Question about using epoxy resin on an outdoor, painted wood sign

[Jay Hill]

Hello, Makers.

I'm hoping someone has experience working with epoxy resin and wood and can validate my thinking on this or show me a better way…

I have a 4' x 3' x .75" plywood sign that will be installed outdoors. It will be exposed to plenty of direct sunlight, rain, snow (if that ever happens again), and road grime, as it will be installed on a pole near the road (at the entrance to the Asheville Tool Library driveway, for those familiar).

At this point, I have a few coats of glossy, oil-based paint on it, but I'm going to add epoxy resin to really seal it with a durable, waterproof, UV-resistant layer.

I need to drill 3 holes (5/16") through the sign to use the mounting hardware, and want to make sure I don't those holes to present an opportunity for water to seep into the wood, freeze, etc.

So, here is my question: should I drill bigger-than-needed holes in the wood, fill them completely with resin and then drill out the right-sized holes in the resin? The hole in the wood would be fully surrounded with resin. My concern is whether the ring of resin might just pop out of the wood. I would hope that the epoxy would penetrate the plywood and form a very strong bond, but I'm just not sure. 

Thanks!

Jay

[Zak Smolen]

If your epoxy is thick enough I think you’d be able to drill a slightly larger hole and partially fill it in with a layer of epoxy, then you can re-drill it to size after the expoxy cures. I don’t think you’d need to go much larger than your needed hole size, if at all depending on how thick this epoxy is. 

On Aug 26, 2023, at 9:53 PM, 'Jay Hill' via Asheville Makers <ashevil...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hello, Makers.

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