I went to Fiberglass Hawaii’s site. I see the pad, the “memory foam” pads. But I don’t see the horizontal grit sandpaper that’s good at cutting through the beads. Do they sell that or do I have to get that some other place? I also looked at some foam sanding blocks at a site in Australia. Either would do although I think $40.00 is a little much for memory foam. I don’t really want memory foam. It’s ok, I might buy that. What I have trouble finding is the screens and sandpaper that attach to the foam blocks. It’s those sandpapers/screens that I need - I can find a piece of foam just about anywhere - computer stores even have foam keyboard pads that might do.
Is is safe to say that EPS foam needs the horizontal lined sandpaper more than polyurethane - just curious.
For now I’ve dummied up a scrubber out of my 36-grit belt-sander paper. I took automotive liner/carpet adhesive and sprayed it onto a rubberized stair tread - I have a few others. It might be a little bit stiff due to the rubber but I can live with that. My hand can squeeze and mold it. I’m hoping a few swipes and I’ll be done. For the rails, I might have to come up with something a little softer.
My fear with my scrubber is that it will leave some minor scratches - but I can sand those out with finer paper if need be.
I now realize that the abrasive hookit strips and sanding screens are on pages 2 and 3 under abrasives at Fiberglass Hawaii’s site. I need to look through those pages more closely, perhaps I’ll find what I need.
I found it by going to the video and then searching with search of 80 grit LD. Then a little popup popped up under the search edit box. So it’s like $4.xx and change for the sandpaper. So I could order that stuff.
Ok, here’s the scoop, I’m doing PU blanks. I just took my 36-grit home-made block and started sanding. I then realized that the foam on top really does need to be attached to the bottom part of the block so I got some velcro and some double-sided tape and I’ve now taped the two pads together and velcrod them to the main block and. So I have a complete block now.
I will have to repeat this for smoother grits. I DO believe that the ordinary sandpaper will leave slight scratches in the foam. So I need to have a light touch until I finish the lighter grits.
I’ve also put a huge order in to get some shaping supplies. Until then, I will finish this 1st blank with my home-grown tools. So today I should have the deck done and at least I can make another home-made sanding block (CNC-style sanding block or whatever you want to call it, a blank scrubber) that is higher grit, like 80 or 120, assuming I have some of that sandpaper around.
So I’ve taken the deck down with about 6 swipes on each side now. I counted the swipes to be careful of symmetry.
After lunch, I will continue with my now made-better-with-velcro tool. It was awkward holding the soft foam to the rubber carpet tread. I am sanding inside plastic bags right now since my vacuum is stored in two pieces, one in my room, and one in my garage. I’ll start that on my next blank. So I’m keeping the dust to a minimum.
Come on. Depending on how crappy the millwork (CNC cuts) is; You should be able to use 100 or 120 and then go to 220 screen. A foam backed EVA Yoga Pad glued to a hardwood 1x4" block with the edge wrapped up onto the back of the block is all you need. You could make a 2nd block by glueing thicker EVA onto the bottom of another 1x4". I also use a Hardwood 1x4" block with no pad for flats and fine tuning at tail & nose. I do not use Velcro because I’m a cheap SOB and it is easier and more efficient to cut the block the length of the sandpaper and merely wrap it around the block. If you round the edges of the block; Your paper will last longer. I then finish the whole blank with screen. For screen I use the same blocks but finish with a full sized piece of upholstery foam and screen. Wiping the whole blank down with a worn out piece of 220 screen. The few times that I have finished CNC’ed blanks I use a sander/polisher on slow speed. Filling a CNC’ed Poly blank blank with Cabosil, Spackle or any kind of filler is ridiculous. You can’t get much simpler than scrubbing a CNC blank. Come on don’t reinvent the wheel. You are taking a very simple process and complicating the $#!t out of it. Sheesh! But this is Swaylocks; So what do I know?
I agree with McDing, that I can go to smoother paper. I actually found, after some sanding, that the grooves left by the CNC machine, are much shallower than I thought.
But it won’t hurt for me to make another sanding pad that’s like 120 grit or so.
Eventually, I might want to wear down the sandpaper a little bit by sanding some hardwood. This might take some of the scratch out. My sanding pad is nice now. I’m happy with it. I just need lighter grits. I have some screen that might do for some of the finer work, and perhaps conform to the rails adequately. I’ll give that a try.
I’ve now glued 120 grit to a new carpet tread so when it cures, I will have a less scratchy finish to this job. I need to walk on eggs until my better sanding system arrives. This is a prototype, it’s not like I’m doing 10 of these a day. I can afford to sand a little more with the 120.
Silmarzio you have to be taking the piss out of these good folk on Swaylocks? You’ve been on the website for 12 years and you’re asking such childish questions? Have you not read anything in that time?
Be a man, get a blank and hand shape it, dive in, learn for your mistakes like everyone else did.
The machine guy shouldn’t have even sold you the blanks if you don’t know what to do with them.
These shaping pads will change your game. For me they are the best for scrubbing blanks. FGH sells the following grits: 40 HD, 60 HD, 80 HD and 80 LD. I have two pads, 60 HD and 80 HD that I use for shaping.
After blowing a batch of epoxy hotcoat (I accidentally added the resin to a cup with alcohol in it), I decided to take my board out surfing. I caught a wave in only a minute so this board is enough float (37.6 litres) for my 6′ 190lbs or so (with wetsuit).
I used carbon fiber fins and glassed them on for this version of the board.
I will have FCS versions of it.
