Can I drill through epoxy resin ?

[ukguy]

Hello to all. I am now in my 2nd month of the hobby and enjoying it thoroughly, mainly thanks to the help and advice found here. I am currently scratch building a pier with a boat and bait shop on top to stand in a river at the corner of my layout. Pics in link. My dilema is that I know that this will be a shortlived / learning layout and I would like to salvage the pier for a later layout. If I pour the 'water' first before placing the pier can I then drill holes in the epoxy to accomodate the legs of the pier without too much of a visual appearance or will the epoxy just cling to the drill bit and chew itself up?

All help and advice gratefully recieved.
Thanks.

[Anonymous]

You can drill through with ease BUT it may not look good as the side of the hole will be frosted due to the cutting of the drill bit. You will end up with water that is not clear around the pilings.

You don't have this problem if you pour the epoxy after intalling the pier.

[Anonymous]

Another way to do this is put straws or even dowels the same diameter as your pilings in the exact spot your piles will be located, heat up some vaseline with a hair drier and coat the straw/dowel so it will pull out witout sticking to the epoxy.

I've done this with good results and even if the dowel gets stuck you can drill it out. I have also put a larger dowel in place and just drilled out the centre to accept the piling of the piece I wanted to mount. If you look at warfs you sometimes see a larger pile in the water than goes up to the structure.

[ukguy]

excellent solution Jar1, that it exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks for your help and advise.

best regards

[Anonymous]

Something else you might try, make the pier legs shorter and stand the pier on top of the water, using small pins in the leg bottoms to secure it to the water. If necessary you can drill small holes with a pin vise. This will necessitate a smooth surface on the water where the legs are going to stand, i.e. no waves or whitecaps.