How to Avoid Fisheyes when making resin tumblers?

Making tumblers lets your creativity flow, you take care at every stage to ensure the pattern, logo or other design is in the perfect position, everything is exactly how you want it to create the exact look you want. Then when it comes to seal it all, you add your epoxy resin coating as carefully as you can, but you end up with fisheyes, areas where the epoxy resin fails to adhere, ruining the finish.

It’s probably a familiar story, but the good news is that you can avoid such problems with your epoxy resin, here are some tips to show you how.

Cleanliness

The first thing to do to ensure a perfect epoxy resin finish is to ensure the piece is completely free of contaminates. One of the most common ways fisheyes form is if there is grease or other contaminate that prevents the epoxy resin bonding properly to the surface in a specific spot.

Before applying your resin, always wipe the tumbler surface with denatured alcohol or other alcohol based cleaner to ensure the surface is completely clean. Once wiped thoroughly, set aside to let the alcohol evaporate completely.

Wear Gloves

Our skin contains oils and other contaminates that can ruin the finish, so once the tumbler is perfectly clean, wear gloves when handling it. If you have struggled with fisheyes, it could well have been fingerprints that caused them.

Good quality nitrile gloves keep everything clean and ready for application, use a new pair for every epoxy resin piece you do to avoid cross contamination, and if possible keep the piece under cover to avoid dust falling onto the surface before you start working on it.

Temperature

Another area that can cause problems is temperature. If the tumbler is significantly cooler than your prepared resin, that temperature shock will cause shrinkage and lead to all kinds of problems for the finish. Keep everything at a similar temperature and you avoid these issues when pouring epoxy resin for tumblers or any other application.

Your Work Area

Your work area should be clean and well ventilated for safety, but you also want to minimize airflow across the piece you are working on, as airflow can introduce particulates that impact the epoxy resin finish. A tidy and clean workspace minimizes the chances of accidental contamination and helps create a steady, effective workflow.

Post Application

With all this done you are ready to begin applying your epoxy resin coat, and these steps alone should be enough to get that crystal clear, even finish you are looking for. But after applying the coat with your favorite method, there are a few things you can do to ensure the very best finish possible.

Don’t be tempted to touch your epoxy resin finish while wet. Even if you see an area that is a little too think and not quite covering properly or other problems, don’t be tempted to try and add more resin material while the initial layer is drying, this only leads to problems.

If you do find a fisheye even after all your precautions, and sometimes dust or other contaminate in the air can cause them, something totally out of your control, then don’t reach for the brush. Instead, drip some epoxy resin mix from your mixing pot into the affected area and set aside. Just leave the resin to find its natural level and bond with the surrounding material for a smooth finish.

Summary

They key to a perfect epoxy resin finish is in the preparation. Keep everything clean, avoid fingerprints and other contaminates, and let the epoxy resin do its work without interference. You can have flawless tumblers with just these few steps.