Colored Epoxy Fillets

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Dbarrm

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Well I suck at painting so I decided to give something else a try. I painted the BT and Fins before assembly. After attaching the fins to the BT I wanted to see if I could mix paint with the epoxy before making the fillets. Well it turned out great. The epoxy took a little longer to dry and wad a wetter consistency at first but was no problem to work with. Here are two pics of how it turned out.

Dan
 
Yep they do look sweet ! :cool:
I'll have to try this when I get hold of that Double/Bubble stuff! Maybe normal Humbrol enamel paint will work ?
-Karl
 
Just curious, what kind of effect does this have on strength?
 
From what I tested with some scrap balsa, none. Now im sure the more paint you add to the mix the weaker the epoxy may become but I only add 3 drops of paint and that seems to be enough to add enough color and keep its strength.

But more testing needs to be done on this.

Dan
 
On a similar note, Mr. Fiberglass sells pigment intended to be added to epoxy. See: https://www.mrfiberglass.com/color_pigments.html

I've gotten some to try, but haven't had time yet. I think adding regular paint might in some cases adversely affect the epoxies strength due to the solvents in the paint and potential incompatibility with epoxy, but as you pointed out, only a few drops shouldn't matter. On the other hand the pigments should produce much more concentrated color with less addition.

Report back if you try this. I will do the same.

Thanks, --Lance.
 
Well im going to do some ad hock testing of my epoxy paint mixture tomorrow and see how much it changes the epoxy. Ill let you all know how it turns out.

Dan
 
I would say that it won’t change the overall strength, but here's why:

Any adhesive over paint will only be as strong as the paint adhesion to the tube or fin, or the adhesive’s bond to the paint. I doubt that the three drops of paint reduced the epoxy strength lower than that of the paint bond or the epoxy bond to the paint. It did however reduce the overall strength of the epoxy.

I could test some samples for you and put it on my website. www.rocketmaterials.com
 
Originally posted by Dbarrm
Well I suck at painting so I decided to give something else a try. I painted the BT and Fins before assembly. After attaching the fins to the BT I wanted to see if I could mix paint with the epoxy before making the fillets. Well it turned out great. The epoxy took a little longer to dry and wad a wetter consistency at first but was no problem to work with. Here are two pics of how it turned out.

Dan

d00d! That is a most righteous hack. Definitely take up Doc's offer and do some testing. It's not often someone can come up with and develop something in rocketry that's "their" idea. Heck, it could be a new decoration alternative.
 
Funny how things we think are common practice are New to the group.. adding paints, stains, dyes and even metal powders has been around and done since shortly after the invention of epoxy:) Adding more then 5 -8% per volume of paint,stain or dye half's the strenght of the epoxy. Adding bronzing powder, or aluminium powder not only make a great finish but holds as much as 90% of the epoxy strength.
Great job anyway Dbarrm.
 
ment to stick this pic with the previous post. hope you can see the fillets on this Trident-II. they are #2 Bronzing powder in 30minute epoxy al all the pass thru joints.
 
Originally posted by Doc


I could test some samples for you and put it on my website. www.rocketmaterials.com

Folks

Take Drake up on this offer. He has the real tools and a laboratory, not to mention the skills to document the success and failure of new ideas.

Make sure you check out th rocketmaterials.org website. Some real good tech info there!

A
 
We are working out the details of the test. There may be two types of testing done. One to test the efect on the strength of the epoxy and one to test the bond strength. I'll post details when we have them.
 
in the first pics, one things for sure,
I bet the balsa fin would break before the epoxy joint
 
I have already made up some of the samples. I made 3 epoxy bars with no paint and in the process of making 3 bars with each color paint I have in my model paint kit. This way he can get a good baseline with the pure epoxy and then test each color. Im also going to be putting together a few bonding tests with just pure epoxy and then with the paint. It will be interesting to see how the tests come out.

Dan
 
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