It shall be called "Table with Circuit Boards"

[xrunner]

[CatalinaWOW]

Nice!

[Nusa]

Nice idea. Perhaps if you added a sheet of glass on top to cover the stickiness, you could still get a functional table out of it?

[radioactive]

Awesome.  Hope you figure out a solution.  If I had a table like that,  I would actually eat at the dinner table.

[German_EE]

OK, sorry to hear about the failure but this really is a case of learning from your own mistakes. I spent a few years working with a local canoe club making the things, which means that I know a bit about epoxy.

So.....

1. Degrease EVERYTHING including the PCBs, your tools and the vessels that you use to mix the epoxy in. Always wear gloves.

2. Use the right kind of epoxy. There are different grades that set to different levels of hardness (you really don't want a boat hull made from soft epoxy). Find a local boatyard that manufacturers epoxy hulls and speak to them.

3. For various reasons the epoxy that sets in 24 hours will probably be the best, if nothing else it gives time for any air bubbles to work their way to the surface.

4. Mixing is the key here. Follow the manufacturers recommendations to the letter and if you're mixing for less than twenty minutes per load then you're not doing it right. The professionals use machines that continuously mix the product and then feed it out on demand, topping up the hopper from 25L drums of epoxy and hardener. In your case using a mechanical stirrer may help but watch for splashes and see the note above regarding degreasing.

5. Tools can be reused afterwards if you clean them with acetone well before the epoxy starts to cure.

Good luck with version 2!

[HighVoltage]

Interesting idea, lots of work.

Try to do this only when the air is dry.
Humidity is really bad for epoxy.

Always use a "soft" flame to go over the epoxy after pouring to kill any micro-bubbles.
It makes the surface look so much nicer.

And yes, mixing is the key to success.

[Ian.M]

5. Tools can be reused afterwards if you clean them with acetone well before the epoxy starts to cure.

Acetic acid (Vinegar) inhibits most epoxy curing processes.  Mix distilled vinegar with dish detergent and you can even successfully clean and reuse stippling brushes!  You *MUST* rinse thoroughly to reduce residual acetic acid to an insignificant trace and make sure the brushes are totally dry before reusing them.

If I was tempted to tackle a similar project, I think I'd set a toughened glass panel into the table using silicone sealant (to allow for differing thermal expansion coefficients of the wood and the glass), and mount the boards 'dry' in a tray from underneath the table, with a foam gasket to keep out dust.   That would allow one to use rare & historic boards that really shouldn't be murdered and entombed in epoxy just for an art project and even have them running with low power LCD or LED displays.

[GlennSprigg]

Maybe ask some of the guys that make these "River Tables", what they use & how to do it ?
(But without the blue colouring !! )...

https://www.google.com/search?q=river+table+resin&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixp6PywPXkAhXaT30KHXeoAwYQ_AUIEigB&biw=1335&bih=590

[Red Squirrel]

That is indeed a neat project.  The epoxy does indeed sound really tricky to work with.  Maybe going the "dry" method with just glass is not a bad idea and could still look cool with much less work.    Just need to find a place that will cut glass to a custom size.   

[CatalinaWOW]

That is indeed a neat project.  The epoxy does indeed sound really tricky to work with.  Maybe going the "dry" method with just glass is not a bad idea and could still look cool with much less work.    Just need to find a place that will cut glass to a custom size.

Almost any glass shop will cut custom sizes.  Or if the shop in your town is too small they will order it from the nearest berg big enough.  Prices are stunning though.  I recently got a quote for a round piece to fit the center of a table.  Size?  About 40 cm diameter.  About 6mm thick.  Over $200.

There are many adders.  Tempered?  Ground edges?  Polished edges? 

The rectangular shape for this project actually would be lower cost than circular of similar area.  I would think for this project tempered glass would be appropriate, with ground edges.  Probably doesn't need polished edges.  And I wouldn't be surprised if the price was over $500.

[Red Squirrel]

There's a place here that will do it too.  Did not realize it was that expensive though.