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Stand & Canopy Finish






>> The purpose of the latex paint is to
>> provide a cheap reflective coating
that
>> protects the epoxy from U.V. The fact
>> that it breathes doesn't matter as
the
>> epoxy itself is protecting the wood.
Do
>> not use alkyd paint over epoxy as the
>> alkyds can react with unreacted
amines
>> in the epoxy resulting in poor
adhesion.

>So why are you concerned about UV?

I am mostly concerned with preventing
water vapour from getting into a wooden
hood. Actually I am not really very
concerned about U.V.  I did read on one
web page where the fellow was using
tiewraps to hold up PC lamps and they
were degrading very rapidly so maybe the
same problem could happen with  epoxy
but I do not really know. I am sure the
problems caused by light degradation of
the epoxy inside a hood would not be
nearly as severe as exposure to direct
sunlight so even without protection the
epoxy finish should last a long time.
The epoxy needs to be coated with
something though so I am suggesting
acrylic latex because alkyd paints are
often not compatable with epoxy.

>I've built four light fixtures.  I
paint the inside gloss white and I'm
>more concerned about resisting fungus
than I am about UV.

The first hood I made I used the same
thing and it has held up very well. I
did not like the smell though which was
pretty strong when the lights were
turned on. I  used spray paint and ended
up spending just as much on paint as I
would have on epoxy. Since epoxy  is a
much better barrier to moisture and
smells less than alkyd paint and costs
not a whole lot more I vote for epoxy as
it should perform better in the long
term as well as the short term.

Wayne Jones

Wayne's DIY Aquarium Setup at
 http://www.mnsi.net/~waj