I built a table and decided to try epoxy overtop steel to create a level surface for the rails. Some members on the forum seem to have tried it and it looked about right. Now that I have the epoxy down if I put a straight edge on it I can slip a 0.10mm feeler under spots which suggests there are some slightly high spots over the 4' of the straight edge. Using a laser I might be off 1/16" over 20' so for the most part the epoxy did the trick. I'm not even sure if that's far enough off to even be a concern. What sort of tolerances are on your DIY table rails?
Does anyone have suggestions on the best method to shave things down so that it's nice and straight over the length? Should I abandon that idea or sanding it flat by hand and start looking for a thinner epoxy? I've been going at it with a sander and checking with a straight edge but that hasn't been the most effective and I'm beginning to worry about one side ending up slightly different than the other introducing unnecessary twisting of the gantry. Also where I sand there's the issue with keeping the surface flat and not accidentally introducing a slant.
One thing I'm considering is looking for some thinner epoxy to pour on top of the epoxy sections I already have. Any suggestions would be welcome here, I'm not an adhesive expert by a long shot! I used West System epoxy but suspect there might be thinner product with better flowing agents. I'm going to experiment with thinning it down although they caution people not to as it compromises the integrity of the epoxy -- but nothing ventured nothing gained right now.
I've attached a picture of the table and the epoxy I've poured for the curious. It's a 1" strip (which might also play into this, with the surface tension of such a narrow channel) over the length.