I'm getting ready to shape up my 2nd board, a 5'8" retro fish. After doing several days of searching and lots of bookmarking there were still a handfull of simple questions I had. The design I was hoping to do was a mexican blanket style with the stripes running the length of the board. This will be my first attempt at multiple colors and also my first attempt at a cut lap.
How much pigment do you use per ounce of resin? Can this be measured out without a scale? Do I mix up the pigment and resin first before adding hardner to ensure I get the correct color?
When using opaque colors with the cut lap will I be able to see where the tape line starts. Basically will I be able to see the line to cut?
To avoid mudding should I squeege each line of color out as I lay it down?
With Poly resin it looks like they lay a clear layer of lam resin down over the color once the lam is saturated and squeegeed. Not a hot coat but while the lam is still wet. Does this apply to epoxy?
Pigment per resin ratios is getting way too specific. There’s probably differences between tints and opaques too. Also sometimes you want to just barely tint or different colors will tint more than others. The best way to ensure the color is correct is to add a little at a time. Then stir it with no hardener yet. Pull your stick out and look at it. Is the stick showing through? Yes? Add more tint. Once the stick doesn’t show through using opaques or the tint looks good over the stick, you’re done. Make sure you then strain that through a paint strainer. Once I didn’t strain my tint and my even blue tone in the bucket became a crazy streaked swirl job on the blank.
You will not be able to see your cutlap tape through an opaque. You might however be able to see the bump the tape makes using your side lights. Other than that is sort of educated guess time where that tape is.
Don’t squeege until that color is on there for a few minutes. It needs time to soak in and penetrate, especially with epoxies. That waiting time is how you don’t mud your colors.
Extra clear? Not sure. Anybody know the reason for this?
When using pigment, a little goes a long way. Smear some along the inside of the bucket and you’ll see pretty much what you’ll get… a piece of scrap cloth and foam works even better. Just use offcuts and there will be no guesswork. I used to mix my pigments into a little measured volume of resin first, get the color I want, then add that to my larger volume of measured volume of resin. But lately I’ve just been mixing my colors right into my measured volume of resin directly, getting the color I want, then adding the hardener. Works fine.
If you pull out all the excess, you’ll see your tape line, no problem. Well… maybe not see it, but feel it. Just make sure you get a good, tight, flat lam without excess resin in the lap.
I’ve done a few and just poured out the lines without squeegeeing them off as I go. The trick is in the pour… just add enough resin to get the width of the line you want. Mix PLENTY of resin. To do it right, you need to flood the cloth completely before you pull. Flood the cloth, let it soak in, then pull perpendicular to the stringer, parallel with the lines of color.
Never did the clear “sealer” over the colored lam and got good results. Don’t overwork the lamination. Minimal touches with the spreader.
Thanks for the replies, that helps to clear up some of my questions. NJ I saw that blue fish with the inlay you did on another post during my research, it came out looking pretty good.
If for any reason I can't see or feel the tape line on the cut lap will it matter if my cut is not exact leaving a bit of tape behind? That won't cause delam problems later on, or adhesion issues with the next layer of glass on the deck?
You really do want to get all the tape out from under the lam. If you don’t, you’ll see it under there at the cut edge (especially if you use the bright green tape) and you can just re-cut. If you’re doubting yourself, do a second layer of tape over the first to create a bigger lump at the edge.
this will not work with epoxy as you would like to see it work. Epoxy will not be forced into the fiberglass, and it will smear. It will turn out to some degree, but if you are going to do lines of epoxy it's best to run nose to tail....not mexican blanket style.. The epoxy will smear..repeat epoxy will smear.
Poly...once it's down, it's down. if you want to have spots of clear foam showing through I would recommend doing the clear sealer coat to lock everything down. Like I said, with poly once it hits the foam....it's locked in. either it be clear or dark purple..it's locked down.
As for the % I always use a bit too much. I'd rather have a board turn out a deep red tint...than a pink tint.
[img_assist|nid=1055621|title=EPS/Epoxy pigment "swirl"|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=724|height=959]Here’s another one… not so smeary. Not a true marble swirl, but what I call a “drizzle” with pretty good color separation.
Ken, I also saw that longboard in my research, it came out great. Thanks for providing more photo evidence that color and epoxy can look good. I know that poly allows for better color disticntion but I have epoxy to work with and I'm tired of playing with spray paint and posca pens.
Resinhead, I had planned to run the stripes nose to tail. THe outline is all cut out, I may get around to shaping it Sunday. Glassing might have to wait for the weather to warm up with highs in the low 60's
OOPS… if your stripes are running nose-to-tail, obviously you pull out the excess resin lengthwise. When you said, “mexican blanket” I thought you meant stripes going rail-to-rail. My bad… I should have just said, pull in the same direction as your stripes are running, to minimize “smearing.”
On another thread, I suggested that the best epoxy colors to use are primaries, so when they do mix, you get another compound color, not mud. If you start with blue and yellow, you get green. If you start with red and yellow, you get orange. But if you start with green and orange, you get mud. Different shades of primary colors work great in epoxy, IMO. Plus, the fact that you’re doing stripes, not swirls, means you don’t have to mix anything together in a bucket before you pour. You’ll be pouring your colors out directly on the cloth, and this will help keep things from blending somewhat. Same as a “drizzle.”
Be aware of the fact that along the rails, you’ll be getting drips running off the rail, and that’s not the pattern you’re after. I’ve never done this before, but what about trying to pour one color along the rail through the middle of the board first, to get that saturated, then go to the flats, to make your lap one color? I don’t know…
I don’t want to rain on your parade or anything, but since this is only your second glass job, why don’t you go for something simpler? You probably have plenty of other things to worry about (tight lamination, even saturation, completely saturating laps, etc.) above and beyond dialing in a very difficult multi-color epoxy pigment job.
How about a full-board pigment (no cutlaps necessary) or a bottom-side solid color pigment with cut-laps if you want cut-lap practice.
Just my .02 from one early stage board-builder to another.
Just to clarify… if you’re free-lapping a tint or pigment, you can end up with a very ugly lap lines that you have to deal with later. I caution against this. Better to do a cutlap and be safe.
Fair enough. Definitely have to cut-lap with a translucent tint. Greg L. does not cut-lap with opaque pigments in his glassing video (a must view). I have also had success free-lapping opaque pigments with epoxy. This assumes you use the same color top/bottom. That being said, there is no harm in cut-lapping an opaque epoxy glass job, especially if you want cut-lap practice.
I don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but since this is only your second glass job, why don't you go for something simpler? You probably have plenty of other things to worry about (tight lamination, even saturation, completely saturating laps, etc.) above and beyond dialing in a very difficult multi-color epoxy pigment job.
How about a full-board pigment (no cutlaps necessary) or a bottom-side solid color pigment with cut-laps if you want cut-lap practice.
Just my .02 from one early stage board-builder to another.
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Good point but I'm probably going to give it a try anyways. #1 came out great functionally so I'm aiming for progress here:) At the end of the day I will still surf it if it is ugly. My first resin tint came out hot pink rather than red, but the board rips! I will probalby be up here in a month admitting I should have listened to your advice. I already have the laps worked out in my head. Now I just have to figure out how to get it to work.
