CPES

[DudKC]

Permanent sounds a little too permanent for the door. I could see the benefit of doing it to the hurricane hinge though.

[angib]

Even epoxy makes a poor bond onto stainless steel, so you can get S/S screws out even if screwed into wet epoxy. That's not true for any other screw material and, for anything else than steel, the screw is likely to shear off instead of screw out!

[dh]

Just a random thought. You could, in theory, drill a 1/2" hole, fill with epoxy, and drill and tap to accept a machine screw...

[DudKC]

On your trim, I'd plan on epoxy coating out the back side before install. Any water that can get in behind it will cause the top surface to eventually pop. I learned this the hard way.

If'n it were me, I'd use a 3M 5200 caulk/adhesive available in caulk gun sized tubes. It's made for below water uses, not cheap, but a lot better than a home type latex or acrylic caulk. You're probably gonna see some of the caulk when all done however. I thicken up epoxy with silica and install the trim so that I get a bit of squish, and wipe it down with a finger. That way I get a fairly clear "fillet".

I'd check with a marine place or you can order your cloth from West Systems Geougon (sp?) Bros. At least you get all the same stuff and as big as you need, comes rolled on a tube. Doug

If I epoxy the backside of the trim, would I have to install the trim at the same time that I epoxy the sidewalls and roof, or can I let the sidewalls and roof cure completely, then rough them up and apply the epoxy using the bonding technique on the West System website?

[doug hodder]

Whether you do the final install with a caulk or epoxy....I'd coat them out first and let it cure. That way, it's encapsulated. If not, you are assuming that you are getting a complete bond on the backside, and that may not be the case. Just a quick scuff and some epoxy and it'd be ready. Doug

[DudKC]

http://mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=45097

In the above thread I mentioned I plan on staining the oak and birch plywood prior to epoxying it with the Minwax yellow can stuff. Is that not a good idea for the adhesion of the epoxy?

[DudKC]

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/epoxy-adhesion-over-stains/

Answered my own question. I am still interested if anyone else has used the Minwax and had success. West Systems did not have success with that particular brand, but other oil based stains did work. I am a fan of stained woods, but some of the natural looking TD's look good too, so I guess I'll just have to rethink this step and figure out what I want it to look like.

[Larry C]

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/epoxy-adhesion-over-stains/

Answered my own question. I am still interested if anyone else has used the Minwax and had success. West Systems did not have success with that particular brand, but other oil based stains did work. I am a fan of stained woods, but some of the natural looking TD's look good too, so I guess I'll just have to rethink this step and figure out what I want it to look like.

I think the safest bet for staining is to use aniline dyes instead. They are not oil based and do work under epoxy.

Larry C

[doug hodder]

Ditto....aniline dyes are a safer bet. Doug

[dh]

Taken from the link you provided.

If you have a preferred stain not listed above, you can conduct your own adhesion test. Be sure to cut completely through the epoxy coating and use a high tack tape. If you have no preferred stain, consider WD Lockwood's water-based aniline dye stain. It has worked reliably under epoxy for many years

Looks like they have lots of colors too, look at the top of the page for the "color families". Looks like some are water based and some are alcohal based.

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merc ... goryID=169

[Larry C]

Here's a good tutorial on staining wood with dyes.
http://www.greenval.com/FAQstaining.html

Dyes:
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.a ... ,190,42942


Larry C

[Jim T]

Hello all,
When you speak of epoxy failing on a corner, how sharp of a corner are you talking about? The molding that seperates the tops of my walls from the roof of the trailer has about an 1/8" radius curve on the corner? Is this something that needs to be reinforced with tape, or will that work OK.
Jim

[dh]

I would still reinforce with tape to help keep the epoxy from cracking. 1/8" isn't much radious.

[doug hodder]

On my 2 woodies...the first one has some issues because of the cracking on the trim, on the 2nd one, it's much better as I eased the edges a bit more. The trim on the woodies is approx 1/4" thick and I didn't officially rout a round-over, I just hit it with sandpaper, a bit more on the 2nd than the first one. This type of thing also needs to be protected from the environment. Lots of heat/cool cycles in blazing sun will aggravate it and cause it to crack. The real culprit is a HARD 90.

I just did epoxy. I've not used any cloth on the exteriors on any of my tears. Wouldn't have worked on the trim as described as it's too thin, just epoxy, however...I did lay on plenty of layers.

To stir the pot...CPES is a penetrating type thing. Once the first coat is on...that's it...it doesn't penetrate any more. It's done it's thing. Epoxy being more viscous is what builds up the finish at that point. A good layer of epoxy = many layers of CPES. I figured since it's all new materials, just encase the whole thing in "plastic" or epoxy. On my door jambs, they look like plastic...no visible sign of any wood grain...you really gotta put on a lot of layers and sand it out to look great.

People here have had failures with both, however, I'll go out on a limb and say that I'd bet that more CPES users have had issues as opposed to the straight epoxy types. It's all in the prep work/ application and top coating. With either method/product...you can't cut a corner and think it's going to be fine. It doesn't work that way. Others opinions may vary.

For me...I've got plenty of 1/8" round overs with no cloth on them, but they are on smaller pieces. I've got like a 3/8 round over on the roofs of the 2 trolley tops and only sealed with epoxy, no cloth, 4 years on the Rocketear, 3 on the voyager. Doug

[Larry C]

People here have had failures with both, however, I'll go out on a limb and say that I'd bet that more CPES users have had issues as opposed to the straight epoxy types. It's all in the prep work/ application and top coating. With either method/product...you can't cut a corner and think it's going to be fine. It doesn't work that way. Others opinions may vary.
Doug

+1

Larry C