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Steve Bietau
01-07-2017, 5:49 PM
Can anyone suggest a colorant to use with West systems epoxy?

Jerry Wright
01-07-2017, 6:05 PM
Rotten stone. Various amounts give various woodlike shaded.

Glenn de Souza
01-07-2017, 6:13 PM
Transtint dyes?

I've used them with epoxy from the box stores, not specifically West systems. Don't see why it would work with one and not the other though.

Andrew J. Coholic
01-07-2017, 6:36 PM
Can anyone suggest a colorant to use with West systems epoxy?
I use a fair bit of west systems resin. Been using artists acrylic to tint the product since the 90's. Always add a small amount not to the epoxy after mixing the resin and hardened well. Doesn't take much to make the resin fairly opaque. I have heard of guys using tempra powder paint. But I have no experience other than using acrylics.

Wayne Lomman
01-07-2017, 7:03 PM
Pigments work but anything solvent based will change the curing mechanism as these are all solventless epoxies. You might get away with it but you may not. Cheers

Andrew J. Coholic
01-07-2017, 7:08 PM
Artists acrylic are water based. Never had any issues with cure or time to cure. I've used it many many times, on some big jobs where we used a few gallons of resin. No issues.

Mike Henderson
01-07-2017, 7:41 PM
I use a powdered dye. I don't remember the maker but I buy it at my local wood place (Austin Hardwoods). Works fine. I've dyed epoxy black to mimic ebony.

Mike

Jamie Buxton
01-07-2017, 8:08 PM
Transtint works well. With it, you can get translucent epoxy, or by adding more you can get opaque. I've also used universal colorants -- the pigments used to custom-color paints at paint stores.

Bill Adamsen
01-07-2017, 8:16 PM
Steve ... West System has an article on adding colorants (http://www.westsystem.com/ss/adding-pigments-to-epoxy/). I personally have done simple addition of graphite powder to achieve an opaque black color (typically in wood defects, or on boats bonding things like break-away transom panels) with no noticeable adhesion or strength issues.

Frederick Skelly
01-07-2017, 8:25 PM
Thank you Bill. That's helpful to me!
Fred

Jim Finn
01-08-2017, 11:33 AM
I have mixed powdered chalk to epoxy to fill voids in mesquite. Blue chalk looked a lot like turquoise.