Stand top leveling- polyester resin?

jcolley

Member
So, building my stand for my 220, I have something fairly close to what RocketEngineer laid out, but slightly modified for an in-wall build.

I am using 3/4" cabinet grade oak plywood for the top and I'm pretty comfortable with how level it has come out, but part of me still wants to do better.

I know that epoxy resins can be used for a flood coat like a bar top, but is there any reason why polyester fiberglass resin couldn't be used? I'm not that heavy on composites, but I don't really care how the finish looks or the strength as long as it self-levels fairly well and doesn't shrink after the curing phase.

Any thoughts?
 
Just about any water thin resin would be mostly suitable. Poly resins due tend to absorb more water and/or blush when exposed to water, making epoxy based resins more attractive.

I used a water thin (bar top) epoxy to flood my stand top.

http://beta.beananimal.com/gallery/75-gallon-in-wall-aquarium-build-gallery.aspx

75-Gallon-Self-Leveling-Table-Top-Epoxy-1.jpg


75-Gallon-Self-Leveling-Table-Top-Epoxy-4.jpg
 
Is it level Bean? That second picture gives the impression it's not. That top reflection line looks real swoopy.

Sure looks nice.
 
Bean,

The idea came from your gallery on your website actually. I think at this point I'm trying to conserver money as much as possible since my fish room budget has grown exponentially it seems.

There are several marine supply places near me and a local ace hardware specializing in boat stuff has a gallon of the West SYstem epoxy enamel for about $90 as opposed to polyester for $35.

Mind if I ask what product you used/source/cost?

Jim
 
Is it level Bean? That second picture gives the impression it's not. That top reflection line looks real swoopy.

Sure looks nice.

The epoxy, albeit thin, is not water thin and therefore is not fully self leveling. The "wavy" line you see is just at the edge where the surface tension did not allow the material to fully self level against the form.

I did the pours (a base pour and a final pour) at 3am after a long day and was in a hurry to get to bed. I heated the components of the final pour in a water bath in order to decrease the viscocity. I also did not wait long enough for the base pour to cure, and it was still exothermic when I did the final pour. The combination of HOT epoxy and a VERY WARM substrate was more catalyst than I counted on and the final pour went off like a rocket. It had little time to settle and I had even less time to work it.

Even with my poorly calculated pot and working life, it came out better than expected and has seen many gallons of spilled water over the last 7 years or so. Honestly, I don't think I would ever build a stand again without sealing it in a similar fashion.
 
Bean,

The idea came from your gallery on your website actually. I think at this point I'm trying to conserver money as much as possible since my fish room budget has grown exponentially it seems.

There are several marine supply places near me and a local ace hardware specializing in boat stuff has a gallon of the West SYstem epoxy enamel for about $90 as opposed to polyester for $35.

Mind if I ask what product you used/source/cost?

Jim

http://www.uscomposites.com/kk121.html

I think I used the 1 gallon kit (2 quarts of resin and 2 quarts of hardner)
 
Nice! Much better than what I've found locally...

Going to get legs mounted to stand and an place for some level and planar checks this week. Hopefully I can avoid it, but if not, this is the route I'll be going.

Thanks as always Bean! :beer:
 
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