Resin/Epoxy Inlays - Sand or Surfacing bit to level?

Wondering about which is better…sanding the color resin or using a surfacing bit to level after drying? Thought or experiences out there?

I’ve used a normal bit (1/4 or 1/8") to “level” and then incremental-grit sanding to smooth out any marks.
I tend to level slightly above (think 0.02") of where I want to end up because milling marks are very visible in epoxy, much more so than in wood… and then use a random orbital sander for the last bit.

It’s really hard to get a mirror finish either way… but finishing with very thin layer of epoxy afterwards as finish for the whole work does wonders. (some folks used poly for the same)

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Thanks so much for the help! Sounds like a good process to try!

Take care,

Brian

@fenrus already gave the answer, but I’ll add that doing the former, just once, is a sure way to then be convinced for life that the latter is preferable :slight_smile:

Mostly what I like about using the machine to surface the epoxy is that I can be my usual sloppy self and pour like a 3-year old:

image

and then get the satisfaction to get epoxy chips rather than epoxy dust (baaaad for your lungs)

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and the fun part can still be manual (revealing the final aspect by using wet sanding with high grit values)

image

(not a particular good example, not a shiny finish, but a smooth one)

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You need to overfill epoxy because it shrinks when drying. I usually level on xxl and sand 120 then 180 then 220.

Here is my latest example.

These are chair seats on treated pine. Black transtint dye and epoxy. 2 oz resin, 2 oz hardner and 10 drops dye.

Thanks Guy! Looks great…very clean edges.

Brian

Absolutely gorgeous piece of work Julien! Thanks for the insights…especially epoxy chips vs. epoxy dust!
Brian

Over pour a little and then use a belt sander to level it then use an orbital sander in progressively finer grits

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