bubbles in my lam!!!!!

General Discussion
1

Just glassed my third board,it was my best to date,Until i done the lam,the bottom near the tail has a few bubbles where the football patches are.

Im not sure if its because i put them under the layer of glass or whet,all i know is im bitter! 

I have concidered taking it to a glasser and having him fix the problem but im quite embarrassed.

Anyone ever had this issue and got any tips to try repair it??

All i could think to do is maybe sand the bubble spots down and patch over with little bits of glass…

2

Cheers mate,il definitly check it out,i love glassing my own boards.

3

G’day mate, I teach board making at Newcastle Tafe and all the students are finding glassing hard to do but I’m a believer in practice makes perfect and if you get a chance to check out my website www.pieter.com.au  on the live stream page I sometimes stream shaping, glassing all types from 4oz to 2 layer 10oz volan, which may give you some ideas, there is no right way just ways that come out good, I’ve made thousands and I’m still learning, good luck Aussie made all the way, 

4

Thanks heaps guys,obviously im not the only one to have encountered this problem before,i was mainly concerned that if i cut the bubbled sections out that i would somehow weaken the board,though now i have not looked at it for 24hours,its not looking so bad after all.

I think the reason i stuffed up is because usually when doing any laminanting,wheather its repairs or a full board i wet out with squeegie and pull the excess with my squeegie,then i had a friend insisting that i should try wetting out with a roller,i tried to explain that maybe for someone uncomfortable with a squeegie that this would probably be fine,but i didn’t think it would bennefit me at all…this guy has never touched resin or a squeegie in his life by the way. 

Anyhow,to shut him up i used a roller and i think it was the worst method in the world. i noticed that its harder to wet out the cloth and also im gonna say that the roller is what caused the bubbles around the patches,because instead of flowing the resin around the cloth,your actually pushing it and everything else under the roller around,it was really frustrating, but my mate insisted it was my fault lol

I then proceded to lam the top with just a squeegie without drama or complications.

5

baste your laps when hotcoating the top, grind everything smooth your laps, box’s ect, this should open your air bubbles, hotcoat bottom as usual to fill in bubbles. if not use a syringer and inject resin

6

WARNING: this is no pro tip, I’m a backyarder but I fixed quite a few bubbles/delams because I use XPS. The following works very good for me for bubbles/delams smaller than 1 inch, but a lot of pro’s will hate it.

 

If the bubbles are 1inch diameter or smaller I do the following:

  • Cut out the bubble with a surgury knife

(* I do NOT sand at this stage)

  • wet out the area with a thin layer of resin

  • mix resin with chopped fibres

  • pour the mixture on the area

  • Let cure

  • Sand flat

 

This results in a repair that is very visible. But I do it because it is easy, quick, stong and bubble proof.

 

7

are they like pin hole sized bubbles or big ones? 

if they are pin sized ones, you might get by just doing a thicker hot coat and hide them, if they are anything bigger than tiny , just sand them back, feather the edges, put a patch over them, feather the edges of that and continue on your way

8

Those aren’t bubbles,they are weight reduction air cores in the laminate!