Hey Guys, Had a few problems yesterday…need some feed back. Noticed there were flakes of wax in my sanding solution. Outside temp was around 75 degrees so I didn’t think it should have precipitated like that. Hot coat looked terrible, with lots of little bumps in it. I dont usually strain my resin but I was wondering if it would help and be OK to strain that sanding solution before mixing it into the resin. Is there still enough wax in solution to work OK? Does anyone tape the edge on the first hotcoat? I have been free coating the deck and then lightly sanding the rail area that will get lapped, wiping with acetone and then I put down a tape line…double in the tail area so I can bring up the edge when I sand. then I do a nice coat on the bottom to cover laps good. So far this has worked pretty good but wish I could skip the sanding step before hotcoating the bottom. Any advice will be a great help, Thanks Mike
I tape both sides and sometimes baste the laps with a brushed coat of lam resin before hotcoating. Had never heard of basting laps until Kokua posted it on this site. Thanks Kokua!
I try and hotcoat the second side as soon as I can turn the board over with out damaging the hotcoated side. If you hot coat within a couple of hours depending on the temp you dont need to sand the edge, because the first hot coat is still green and the resin will soften it enough to get a full bond. David.
David & John, Thanks for the response. I try to do both sides in short order. Trouble I have is getting tape to stick to first hot coat. I think I put too much sanding solution in the last board. I’m still trying different things. Lams were not completely cured when I started the hot coats. Surface heat from the lam could have caused the problem. Hot coat kicked around 8 minutes! I like the kick at around 10 to 12 minutes. I set a kitchen timer for 8 minutes and when it goes off I know I’ve got 2 minutes to “finish up” I find it helpfull just in case the time gets away from me messing with a stubborn lap. Thanks again. Mike
Lots of times a bumpy hotcoat is the result of the hotcoat having kicked too fast. As you brush it, the brush “pulls” the gelling resin and creates the good old golf ball effect. Kick it a little slower, all that will happen is that you gove the surfacing agent more time to do its job. Also, in every shop I have ever worked at, basting the laps and the logos is standard. Remember to baste with the lam batch (no surfacing agent) and give it some time to kick. Basting should not replace grinding the laps properly though. Really you are helping the sander do his job. If you don’t feel comfortable using the grinder, use a file. Also it helps the sander if you baste the whole tail area, often there are concaves that can be sanded through easily. Always try to stoke out the next guy in the process. The laminator should have smooth cuts and laps, the hotcoater should leave plenty of edge but no troughs, and should have basted enough to keep the board light but help prevent sand throughs. Aloha, Matt
If you are having problems getting the tape to stick to the top hotcoat you might need to sand the rails a little better. Don’t be too shy, you can use 100 grit and catch about half of the rail towards the top.
Howzit Krokus, How old is your S.A., that could be part of the problem. As far as setting it off to fast, I use 15 cc’s of catalyst and have never had a problem. I will say that once you catalyze the resin get it on the board and brush it as fast as possible. This gives the resin time to even out for a smooth finish. If your bad hot coat is sandable just sand it and if need be do a second hotcoat. Aloha, Kokua
Hey Kokua, Don’t know how old the SA is. I’ve only had it for a month or so. I am going to strain it next hot coat. Had a much better day glassing today. Had a bottom lam come out very nice but a little dry. Saw an archive post of yours about fill coating with lam to eliminate pin air. Is it OK to do some upside down basting on this step or wait until I flip it. I was pleased that I finally got a nice flat lap on the deck side. Hard squeegeed with auto body spreader until it set. Time was spot on @ 10 minutes. (Baking timer went off @ 8)! I am asuming the fill coat should be just enough to fill the weave in using lam squeeegee? Then brush the rails and deck lap. I think when you get a chance you might post a Lam order of events list for some of us newbies. Gets confusing when we pick out specifics to talk about. Thanks for the input, this board is for me and I wanted it to look good. Lots of friends are very interested in what I am doing! Feed the habit…feed the habit… Any surf in Hanalei today?? Mike
Use good blue masking tape a little more expensive but worth it. Lay a lin of tape midway through the rail all around the board, then use junk mail in sheets attached to half of the tape edge. If you’ve done it right the resin will drip onto junk mail and not run onto the underside of the board. Once cured flip the board and tape to the line you created and repaeat paper trick. When you’re done use a razor blade to scrape of tape line. Write companies and request more junk mail to use as drip sheets for your surfboard resin!
Howzit Krokus, Any surf, it’s huge with 2 big swells hitting at the same time. Waves are washing across the roads and we might lose a portion of the road in Hanalei where the waves are undermining the highway. The east side waves are bigger then anyone can remember and that goes back quite a few years.Aloha, Kokua