I am interested in creating and teaching a series of epoxy classes - covering everything from small inlays to large deep pour projects.
To start with, I’d like to build out a small epoxy class.
Was thinking topics to be covered could be:
Safety
Choosing material
Choosing Epoxy
Prepping a form
Preparing material
Measuring, mixing and coloring
Pouring and degassing
De-molding
Post-processing - surfacing, shaping, sanding
Finishing
For a project, maybe a small wood/resin charcuterie board or some coasters that everyone could go home with. Each class would have a different portion (thinking a 3 class cycle). Class C would do steps 8-10 based on steps 6-7 from class B and steps 4-5 from class A. That way it wouldn’t have to be a full day class. Or alternatively, it could be demo only and I do all the pouring/curing/drying outside of class time. Once (if) we get into pouring, I would likely need to make use of the proposed finishing room to keep dust out.
So - 2 questions for the audience:
Who should I work with to develop this course?
Is anyone interested in this course? Suggestions on additional topics/projects to cover?
I am very interested in taking this class! It looks like a great overview on how to get into Epoxy! It would be really helpful to have a hands activity, rather than just a demo, if possible and a multi-day class is a good idea to allow the epoxy to cure and go through all of the steps. If this isn’t something that can get set up in a larger form, I’d be interested in learning from you on the side.
I’m interested in taking this class! @David can help you develop it. My 2 cents is try to get it into a two parter instead of 3. Scheduling is always tricky so the fewer sessions the fewer scheduling conflicts. Maybe steps 1-7 in one longer session and 8-10 in a shorter session.
Realizing my initial writeup was unclear - this would be a single class day session. I would just stagger it so the the forms you build the next class session would use to pour into and the 3rd class group would demold and finish from. Or so my thinking was - I posted this to gather feedback on preferences from potential students.
That would be for any project using deep pour epoxy (like charcuterie board or coasters). For a vcarve epoxy inlay, we could use faster setting epoxy and you could pick up your set project the next day
That sounds rather neat, but you should be aware of one issue. There is no “proposed finishing room”. There is an idle wish of a finishing room, a collective daydream about a finishing room. This has even resulted in people referring to one area of the space as “the finishing room”, but as far as I know, absolutely no concrete work whatsoever has been done to make this a reality. Meanwhile, that particular space is being claimed by a very concrete proposal which will likely land before the board in about two weeks. If they accept it, then the possible locations for a future finishing room become much more limited. And even if they don’t, that doesn’t bring a real, usable finishing room any closer to reality.
Either way, I think you will have to design your class proposal around not having a finishing room available.
The main reason nothing has happened on the finishing room front is because we haven’t had anyone step up to take charge on making it happen. In that absence, Ethan has been working up another use case proposal.
An important item to note when considering options here is that the MPR is designated for clean projects only. No liquid (e.g. resin, glue, etc) or dust generating activities are allowed at any time. It is primarily a classroom space, but can also be used for small arts projects or computer work that can be picked up and moved at any time.
I am also interested in the epoxy class(es). I took a 2-part class at Woodcraft on making an epoxy/wood charcuterie board. It was scheduled as 2 consecutive days at 3 hours each. The first class was a time crunch so I like the idea of a 3-part class. The big time sink was in people creating their own designs from the wood to place in the molds.
Talking about prepping a form - I’m hoping you are thinking of having the students build forms from scratch. I’ve seen enough YouTube videos to know that you can build a form that seals well and from which all your resin doesn’t leak. We used manufactured forms for the Woodcraft class. It was handy, but it is not worth the expense of trying to buy all the types of forms you might want to create - it is better to work that build-the-form step in from the beginning.
Classes with drying or curing time has always been a little bit of a question for me as well. I recently did a demo making a picture frame and I had to produce varying stages of material done-ness. Ultimately to not finish the frame because the one I was demoing needed to try before I could move on (I probably needed to have a completed frame to show - which I didn’t think about.
James has also proposed having various sets of material at different stages of completeness for more involved CNC classes. It would be nice for us to figure out how to do this well. It’s worth noting that classes with materials in varying stages of completeness will require another degree of storage that hasn’t been resolved yet either.
The multi-stage pieces for classes is something that’s been discussed with a segmented turning class as well. The first of these types of classes require some pre-work, but then in theory subsequent classes will use what students create in the previous classes. I wonder to what degree the extra storage locker could assist with the storage aspect. The OpenPath controller on that can accommodate up to 16 locks IIRC, so we could also build an additional storage unit of another size if we needed something larger.
In regard to mold making - my first attempt at epoxy in my garage was with a highly rigid custom mold made from melamine material that came from a shelving unit. It worked great but I ended up damaging the mold when removing the target piece. For the next piece I used corrugated plastic held together with hot melt glue and sealed with silicone. That worked great with an easier build, easier demold, and no leaks at a lower cost. At Rockler we came up with a unique approach where we built a plywood mold that was open on all four corners then lined the thing with a silicone mat used for glue ups - the open corners allow the mat to fold. To hold things in place we added t-tracks and hold down clamps. That idea works great if you stick to one size project and cleanup is very easy.
With melamine, the key is using spray mold release and also caulking your corners after waxing or taping with tuck tape. This week I did my first successful freeform mold using a neoprene rubber strip reinforced with house wrap tape. Key was doing a seal coat of clear first (this was on a large walnut cookie so I needed to seal the end grain anyways) which then set the form before I followed with deep pour.
I plan on covering all of this during the mold-making and stock prep portion of the course.
Based on the comments above, I may limit the in-Asmbly class activity to mold building/sealing, de-molding and finishing. Potentially also filling a small inlay (think filling in the v-groove of a sign or engraving). For deep pour, I may offer a follow-up session for people to come out to my garage shop as I work a lot with bigger pours there.
Dust in the woodshop affecting finishing, having a place that something could sit for 72 hours undisturbed, and people have expressed concerns over fumes/smell.
