first of all:
Thanks to the admins and all of you out there who wrote so many of the insightful threads I read over the last weeks.
The title pretty much gives it away, however I will add some details.
I moved together with a friend who used to be a professional shaper and ceasing the opportunity I build a small shaping bay in our garage, right away.
Now that we finally got the first blanks the online shop we wanted to buy the polyester resin from does not have the Silmar-Premium we wanted to buy in Stock any more.
They would get it again in about 3 weeks however I am eager to start and also have more time at my disposal now than I will in a month.
So the fastest option would be to buy the no-name polyester laminating resin the same store offers.
While my friend does definitely know what he is doing, since he did it for many years, he always ever used S-P and is a bit hesitant to order the no name stuff.
The first board we will shape in our new home will be my first and also his first in two years. Also I want to do most of it myself and mainly use him as an advisor. I do not expect this first attempt to be perfect. far from it. Still the components cost a lot…
So do you have any experience when it comes to cheap no name resin that is intended for surfboard laminating and more expensive products?
All the same? Worth their money but not necessary? What can I expect from a cheaper product, Slower/faster setting, higher/lower viscosity, faster yellowing, brittleness?
TL:DR.
Is there any difference between cheap and expensive polyester resin (both intended for surfboard laminating) and if so, what is it?
It is impossible to say what corners may have been cut in the cheaper product but it could be something like UV inhibitor, lack of clarity, poor overall quality(?) I think you’ve already hit the possibilities yourself.
Cheaper resin might not be such bad deal if you’re adding pigment and chopped fiber to install a finbox or something but if your board is to be glassed clear and you want it to stay that way as long as possible, order up some decent stuff online and pay the extra shipping charge.
As you’ve already surmised, the blank and the time you’ve invested in shaping it aren’t really worth risking a shitty glass job.
Resin is actually a pretty small part of the cost of a surfboard; particularly if you are using Polyester resin. For example, I get 20kg of resin for something like $270 including freight here in NZ. I use 1.8kg to make a board so that’s $24.30 of resin. Even if you’re paying more for a smaller amount you’d still be hard pressed to use more than $50 worth. My advice is to get decent resin and steer clear of the cheap stuff.
Curious who the supplier is that the OP refers to. None of these retail surf supply places make resin. They simply repackage or re-lable what they get. Odds are its silmar or something very similar in the can. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Silmar is widely available on the web here in the states by the way.
Hi Tim-
I am guessing/googling that you (OP) are in NZ based on the Silmar Premium reference.
A better question would be ‘has anyone used the house brand surfboard resin from ____________?’
Like Mako said, it could be repackaged Silmar 249A for all we know. Maybe the stockist can/should provide insight, data sheets as well.
Stay away from the cheaper auto body or tooling resins for the reasons JM mentioned above.
thanks heaps for the fast and thorough response. As it happened i just started a new job and therefore did not find the time to work on my little project. And, even more importantly, thank you for the responses!
I will stick to your advise and wait for the Silmar Acrylic to be available. It is not that long a wait now anyhow. I will let you know how it goes.
Kind Regards
Tim
Silmar 249A is a Polyester resin not an Acrylic. The company who manufactures Silmar does however also manufacture an Acrylic. Can’t remember the number for sure??? I’m thinking it is something like Silmar 2448 or some such#. I buy Silmar 249A Optibright. With recent upticks in the cost of a barrel of oil, Silmar has gone up in price by quite a bit recently. I own a supply/materials shop and ordered Silmar yesterday. An amount equivalent to a drum. My wholesale price went up $10 per Five from last Fall. Resin is priced by the lb. 500 lbs. per 55 gallon drum. I was told the recent increase amounts to about twenty cents per pound.
Silmar 2880 acrylic based is far superior in strength compared to 249a for making performance shortboards. I get clients telling me all the time how well their boards decks are holding up with the 2880 compared to the 249a.
I’m with stingray, in general cheap material give cheap results. Silmar 2880 is a polyester/acrylic resin, mainly polyester but the acrylic had some plastic strengh, i find it really good for my application but can’t have it anymore because big board builders here don’t want it anymore because it’s harder to sand…