I just finished our 40ft sink with West Systems,, great stuff goes down really well no stink , three coats and your printing.
Has anyone ever tried Perspex to construct their sink? If so I'd be very grateful of any advice.
The latest on the West systems epoxy is that you need a coat of epoxy followed by a 2 pack paint system followed by an interim coat of paint.. all coming in somewhere in the region of 40 + VAT per coat but they don't recommend MDF as a base..
So I'm back to where I started unfortunately.
Has anyone ever tried Perspex to construct their sink? If so I'd be very grateful of any advice.
Síle
Why? Epoxy would be a perfectly good finish by itself. It is really hard
That's the issue, hardness. Hardness translates into a tendency to crack and break. Epoxy is a very, very good material, properly used. Thin coatings, unreinforced, are not a recomended use.
Epoxy is, in this sort of job, properly used as one component in a composite material. Composite materials of this type deploy the complementary strengths of multiple materials to create a new material better than it's parts.
The whole reason epoxy is reinforced is to take care of the hardness / brittleness. and give the composite material the monolithic nature and compressive strength of the epoxy, and the ability to take impact and the tensile strength added by the glass fibers.
If epoxy was tough enough on it's own, reinforcement would not be common. The same logic results in the reinforcement of concrete. Concrete is a great material, and it has great compressive strength, but it does poorly under tensile loading and under impact. Steel mesh within a concrete plate gives it the strengths it lacks on it's own.
A sink will be impacted by every item that gets put down on it, and any item too sharp, or placed too heavily, will fracture the epoxy coating and let liquids get trapped into the MDF, which has very minimal resistance to degradation from water. It just takes one small crack. Once a little water gets in, it swells the MDF, which will further crack the expoxy coating. It becomes a self degrading system. An unreinforced epoxy coating is a much less than ideal companion for MDF in a wet environment. MDF needs full time babysitting.
It might work, but I wouldn't do it that way myself or suggest anyone else try it, without at least trying to communicate the likely mode of failure. The glass fiber is far cheaper insurance than ripping out a sink to re-do it. I think it's false economy.
C
I do agree with you. As I said, it would be best to use one layer of thin glass. But it might work with only thick epoxy coatings. What I don't agree with is the earlier suggestion to use other paints over the epoxy. It is unnecessary. /matti
CBG thank you for your obviously very informed advice. I appreciate that you wouldn't recommend or do it this way yourself, but as I explained, I'm working backwards and therefore am limited with my choices. For others out there who have yet to embark on their sink making, yours was extremely detailed and helpful, thank you.
As for the outcome? I've decided to go with a Perspex insert sink into my MDF base.
How much of an angle do you need to get the water to run off and where is best for the plug hole?
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