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White Tint for Epoxy

E

E. D. Eliot

Well Known Member
Posting this question for the group as I can't fine the answer with the search mode here. I'll bet that the answer is here, I just can't find it - sorry.

I'm going to put a final coat of epoxy inside of my cowling and want to use white as it will show fluid leaks, etc., well.

Went down to West Marine hoping that they would have the answer as to which product to use and they said that they couldn't recommend any of their products for my cowling interior.

Tried Home Depot. They gave me about 1/3 pint of their fluid tint that they use to color the paint that they sell. This is right out of the tinting machine and is water soluable. It mixes well with my West Systems epoxy so I gave it a test try on a small area inside of my cowling a couple of hours ago.

My question is have any of you used this tinting product from Home Depot and did it work out ok? is there a better product to use as a tint? Please advise. Thanks very much.
 
I used the West System 501. It worked great and is meant to be mixed with their epoxies.
 
Titanium dioxide is the most common pigment used to make paint (or epoxy resin) white. The water soluble solution from Home Depot likely uses this pigment, but I would be hesitant to add it to a non-water based resin. You should be able to find powdered titanium dioxide such as the West material referenced in an earlier post.

Good luck,
 
Thank you

I appreciate all of the info given. I'll head back to West Marine today and see if they have 501 since it seems to be the safest appropriate answer. Thanks again - Ed Eliot
 
I?d suggest just a good quality epoxy paint in gloss. That?s all I have on my Cozy cowls and it cleans nice but needs a little scrubbing to get into the weave. Anything else you do will add weight.
If that?s not important you can fill the weave with dry micro, sand, wipe with West epoxy to fill pin holes and paint as above. The micro wil be white, but still needs to be sealed with a good epoxy paint.
Gel coat would be a good choice except it?s heavy.
Tim Andres
 
Update - today

As many of you suggested, the Home Depot tint did not work. Mixed up ok but I was not happy with the somewhat rough finish. It's in the 70s here and the epoxy took about 24 hours to set up which is slow here.

Went back to the West Marine store and they did not have the 4oz container in stock. But for $24 plus tax, they would have been happy to sell me enough tint to do 3-4 gallons of epoxy. They weren't particularly interested in my business so I ordered the West Systems white tint on line.

Incidentally, if any of you have recommendation on which roller or paint brush with WS epoxy, I'm all ears. I'd like to finish the inside of my cowl in a high gloss, smooth finish. Suggestions please. Thanks, Ed Eliot
 
E. D. Eliot said:
....

Incidentally, if any of you have recommendation on which roller or paint brush with WS epoxy, I'm all ears. I'd like to finish the inside of my cowl in a high gloss, smooth finish. Suggestions please. Thanks, Ed Eliot
Click to expand...

In warm weather (80F) I simply used a cheap 1 1/2 or 2 inch HF brush spreading it out in a thin coat. It seemed to work fine with no thinning of the epoxy. You might need a few coats and some sanding to fully fill the texture inside the cowl since a thick coat will run on the non-horizontal surfaces.
 
ACS

I purchased white and black tints from ACS and used them extensively with the West systems products. Used a lot of black under the windshield so that the area showing to the cockpit side looked like black glass. It's great for that. Used White in a couple of places but had no issues with either tint.

I didn't notice any difference in dry time and the gloss was controlled by how much flox I mixed with it. The wetter you lay it, the glossier it looks.

My experience is that dry time and smoothness is a function of how wet you lay it up, how dry you mix it, and what temp is applied to it. I used the slow set hardener in the summer and fast set in the winter. After a while, I decided to use fast set all the time, even in pretty high heat but by then I knew what I was doing and could do it fast.

Also, don't mix up much in paper or plastic cups in hot weather if you are using fast set hardener. If you're a little slow, it will generate a LOT of heat as it sets up in the cup.... :( You will often see your sponge tools smoking as the epoxy sets....which isn't particularly good.

YMMV

.
 
Have you thought of an epoxy spray or roll on bed liner .
Fuel and oil proof ,super tough , tintable ,textured ,dont have to worry about pin holes before application.

There are a number of brands on the market
This is UPOL's brand https://www.raptorliner.com.au/

Joe
 
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