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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Can paint be mixed with fiberglass resin?
Q. I have built a terrarium for treefrogs using foam insulation as the base with fiberglass overlay. What type of paint & procedure should be used? It needs to be waterproof, there will be running water, yet able to sustain living plants and treefrogs. Would I be able to mix some sort of paint with the fiberglass resin as a final priming coat? If so what type of paint would work best? If mixing paint with the resin is not possible then what are my options?
Josh Balzerhobbyist - Hutchinson, Kansas, USA
2005
A. Gelcoating is common practice with fibreglass. You can also buy pigments made specifically for mixing into resins to color them (translucent or opaque) did you research possible toxic poisoning that may occur with using resins around your frogs? I've seen an instance where someone used resin to make part of a custom fish tank instead of silicon caulk and the fish soon died...he cleaned the tank, bought more fish and they died..this happened several times. They are pretty sure the resin was the culprit. I know tree frogs are pretty fragile creatures (have had a half dozen pet ones over the years...cute buggers) with having the absorbent skin and all. I'm not trying to scare you, they may be fine with resins I just wanted to make sure you had looked into it
Jason Aube- fFint, Michigan
2005
A. Hi I work with fiberglass and resin as a home base business. I would stay away from the resin it is very toxic. I would try to make what your talking about out of a non toxic form such as a rubber silicone which can be pigmented. Especially with running water and absorbent skins on frogs it would kill them especially if they drink from the same water.
Jason Emerson- Independence Kansas USA
2006
Q. I have some indoor molding that I used to frame around my brick molding at the main entrance door.The molding is swelling and the paint is flaking. The molding is made of a fiber pulp probably paper base. I have sanded it and I would like to use fiber glass resin and paint it with a water base paint to match the color. What would you recommend?
Thank you
Dennis
Retired X oil field - Fort Worth, Texas, USA
June 12, 2017
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