" so that's a mystery too.

 

 

I was just going to use clear epoxy to fill in the void area of the cutout after I glue the backer on.. this makes it smooth, rather than having the cutout being recessed and having jagged edges snagging the inside of peoples pockets or purses.. The epoxy would fill that void and make it smooth while hopefully remaining clear so I could have a natural wood color showing the contrasting wood backer color..

Inlace is a liquid material with color pigments in it.. many colors to choose from.. and it uses a activator to make it set up.. The smell of the stuff and consistency reminds me of fiberglass resin.. but with color, LOL.. and I suspect it is mostly the same thing just pigmented and no fibers of coarse.. Don't think it's quite as strong as the stuff used on cars / boats etc.. though..They do have it in clear.. but I've heard it's not really all that clear like the epoxy resin stuff..