coloring acra-glass - one answer that worked well.

[holzwurm]

Couple of days ago I ask about what would color acra-gals but wold not contaminated the mix or prevent hardening. There were several good reply's and I learned a couple of ways to thin the mix.

Yesterday I remembered that (many years ago) Ron Elhert gave me a tip about this very thing. So I did a search for the tubes of artist oil coloring and mixed two batches of acra-glass to test out the idea. As  you can see from this photo the results were excellent. Overnight the glass hardened and held the color exceeding well.  At four hours the mix was firm but still a bit tacky.

The tubes of oil paint are fast drying oil color. I have Ivory Black and Burnt Umber. "I think Ron used it to make a very slight line around carvings to give them a dark shade background then rubbed it down with the final wood finish".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/JerryCrawford/acra-gasexperimentPHOTOSHOP.jpg

if you go to the above link the photo is the same size but much clearer


I don't understand why my images are so small - it's hard to read the brand on the oil coloring - but it's called GRIFFiN ALKYD fast drying oil coloring. Probably get it at any art supply shop.

[Dennis Glazener]

I don't understand why my images are so small - it's hard to read the brand on the oil coloring - but it's called GRIFFiN ALKYD fast drying oil coloring. Probably get it at any art supply shop.

ALR is only displaying your HTML. I suspect you copied the thumbnail link. You should copy the "direct" link which should display the full size photo that resides on Photobucket's website.
Dennis

[t.caster]

I've been using oil paints for tinting acra-glas & epoxies for MANY years even though one of the experts here said it wouldn't work. Glad to see Ron used it too.
I believe the little envelope of brown tint they give you is also oil paint or something close to it! I ran out one  day and just started experimenting and came up with it.

[Dphariss]

From what I have read, which is little, using oil colors does work. But it also weakens the epoxy so its counter productive. "Don't use for structural applications". Meaning to me its only really suitable for filling knots in pine boards.
Since in bedding a rifle for accurizing, what it was made for, strength is very important. Weak epoxy will fail miserably if the rifle is shot much, this applies to everything involving a firearm. So I doubt that the colors Brownell's sell weaken the glue.
Since Brownell's, who "own" Acra-glas sell compatible colors that DON'T weaken the epoxy why would I not simply go to the Brownell's site or get out my catalog and ORDER THE RIGHT MATERIAL FOR THE JOB? It will arrive in a few days.
I bought a one ounce "jar" of brown when I worked at Shiloh (in the 1990s) and I still have about 1/2 of it so it will last some people years and most people decades.  Yeah it costs 10.95 (5 packets as provided in the kits is 5.99). So what? It WORKS. The brown will match Acra-glas gel to almost anything I have ever needed it for. The also sell black. I have several lifetimes supply of Brownell's powdered epoxy black I was given.
So buying the right stuff is really easy the long term cost is very low.

Dan

[Kermit]

I use artist's acrylic paints to color System Three 5-minute epoxy to use as a filler. I sometimes use their slower cure epoxies too, but use colorants they sell specifically for their epoxies. I feel a bit more secure when their chemical engineers have checked it out. I'd be reluctant to cross brands for additives where strength is a concern. Call the manufacturer's tech line. Those people need something to do.

[Keb]

I used Hershey's dark chocolate powder once about 20 years ago. It's still there and still dark chocolate color. I never licked it to see if it tasted like chocolate though.