i am seven boards in and would like to know when you glass does it get easier the more times you do it? becuase i am having a hell of a time getting the rails smooth even when i hot coat it with extra resin i am still getting that crappy rail. any tips/suggestions? ohh this is a long board i shaped it and glassed it, it is one of my better glass jobs. check it out i want to know what i am doing right/wrong?
Can’t tell anything from the pic, it’s already got wax on it!
After lam, the board should look totally perfect except you can see the weave of the cloth. You should trim off the lap lines with a sureform, and everything is smooth and flat.
THEN you hotcoat and sand it! Then you gloss.
7th time you do anything, you are still a novice! Try 150, then you’ll know.
I know the feeling lex-
LeeD, I think he’s talking about having “drips” of lam resin dripping from the area you’re working on (say the bottom first) dripping on down around the rails…I have the same problem. You need to either sureform those down before hotcoating, or live with bumpy rails, 'cause sanding them down after the hotcoat will almost guarantee sanding into the weave…At least from my experience.
Howzit lex, Hopefully it will get easier for you the more boards you glass. I have no idea how many I've done over the years, few thousand at least. What you have to do is stop thinking about the resin kicking off and concentrate on what you're doing. When you get to that point, then it starts getting easier. Then when you think you're getting pretty good go spend sometime with a pro glasser for a reality check and glass a couple hundred more boards, that should do it hopefully. Some people never get it since it's an art in it's self. Aloha,Kokua
i actually am just about to go apprientence
under juan rodriguez from one world surf boards down here in sarasota
to see if i can pick up any techniques on my problem. do any of you
know of other glassers down here in florida that would might let me
apprientence?
seven boards?? maybe its the magic number, maybe its your technique. not everything fits everybody and I never liked to have to work with my head down sideways. the height of the stands can influence your performance on the rail so here a technique that will make your life easy ( a friend of mine developed this technique and it works excellent).
laminate the board as usual and wet the rails as usual. give the rails a quick treatment. with a sure grip turn the board over (yes, you heard right) and it is now very easy to finish off the rails as you work upright and have much better lighting. after you finished the rails turn the board back over and where the laminate touched the stands and where you did hold it on the rails check and get the glass flat again (a little bit of resin out of the bucket on your fingertip (glove tip) helps. check for air and everything should be fine now.
I am no vet but just to say it get better. I am on my ?th board and cant wait to start glassing, it I used to hate this part. Resin tints and swirls also add to the fun of glassing.
I’m up to 35 and finally I laminated in about 5 minutes on my last board Kokua got it right, I didn’t think just lammed. I was my first resin tint swirl. Look up in the archives on how much resin to use per what size board, it make s huge difference on how your initial dump to pour goes and prevents the too much/little resin in your laps which in turn speeds everything up.
Lex,
Im a dozen boards in and have good results. I’ve said this before in previous posts and was disagreed passionately from one guy but he could still not give a solid argument against using it…he’s just an old dog.
UV CURE resin is a Godsend for beginners!
Starting with a smooth shaped board…with UV Res I simply take my sweet time and do it right the first time…it takes me about 20 minutes to lam one side. After fully wetting the deck and laps, I squeegee all the resin off parallel to stringer then from stringer to rail…repeat stringer to rail squeezing until nothing is left. Then I let the laps drip for 5 minutes or more…by then any useless excess resin is off the cloth, only then do I wrap the laps around the rail from center to ends. I continue to squeegee underneath what little resin is left. There is absolutely no excess resin to create lumps or a heavy lam…its also stronger. When Im done I move the board outside for curing. 15 minutes later Im starting on the other side. Never a worry about catalyzed resin kicking on me.
Good luck
yes - - uvc’s the way to go …take your time, let your laps drip…enjoy
I also failed to mention…I also continue to squeeze resin around the rail after wrapping…I keep going until I cant squeeze any more out. Regular thin plastic (Bondo) spreaders are easier to use than those big fat specialty ones. UV cure is also very popular among pro glassers…it cuts down on cure/down time so its time efficient. Think of the extra cost of UV res, just a few bucks, as cheap insurance against occasional faulty lam jobs…you couldnt pay to use the regular stuff.
As my mentor Rick McHale use to say,
"He's got da "EYE" ,man ! Herb
I only surf on days that end with the letter “Y”.
MC,
No offense and I am sure UV is good,I wouldn’t know ,I use epoxy. But your statement about " no excess resin ect…it is also stronger". It is lighter …not stronger. In no way does taking out or squeezing more resin out of the lam make it stronger…only lighter. A little more resin left in is stronger, but heavier. I have been told by more than one pro builder that they pull more out for weight not strength. Have fun…peace and waves…
my understanding is that extra resin does not provide extra strength just weight. if you want strength you need not glass/resin. strenght comes from the matrix of glass mixed with resin. thick resin is brittle and will crack.
if I am wrong please correct,
Howzit meecrafty, when you consider you don’t have to buy catalyst for UV resin it pretty much off sets the extra money the UV costs.Aloha,Kokua
I don’t mean like a ton of globby resin left on the board,just not pulling excessively. Taking out almost all the resin out of the weave. Yup,thick globby resin will crack. Anyway, I am curious too…maybe an expert will chime in…which I surely am not…
In the early days of the UV resin it cured patchy but that has all changed. it is very easy to use, even I could glass a board. you tell the resin when you are ready not vice versa. And without the mental pressure you can concentrate on what counts. And certainly not just for beginners.
that uv cure sounds like its pretty nice i am gonn go head to melbourn if it is sill there come tuesday to pic me up a truck load of blanks. and get that uv cure resin at my local boat shop man thanks all of you guys for your input i will keep coming here becusae i find it to be the most useful site ever peace- lex
battening down the house and getting ready for that geanie(sp) cane thats headed my way f u c k . hopefulyl they will bring decent surf ohh well .