How to make a table made of epoxy with your own hands: instructions with photos and videos

In modern interior design can not do without exclusive things. They are especially valuable to us if made by hand. Epoxy resin is an excellent material that will allow you to create truly beautiful and original pieces of furniture. Working with her is quite simple, and if you approach the task with imagination, you will get a real work of art. One of the easiest epoxy products to make is a table. We will describe how to make it in this article.

Materials used in the work, their features and application rules

In the manufacture of furniture and interior items, epoxy resin in its pure form is not used. In order for it to harden in the required form, it needs to be contacted with a special hardener. By mixing these two substances in different proportions, you can get compounds with different consistencies.

They can be used for different purposes and have characteristics:

• liquid essence;
• viscous or rubber substance;
• solid matter;
• high strength base.
  

  Epoxy shows its qualities only in contact with the hardener

In our case, the wooden base will be coated with epoxy resin, and after hardening the surface of the product will be carefully polished. That is, our goal is the hardness and durability of the structure. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right ratio of ingredients.

Polymer manufacturers and specialists in the manufacture of epoxy resin products recommend the proportions: 1 part resin to 1 part hardener.

A table made using epoxy has a lot of advantages compared to ordinary wood:

• each product will be exclusive, and the number of design options depends on your imagination;
• you can use a lot of additional materials for decoration - stones, shells, branches and leaves, paper, metal products and much more;
• resin, drying out, almost does not shrink, retaining volume and keeping its shape well, does not change the color of wood and other materials used, does not deform and remains resistant to mechanical damage in the process operation;
• a mixture of resin with a hardener can be varied with color dyes, including phosphorescent paints, which can be purchased in specialized stores;
• epoxy surfaces are impervious to moisture and moisture, they tolerate the treatment with chemical cleaning agents.
  

  Thanks to epoxy, you can make a durable and fantastically beautiful table

The disadvantages include the cost of the finished product, which will be very high. Epoxy resin is not cheap, and for one copy of the product, depending on its size and shape, it may take several tens of liters. In addition, if the production technology is not followed, air bubbles can form in the polymer layer, which will ruin the appearance of the countertop.

DIY epoxy table manufacturing process: step by step

We offer you to make a rather simple, and at the same time unusually beautiful table based on wood. It will perfectly fit into any interior, adding to it originality and warmth.

Take a non-planed board with leftover bark. This can be a piece of wood, sawn along, with a thickness of at least 2-3 cm. Sand it with sandpaper. It is desirable that the granularity be within the size range of 300-400 microns. It is such an abrasive that will allow the surface to be treated so that it is closed for the epoxy to seep through, and the wood will retain its original color. When using coarse-grained sandpaper (60–80 microns), the tree will change its tone to a darker one.

Saw the board into several equal length pieces. Clean the surface of sawdust and dust by blowing it with compressed air from a special bottle, or treating it with a soft brush.

Put the boards in the sun so that they dry out for 1-2 days. During this time, the wood should not be in contact with moisture, so at night you need to bring it into a dry room. If you work in the cold season, dry in the house, next to a heater or battery.

Before you start making countertops, make a wooden frame that matches the shape of the table. For it, you need to choose boards whose height will be 3-5 cm greater than the thickness of the future countertop. The frame must be properly secured with the help of corners, nails or self-tapping screws. Epoxy is quite heavy, and we will have to use it in large quantities. Without good attachment, the form will simply fall apart. Place all materials on a level surface.

Place a sheet of waterproof, dense material inside the frame. For this, polyethylene is well suited. Spread the canvas on a flat surface, pull it well and fix it on the inner surface of the frame. If tears are found, cover them with tape. The resin does not stick to polyethylene, so after hardening you can easily remove the countertop from the mold.

Lay out prepared pieces of wood inside the mold to roughly imagine how they will look in the finished product. Mix some resin with hardener (e.g. about 300 g). Apply a small brush to the wood on all sides.

Carefully turn over the boards, wearing gloves made of thick rubber (those in which you wash the dishes or work in the ground will do) and finish the treatment. Uneven areas, such as bark, need to be handled especially carefully. This operation will allow the wood to be compacted so that no bubbles form when the boards are immersed in the resin. Lay the boards as they should be before direct pouring, and leave at least 8 hours until the resin hardens..

Gently mix the rest of the resin in a large container and let stand for 10-15 minutes to let out all air bubbles. Thereafter fill the boards in the form so that the resin covers them at least 3 mm.

Take an industrial hair dryer and treat it with the surface of the resin. Please note that it can deform the liquid layer, so it must be kept at a distance of 30-40 cm from the surface. The pressure of hot air will remove the resulting bubbles and accelerate the drying of the polymer. After 24 hours, the countertop can be removed from the form, but it is better to leave it for another day. Curing time may also depend on the thickness of the layer, carefully calculate everything according to the instructions on the packaging of the resin.

Cloths of nylon and polyethylene are the most economical option for working with epoxy resin. But they need to be very carefully pulled and aligned, otherwise the surface of the countertop will turn out to be irregular due to the possibility of blisters and creases. If this still happened, the situation can be corrected. Irregularities at the edges and surfaces can be cleaned with sandpaper or a grinder. Treated areas become clouded and a thin layer of resin must be applied with a brush to restore transparency..

To make the surface of the countertop absolutely flat, it is better to take a form of plexiglass as the basis. And the process will go faster, because you do not have to build a frame yourself and align the polyethylene on it.

The countertop is ready, it remains only to attach legs to it. They can be made of metal rods, wood or the same epoxy in the form of cubes or parallelepipeds.

Video lesson: making a table of epoxy resin and slabs, part 1

Video lesson: making a table of epoxy resin and slab, part 2

Making an epoxy table is actually not at all difficult, but only on condition that you strictly adhere to the rules and technology. Just try to make such products, and you will see how interesting and entertaining it is. Over time, “stuffing your hand”, you can even build a profitable business on epoxy products. In any case, you can update the interior of your home, make it exclusive and original. Good luck