I saw this posted at www.pacificwaverider.com I thought i’d grab it and slide it into this forum as i thought it was a pretty good how-to article. Kudos to Gioni Pasquinelli, he wrote it, not me. He can be reached at this email: ========================================================================== Do It Yourself Ding Repair 13 steps to a water proof board. Supplies can be obtained from most any surf shop but for the cost conscious or large repairs head to Fiberglass Hawaii, at 1037 17th Ave in Santa Cruz near the Simpkins Swim Center. 831-476-7464. M-F: 8-4:30 and Sat: 9-1. It may seem like a bunch of stuff, but my ding repair stash has accumulated over time as I’ve repaired more and more boards. You can get by with one of the $10 kits sold in the surf shops. Tools: – razor blade or X-Acto knife – sand paper, various grits - a power sander is handy as most do it yourselfers don’t sand enough – masking tape, 1-2" wide Supplies: – Sanding resin – MEKP - catalyst unless you are using UV activated resin – 4 or 6oz fiberglass mat – Acetone – Brush – Shop towels/rags – Dixie cup for mixing your resin Steps: 1) Clean off the wax from around the ding area as best you can, with special attention to keeping wax out of any open areas where crushed ends of glass fibers stick out 2) Cut away any loose or raveled cloth with a utility knife or better, an X-Acto #2 knife, make sure that you’re using a new, clean, sharp blade, or you’ll get rust and dirt marks. If you’re worried about aesthetics, straight edges look better than crooked cuts when you’re done. 3) If the ding is large enough to need some filling, then use masking tape to tape off around the area. If the ding is on a rail or goes from deck to bottom, then use the masking tape on the curved side (if possible) to create a mold as it is much easier to sand down excess filler to a flat surface than it is to a curved surface 4) Prop the board up so that the opening in your mold is parallel with the floor and mix up your batch of resin and filler. 5) Straight cabosil (aka Q-cell aka microballoons)-resin mix (laminating or sanding resin) will yield a nice white repair. For older boards with sun burned foam that you want to color match, then you can use discarded coffee drips at the bottom of your cup to tint the repair to. Or other colors as appropriate but it is very difficult to get a clear match. Try a practice run first if you are really serious. 6) You want a thick paste by adding more filler but not so thick that you trap air bubbles. Use a toothpick, popsicle stick or wooden coffee stirrer to poke at bubbles. Go real easy on the catalyst, say 1/4 what you’d usually use for a batch that size to give you more time for settling. Overfill your mold as you’ll be sanding down anyhow (sanding down is much easier than having to go back and add more). A little acetone adder will thin out the mix if necessary. 7) Take a break and let it harden. Remove the tape on the deck, wash with acetone after checking for bubbles (and filling them if need be) and then sand. Start with 80 or 100 grit and light pressure just to get it all to the right shape. Sandpaper is cheap, sanders and hot glass bubbling up aren’t, so change your sandpaper often to avoid fires. 8) Glass with one or two layers of 4 or 6 oz cloth cut slightly larger than the repair. Depending on how good or patient you are, you can use masking tape to secure the glass or let it float. Squeegee on the resin (old phone cards work well for this, or 3x5 index cards doubled, again laminating or sanding resin) or use a small cheap brush. Ideally, you want the minimum amount of resin required to wet out the glass, no more. When it gels, you can razor blade the glass and any masking tape to create a clean, straight edge. 9) Wipe it down with acetone and then feather the edges of the glass (sand with 80 or 120 grit so that the edge of the glass blends into the existing surface with no bumps/steps), don’t sand the middle of the glass or you’ll need to patch it again 10) Hotcoat/gloss with slightly thinned resin (thin with acetone). All but this last step can use laminating resin instead of sanding resin, using laminating resin means you need to use less pressure and coarser grits when sanding, as there is no wax additive in laminating resin so the surface remains tacky. 11) Finish sand starting with 80, 100 or 120 grit. Focus almost entirely on the edges again to get a nice blend from repaired area to original surface and avoid sanding through your repair. Once you get the edges smooth, move down to something between 150 and 220 grit. Then hand or power sand with 300 or 400 grit. For a really nice finish, wet sand at 600 grit – use lots of water (and a couple drops of dish washing soap) to keep it sharp - Bicycle water bottles are great for this. For power sanding, generally go as slow as the tool allows without vibrating the board too bad. Some sanded finish guys stop at 220 but if you go with polish, you need to go all the way out. 12) Buffing – optional steps only for those with aesthetics in mind. Use a heavy duty buffing compound at 1800-2500 RPMs to remove sanding scratches – keep polisher moving around to avoid heat build up – clean pad thoroughly 13) Polishing – optional. Need an aggressive compound like 3M fiberglass polishes (don’t use automotive rubbing compounds which contain red rouge compound that stains resin a faint pink) or Surfboard Polish #2 found in your local shaping shop or online: http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/Product_Catalog/ShapingTools/shapingtools.html Watch for heat buildup and adjust your speed and movement as needed http://www.scsurfers.com/