I’m sure many of you have caught on to this a lot sooner than I did, but…
I had purchased a new set of Frank’s welded steel racks, got 'em into my shop, and realized they would be too high for my lights if I padded the heck out of 'em, while attached to the portable rack mount stand. So I looked around, saw my old Billabong wetsuit that I blew the neck opening out of trying to get out of it one cold session, and decided to cut the arms and legs off for use on my racks. I was astonished at how well the blank stuck to the wetsuit material on the racks, and how level each of the pads were that the blank was resting on.
So…
just cut 'em off the suit, slip them over the top and let them over lap at the slot, and voila!
Hey Todd, you talking about this rubberized shelf liner type stuff?
It’s the best stuff I’ve ever used on my shaping, glassing and sanding racks. For glassing, you just have to tape it off once you’ve glassed the bottom if you use poly. Fantastic for sanding stands, no need for bits of sandpaper to keep you board from moving, grips it good fresh off the glassing stand. Same for the shaping stand, minimal weight required to keep your blank from moving while shaping, you just have to blow it off once in a while to keep it grippy. Best of all, it’s cheap!!!
I havent used it on a sanding stand yet…probably because I don’t have one…just shaping and glassing.
I usually sand on my shaping stand.
Is there a significant benefit to a “sanding rack”?
How does it differ from the other two stands?
How bout a pic?
Can I ask any more questions?
Is it annoying yet?
OK…I’m done. LOL
Todd"
ha ha, I guess the significant difference is the location. Shaping stand in shaping room, sanding stand in sanding room with optional (but very necessary) large exhaust fan. Other than that, it’s really hard to tell the difference!
Had to look for fun, but you guys are to hard core…
I save my old wet suits for other stuff… Like my “mule” rip off… Ha!
Although, after reading this I did use a sleeve to pad some “waiting” racks I made last night… to put a board on about 7’ high off the wall - top of a high shelf I have - so can work under it, but I keep my power tools in it…
On my shape/sand racks I have some of my sons old sweat pants - one leg per rack - over carpet padding (Now, these pant legs are only a year or so old, as I’ve recylced many a piece of heavy cloth for this part of the rack.) I made these racks before he was born about 22 years ago. And, something I think I saw years before that, the carpet padding is taped down tight to the “U’s,” which are about 10"‘s apart, and the legs are taped tight at the top, but they hang free in a curve so I can flip the board back and forth to get different angles on edge, while the board is still kind of cradeled by the pant leg. The racks are 2" pvc screwed to the inside of 5 gal buckets and then I put big ol’ river rocks in about 1/2 way up, and covered w/plaster (I got it free at the time, as I did the buckets -from work) to keep it all nice and tight and heavy. The beauty is I can twist 'em to hold the board tight on the side if I want, can move ‘em around for shorter or longer boards, to get close to the end and add props if I want to get the tail high and level for boxes, etc… Go out side on nice days to sand in the sun a little, etc… and the space left in the top of the buckets makes a great temp trash holing area… not to mention the inches of resin I’ve added over the years… And - another blessing of the 2"pvc, I never glued the shape/stand “U” on, and I later made glassing extensions - higher, w/just a “T” joint on top, and blank glue up tops - kind of like the glassing tops, but I wired on 2’ pieces of wood.
Anyway - thanks for letting me share all the excitment I get from the words racks and old wet suits…
That’s a great idea except for the black marks on your white abrasive foam blank. Did you ever check out the black marks on your winter wax? Neoprene would a great pad, but I think you’d have to cover it with something.
