How to Resin Flood Coat a High Gloss Epoxy Coating Onto Wood and Other Surfaces

Our latest Instructable demonstrates how to flood coat a super glossy top-coat onto a wood surface like a resin river table. The same process can be adapted for other surfaces too.

These step-by-step instructions and the attached video tutorial, cover all the general information needed to apply a hi-gloss, hardwearing finish to any table or surface using crystal clear epoxy coating resin.

To demonstrate how we did this we used the Forged Carbon River Table we made in our previous Instructable!

In this Instructable we will go through the following steps:

1. Supplies and Safety
2. Preparing the Surface
3. Applying a Sealing Coat
4. Preparing the Surface for the Resin Pour
5. Measuring, Mixing and Pouring the Resin
6. Finishing the Project

We'd love to know what you think and which finish you prefer and as always if you have any comments or questions please add them below...

What you'll need:

Materials

• GlassCast 3 Epoxy Coating Resin (includes hardener)

Ancillaries

• Resin Release Tape 50mm width
• Resin Spreader
• Abrasive Paper
• Disposable Paint Brush
• Reusable Resin Mixing Stick
• Digital Scales and Large Buckets, Mixing Cups & Sticks
• Nitrile Gloves

Tools

• DA Sander
• Eye Protection and a vapour mask (in case of insufficient ventilation)

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION:

GlassCast 3 Resin is a chemical product.

Before storage or use you must download and read the accompanying safety and technical datasheet, available on the GlassCast 3 product page. (If you are using a different epoxy resin, make sure you read the product safety and technical datasheets).

A Summary of the most important information is as follows:

•Always wear nitrile gloves when handling the resin or hardener

•Never touch uncured or partially cured resin with your bare skin

•Wear suitable eye protection when handling the resin or hardener

Although GlassCast 3 Resin is solvent free and has almost no odour you should still work in a well ventilated area or wear a vapour respirator mask.

Ambient Temperature, Pot-Life and Cure Time

Epoxy resins are highly sensitive to ambient temperature and moisture.

To achieve the best results, we recommend working in a room temperature of 20°C.

GlassCast 3 can be used in temperatures from 15 to 25°C but higher temperatures will reduce the pot-life of the resin significantly; at 20°C the pot-life is approximately 30 minutes and the curing time is 24 hours.

Epoxy resins are very susceptible to moisture and humidity so it's important to make sure the environment is dry and heated.

Airborne Dust and Contamination

Whilst the resin is still in the early stages of its cure, it is important to keep airborne dust and contamination to a minimum. Before you begin you should ensure that the area you’re working in is as free as possible from dust and dirt. Although you need good ventilation whilst working on the project, in order to minimise airborne dust and contamination, we recommend covering the piece if possible during the cure.

Epoxy Resin For Your Project

The resin used in this tutorial is GlassCast 3, this is specially developed as a high gloss coating resin to create professional quality projects. To ensure the best possible appearance for projects this resin is highly UV resistant, self-levelling and is designed to degas itself during cure.

The optimum pour depth is 3mm for coatings and the finish with it’s tough formulation makes it hard wearing and less prone to scratches.

Preparation

To demonstrate applying an amazing super glossy surface coating we used our previous project - Forged Carbon Fibre River Table - and we pick up at the point that we removed the barriers from the slab.

You can apply a glossy surface coating to various surfaces but you will always need to prepare the surface before you begin.

In the case of our project we prepared the surface by first removing the high spots and flatting the surface using a 120 grit abrasive on a DA Sander. If you don't have access to a power sander, or your project isn't very big you can sand by hand, it will just take a little longer.

Once you have finished the process you will need to thoroughly clean and wipe away any dust and dry the surface.

The surface of our table is wood and resin, As wood is a porous material it's advisable to apply a sealing coat of resin before moving on to the main pour. If you were to jump ahead to the main resin pour you could risk air being drawn out of the wood into the resin and creating bubbles in the clear coat.

• Weigh out a small batch of GlassCast 3 resin following the 2 to 1 (by weight) ratio
• Mix the resin and hardener together slowly and thoroughly for 3 minutes
• Pour the mixture into a 2nd pot and mix again -this is called double-potting and will avoid unmixed resin getting on to the project
• Brush apply the resin to the whole surface of the table, making sure you get the sealing coat right to the edges

Now leave the sealing coat to reach a full cure, this will take 24 hours.

The sealing coat is now rock-solid and ready to prepare for the main pour. Flat the surface again using the DA Sander/120 grit paper, then clean thoroughly and dry again.

Next using a barrier tape, create a retaining wall all around the surface area. Run the tape around the perimeter of the table, pressing it firmly into place to ensure a good seal, make sure that you position the tape 2-3 mm above the table surface to prevent the resin from flowing over the edges.

IMPORTANT make sure your surface is level before moving on to the main pour!

To work out how much resin you need you can use this handy resin calculator. You will need to input the width and length and the depth of the coating e.g. 3mm.

• Accurately weigh out the required amount of resin and hardener using the 2 to 1 ratio by weight into a clean bucket
• Thoroughly mix for 3 minutes using a slow, steady motion and scrape the sides and bottom of the bucket
• Pour the mixture into a second clean bucket and mix again for a further 3 minutes

TIP always mix slowly and steadily so that you don't mix in additional bubbles, if time allows let the resin sit in for a few minutes before pouring to let any bubbles rise up and pop.

Next pour the resin over the surface of the table and spread it evenly around the surface area using a notched spreader (the notches should be the same depth as the ideal pour depth.

Make sure that you push the resin right up to the edges and the taped barrier, ensuring no dry patches remain.

You will now need to leave the resin to fully cure for at least 24 hours to reach the initial cur - although epoxy continues to harden for several days so it's fine to leave it longer.

Finally check for any air bubbles and pop with the mixing stick if you need to and if possible place a protective cover over the surface of the table to stop and dust landing on the surface - it's really important to get this part perfect as this will be the final surface of the table.

Once fully cured you can remove the cover and pull off the barrier tape and if needed trim and finish the edges and attach the table legs.

The tape can leave a meniscus around the edge of the resin like in the first image, to remove it we trimmed the edges using a table saw, alternatively you could use a power planer. To produce a great finish to the edges you will need to sand through the grits from 240 to 1200, this can be done using the DA Sander or by hand.

The final step is to attach the legs and give the table a final wipe down with a soft cloth and you have your finished project complete with a glass like surface!

Project complete and the results are incredible!

The finish is amazing, the super hi-gloss surface really turns up the natural definition in the grain of the sycamore and amplifies the light reflections in the forged carbon fibre. GlassCast 3 is a true pour and leave product as you can see in this project and except from the additional work to the edges it achieves that glass like finish.

We would love to hear what you think of this project, be sure to let us know what you think and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks for reading our Instructable :-)