Time to drill the hole for the leash cup and hot-coat it. I have only one sheet of glass on bottom and top but epoxy is a tough resin – it’s hard as a rock. Always remember that epoxy forms a mechanical bond (not chemical as with polyester). I used the epoxy due to the cedar stringer.
I designed this board about 5 years ago with some custom dialogs I added to BoardCAD. I have four others that need final sanding and glassing. I’m just too busy with my consulting and traveling all over. I rarely get any time to work on my surfboards.
I don’t know where the dings came from ??? I repaired them and let them cure a while before I took it out. If I’m in a pinch to fix a ding now, I just use PC Marine epoxy. It’s easier than mixing resin – lazy, but it’ll do.
This was my first experience with epoxy – it’s like making pancakes – half as much one as the other. And use the scale if you really need to keep track of stuff. Otherwise, volume mixing is the way to go. I had to do this board in cold weather so it was a challenge!
Dimensions:
6’6″ x 20 1/2″ x 2 11/16″
I added this board to the board archive but I don’t see it there. Anyway, I’ll try to post something after it’s hotcoated and polished.
Did I read that right? You tested out the board before the hotcoat??? Well that was a bad idea! Its probably sucked water, plus you will never be able to get the board clean before a hotcoat, alsoyou would probably struggle to get a decent level hotcoat without a million fish eyes after getting the board so dirty.
On the positive side looks like you did a pretty good job on the shape , foil and the rocker, it really deserved finishing properly! Keep the stoke!
I either have to simply hotcoat it with normal epoxy resin, then use tinted at a later stage or else put the green tape back on to tape off the stringer, and use tinted resin.
I really think I should take my time and use the tinted resin to get rid of the final amount of discoloration from the bad hotcoat I had put on (and of course, had to scrape off). Wow, it was quite a job to get the uncured (tacky-sticky as heck) resin off.
My two cents is that I should just take my time here - that’s why I went surfing. I had to first fix a 7’2" board - now I have room on my glassing stand to do the job. I just hate doing the job because I need to tape off the stringer. If I allow the board to have smudges, I can use clear resin and WOULD NOT need to tape.
It’s kind of an ugly, sad job to resin the board 2 or 3 more times (since I want to eventually put a gloss on).
The board is probably not very wet though - is epoxy really that transparent? I don’t really know but I can just dry it out on a hot streak of
weather and it’ll be ok.
Yeah, I have to admit it was stupid of me to surf a board that has exposed fiberglass in spots due to the lack of hotcoat. Thank GOD for heat - it will dry
and probably still be a good board.
Lets see now there is wax on the board and you still have to hot coat the board? you also had exposed fiberglass? de-waxing will be a nightmare. Lots of scrubbing with different agents to get the wax out of tiny micro holes in the laminating coat. The exposed glass has wicked a lot of moisture. you may think it is dry. However there is still moisture lurking somewhere. Once you apply a hot coat and a finish coat you have sealed that moisture in. leave it out on a hot day sitting the beach after surf and watch it pop up with small defame spots or little mini volcanos. This is after you chased down all those fisheyes from wax contaminated deck. seems like you might need trash that board and start over.
For someone with so much information and time invested in shaping and this board alone, this is so ass backwards. This thread should go down in history. OP spouts facts like an encyclopedia then asks no brainers on the same subject. You cant make a brick house starting with the roof. So many head shakers in this thread.
I think you did something that will be a lesson you wish you never did. You have to finish the board before using it. You don’t have to have a nice finish, but the seal coat/hot coat is an important part. If you did the seal coat and not a “finish” or “gloss” coat, you should be OK to leave it as is and keep surfing. If it was a half finished glass job, you should just stop, enjoy it while it lasts, then make a new board.
I don’t think you can add another coat of resin over a board that was waxed and surfed without a lot of problems. You’ll be sanding, doing another coat then sanding then another coat to try and fill all the spots that won’t go away. Wasting time and resin.
Maybe if the foam is PU and you can use xylene or toluene to clean it. I would be very careful if you go that route. Do thorough tests on samples of the same foam first to make sure it will not dissolve. Also both of these solvents have very strong bad fumes. You need good ventilation, a respirator designed for fumes, and good gloves. I use 2 pairs of gloves for these solvents, a thinner glove then a heavier longer rubber glove you can get for washing dishes. The solvents have a tendency to eat through some of the gloves. Most solvents ending in “ene” or “ine” are known to cause cancer. Follow up with de-natured alcohol.
90 percent of my boards do not have a gloss finish. I just did a thick sealer coat or 2 and sanded them. If I hit the weave, add another thin layer of resin and sand smooth. Spray finish on some then another wet sanding to 600 or 1200. Really ugly glass jobs get a rattle can color spray.
Spackle on EPS is not a Science experiment. It is a tried and proven method of filling the voids between beads of EPS closed cell foam. If you had done a search of the archives as suggested; you wouldn’t be emabarassing yourself. But to answer some of what I can sort out of your original question; No you do not fill before sanding. With sandpaper, sand your CNCed Blank as close as possible to the finished shape. Then as I and 100’s of others do; thin with distilled water an amount of “Liteweight” spackle sufficient to do the entire Blank. The spackle should be of the type that is so lite that when you pick up the plastic tub at the hardware store the tub feels as though it is only half full. Spackle the entire board top and bottom using a plastic spreader. Let the blank dry throughly. At least overbite. Then screen the entire Blank with a worn out 220 sanding screen and a foam pad. You are now ready to glass. Delams are not due to spackle. They are a result of a poorly spackled EPS Blank. Cabosil solutions are a pain in the ass and much harder to sand. Lowel
