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I want to fill a laser engraving with dyed epoxy, black or rust colored. Need resin brand and dye brand suggestions please. Thanks!

Mike

West System. I use tempera when it's not structural.
But don't over do it.

West Systems also manufactures a black mix-in dye that's not too expensive. It's to lower friction on boats, but hey, why not?

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David Morris

I would suggest pigment rather than dye.I have used the one designed to colour concrete.

I'm actually looking for a recipe. Actual resin name plus actual dye/pigment name.

I think I'm close based on what I've seen here

Mike

Have a look at the System Three products too. They sell a whole load of epoxies and hardeners. They also have a tinting epoxy paste. I personally have used their GelMagic product as an adhesive, but it could be used to fill engravings too. I also dyed it black with their paste and it is basically pure black now. After its cured, its really hard too. Not sure if that is a good thing for you since it will crack if you flex it too much. T88 is a bit more flexible. I'm not sure you would need a structural epoxy though for engravings. Just get any quality epoxy and add some lamp black or something to it. It should go black with only a small amount.

Have you considered the engraving filler that Stew Mac sells? It's made by Grit Laskin.

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I asked Petros about this at Woodstock this year, he uses epoxy with black tempera for his purflex. Did not say which epoxy though I'm sure he would answer a direct question via e-mail. I like Sytem 3's SB112 myself for it's clarity.

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Brian

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Mike, my typical approach is to mix Mohawk black powder stain with epoxy. A little of that powder can make epoxy coal black. I use it all the time with inlays.

Ken

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I've had good luck with Transtint black with System 3 epoxy. But a word of caution, don't use metallic powders with it, ones I've tried turned green. Rep at the company said it was because of caustic ingredients in the epoxy.

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Stew mac sells pigments for coloring epoxy for inlaying....Mike
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Inlay,_pear ... 3&xsr=3484

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Another day, another dollar.

Mohawk also makes an excellent line of colored pigments. I have used the black and brown for inlay. Heard about it from Dave Nichol at an ASIA inlay seminar.

Thanks all, I'm going with the furniture powders & epoxy.

Mike

Product wise - the jar of pre-mixed black pigment I have says "System 3 Epoxy Pigment, Black".. Works real good in epoxy.. Takes one little blob on the end of a toothpick to dye about 1-oz of epoxy pitch black.

If you want something cheap that's super, perfect pitch black - it's hard to beat Lamp black... Available in most craft stores.... It's a fancy name for carbon black.... You could also make some yourself with a piece of lump charcoal and a mortar and pestle...

Just watch out - it's a powder and it gets all over everything! Literally... You won't know it's on your hands till you pick up something and leave black fingerprints....

Anyway, the upside is that it takes very little to perfectly dye stuff black... and it works with most anything... You can mix it into white glue or superglue if you are so inclined...

And.. It's more or less chemically stable - so it won't cause weird problems... Very likely the "Epoxy pigment, Black" is just mineral oil mixed with lamp black (THat's how we dyed all flavors of plastics black)... but it doesn't say... so I don't officially know...

Thanks

I use transtint in epoxy too for other colors, though you won't really get an opaque color. Why not just buy black epoxy?

I've used SM's black epoxy for ebony headplate and fretboard inlays and it's worked great for me. Undetectable under finish in my experience.

I bought several of the furniture powders (Behlen) and they worked awesome with epoxy and CA! Inlay gaps were flawlessly filled with CA and black powder. The stuff is really black, no graying with CA. Logo inlay with black powder and epoxy was perfect.

Thanks!

Mike

I use this epoxy that I get from a local chemical supply store. I don't know who made it but it sure smells like system three... it's a 3:1 mix.

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