Re: [DIYbio] Re: Preferred cheap countertop surface?

On Saturday, February 25, 2017 at 1:47:51 AM UTC-8, cory....@gmail.com wrote:

For super durable workbenches I start with a single coat of an oil-based wood primer like Kilz, then two coats of black spray-on appliance epoxy.  This stuff is really really nasty (the solvent is a mixture of acetone, petroleum, xylene, and butyl acetate). You'll want to do it outside and with a respirator + organic vapor filter, goggles, gloves, disposable clothes etc.  If you do it inside you'll end up with a black residue on everything that will never come off.  But this surface is incredibly durable.  It doesn't scratch, ever.  You can hit it with a hammer and it won't leave any sort of impression.  I cut stuff with razor blades on it frequently and it doesn't leave any marks. Resistant to direct flames for a short period of time.  Also, its resistant to acids and bases.  I've tested it with glacial acetic, sulfuric, 12M HCl, 10M NaOH, and 10M KOH.  The only things I've found that will eat through it are Piranha solution and cesium hydroxide solutions (don't try this without a fume hood and chem lab training/experience).

Ooh - that seems like a great find! I know we did a lot of soul searching for how to outfit CCL way back when as well. We wound up getting lucky with a donation of three very large lab benches, but we were initially looking for granite countertops, glass tables, stainless tables, etc - pretty much the story of this thread. If we had known about appliance Epoxy, I think we would likely have gone with that.

The original lab benches at BioCurious were DIY ones made from construction pipe with a top of this paneling with a whiteboard coating. Which was great in the beginning, because you could just write right on the bench with a dry-erase marker. But the whiteboard material wasn't terribly scratch resistant, so over time the benches developed scratches and holes through the top whiteboard layer, allowing liquids to seep in the fiberboard underneath - Not Good!

Patrik

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