[GiorgioE82]

V. Resin testing
Depending on the type of resin that you have, once it is dry it may be clear or it may be other color (more than likely amber). Since I didn’t know for sure how it would dry, I set up a test cup of resin mix. I let it cure in the cup and examined it. As you can see, mine dried out quite amber/yellow. Since I wanted to be sure that this was not reflected in the final layup, I decided to tint the epoxy. There are several ways to tint epoxy (mica powder, alcohol tints, etc.). I chose to user a product called Resintint (again, since my wife had it in her arts and crafts chest). I’ve added a pic below of what it looks like. I chose the black tint for the project. My estimation was that I wanted enough tint for it to start looking somewhat light gray. For my test mix (at 2:1 ratio of 2/3 cup epoxy, 1/3 cup resin) I added about 6-7 drops to the epoxy mix. It is important that you first mix the epoxy and hardener and after that is done THEN you can introduce the tint. Otherwise, my understanding is that the tint will interfere with the mixing process. Again, I let this dry out and you can see what the color looks like in the end. Much different than amber.

Note: During your testing , keep an eye out for the time between finishing mixing and the time when the mix begins to "gel up". Make a note of it as this will serve as a guide for your actual available working time when doing the application.