I emailed a question to Mudhole rod building about a product they carry - magic marbling mad swirl. My question was "will this product stay on the EVA or is there a sealer that needs to applied after the mad swirl". The answer I received is that they have had success by putting epoxy over the mad swirl because over time the paint may begin to rub off. Has anyone ever applied epoxy to EVA? Is there any other product that will seal and protect EVA in general?

Jon Hood

What do you need to protect EVA from. It is a soft grip material, why put epoxy over it to make it hard?

The problem with most coatings on top of EVA is that the coating itself is prone to chip or crack if pressure is applied to it as the core (the EVA) isn't sufficiently rigid to support the coating under pressure.

If you simply mean something to preserve the EVAs color and feel, then a product such as 303 Protectant would be idea, but you certainly couldn't coat over the top of grip that had that product applied to it.

.................

As I mentioned above - I want to protect the magic swirl material from rubbing off over time

On EVA, and any medium for that matter, you need to seal the base first, with exceptions. With EVA, I recommend using the epoxy sold by riley rods, or thread finish. The thread finish can be thinned to fill in the pores. Once sealed and dried, I take a fine grit sandpaper to smooth it up. From this point, you can prime it, dip it, and then clear coat it with the epoxy at Riley Rods or thread finish. Then you have your own Mad-Swirl grip. The paint will wear off, just like any paint, with time if it is not properly protected. Hence the reason for the clear coat. Plus the clear coat/thread finish gives gloss and depth to the Mad-Swirl.

The epoxy at Riley rods is more rigid, so I usually use it on EVA. It has a greater crush strength. Why are you using EVA as opposed to cork or rigid pour foam?

Jeremy Reed



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2015 12:22AM by Jeremy Reed.

Do you use a clear primer? If so, what kind?

Jon Hood

This is the fun stuff. You have roughly 36 colors to choose from. With each color, they change depending on the base color. White basecoats will give you a truer color. But experiment with different colors. For example, I use gray sometimes because there is not a gray paint. I use colorless mmpaint and this exposes the gray along with the other colors I drop in. For example, I want a black and gray grip or seat. I spray a gray primer, and use black and colorless magic marble paints. For grips, any spray primer (Krylon, Rustoleum,) will work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2015 04:17PM by Jeremy Reed.

If you are going to put coatings on to make it rigid, why use eva? It is designed to be soft to the touch, not rigid! Use a base that is rigid to start with.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2015 09:48PM by Phil Erickson.

I am a lot new at some of this stuff like putting epoxy on eva grips like Phil said putting epoxy on a soft surface an when it hardens up
the outer area is hard but the inner stuff EVA is soft , why go to all the trouble? make the a grip out wood an be dun with it or make it out of a fiber & epoxy & it should hold up a lot better I think
PS in the photo area there a lot of fiber epoxy handles an you can paint it any color you want

William Sidney
AK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/2015 11:01PM by william G Sidney.

I can't imagine any rodbuilding coating used in the proposed manner is going to hold up over time if applied directly over EVA unless a fiber reinforcing material is also used. EVA is just too compliant, alone it's properties vary too greatly from rod finishes. It's the fiber sheathing saturated with resin applied over a core material, that together provide a stable base to which decorative top coats can be applied.

I would not use EVA for this unless I was just going to do one rod for myself and that is what I had to work with. A more rigid material like cork or the more rigid foam core Riley Rods sells is better suited as a core to a fiber reinforced sheathed grip.