So it turns out I put too much resin in the plug holes and now half of my plugs are saturated with resin. I tried briefly this morning to remove the fin jigs but they were pretty stuck in there. I plan to go home tonight and try to sand/drill down the resin so I can remove them, but it’s not looking too good… Has anyone else been able to salvage a similar mistake? I’d really like to not have to rip these things out/buy new plugs/make a serious mess. Check out the pic below and let me know what you think.
How did you do that? Just poured until you couldn’t pour any more??? Oh well, live and learn, I suppose. If you can get to the other grub screw (maybe use a pick or some other pointy object) and try to pop the resin off the top of the plug, then take the grubs all the way out. Sand it down flush, being careful not to hit the fin jig. Once you’ve got all the resin down, take a mallet and try to pop the fin jig loose. Don’t hit it too hard, just enough to hopefully break the bond. If this doesn’t work, grind the fin jig flush with the plug then drill a few 1/8" holes in the fin jig tabs, being careful not to drill into the plugs. You should be able to get a small screwdriver in there to pop them out, then clean up the inside of the plug with a small chisel or knife blade. Good luck, you’ll need it!
I was trying to fill the resin to the top of the foam dams to make sure everything was fully saturated and solid. Idk man, surely got ahead of myself. Didn’t help that I used an old mustard bottle to squeeze the resin in… Thanks for the tips though, I’m gonna pick up a tiny chisel and pick to try to rectify the situation. I already broke the tip off my exacto knife this morning…
Admit defeat. Cut it off with hack saw flush. Use a hole saw to cut around each plug. Pop them out. Insert a new foam plug using the hole saw. Maybe use blue Dow XPS for a colorful “I meant to do it this way” look. Then go and sin no more.
You should be able to get the jigs free if you push it back and forth in all directions. Nothing sticks to that stuff!
I have a chisel that I ground down so it fits a FCS plug slot… (Don’t ask why I did that.)
Anyway, PM me your address and I can mail it to you on loan. It looks as if you’ve got the screw thing figured out… just keep picking at it. Or my chisel might help.
I’d spend a long time trying to salvage before digging out and starting from scratch.
try to get the grub screws out first. If they come out without wrecking the threads, salvage operations continue. You could spend a few hours trying to get all that resin out of the top of the plugs with a chisel or a dremel tool, but I think I would saw off the jig flush with the top of the plugs (they don’t cost that much) and then just sand the whole mess down flush with the deck of the board. at that point you just need to pull the last bits of the jig out of the plugs, which you can do pretty easily (drill a hole, screw in a screw, pull out with pliers)
John’s chisel idea is a good one but do be careful not to jar the plug loose or introduce a hairline crack. If be more optimistic if they were Fusion plugs.
Heck, I’d be more optimistic if I could get a decent cup of coffee around here this morning.
Please let us know how this turns out. It will be a good data point for others.
She’s alive! Cheers for the chisel offer John, I picked one up from the hardware store last night and it worked really well. I managed to get the jigs out by first clearing away the resin on the perimeter of the jigs. Then I hammered the chisel into the jigs and got some leverage against the plugs to pry them out. It was a slow and tedious process, but all my plugs are intact. The issue still remains with a few of the grub screws. One in particular I had removed prior to installing the plugs (idk why I thought this was a good idea…) and now that hole is saturated halfway with resin. Not sure what I should do there, any ideas are welcome… Two other grub screws are still kinda stuck, but I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to get them out with some finesse. I’ll post some pics later to give you a better idea of what I’m working with at this point but I’m stoked that the jigs are out and the plugs are intact. I will surf this board!
get a small drill bit (same diameter as the screw minus the threads or slightly smaller) and drill thru the resin, making sure to match the angle of the hole…then get a tap that matches the screw thread and remove the remaining bits of resin… again be careful with the angle.
If yu have a dremel, there’s a bit the has tiny round grinder tip. That will get into the grub easily. There are also other grinding bits that you can use to get through the resin, but you need to have a good hold on the tool and be careful.
If you can get the foam installation jigs that go onto the board off, then you’ll be able to sand the area where the grubs are go slowly till you just start to see the metal. Then you can use the dremel to get into the grub slot. Once you get a little bit into the hex hole, you can use an ice pick or scratch awl to dig at the resin until you can get a FCS key into the screw. If you can get the key into the screw enough, you’ll be able to back out the screw. Once the screw is backed out some, you can work on pulling your jigs free. They won’t come out if the grub screws are holding them down. Once the jigs are free, screw the grubs down and you can sand the plugs smooth. After you’re done sanding, you can back out the grubs and put in new ones or wait until you’re done and change them.
Next time put some tape over the grub screws before your add the resin. I like to melt candle wax onto the screws. Resin will come right off and you can easily dig out the wax with an ice pick or similar tool.
Another thing to use is a razor blade or a utility knife. You’ll be surprised at how well these will cut through resin. I have a handle that you use with one sided razor blades, and I like using that instead of holding the blade with my fingers.
Just be careful, and go slowly, cut thin layers off instead of trying to get through the whole thing. These will help you cut through the resin build up along fin jugs. If you cut away a little of the resin where it touches the fin jig, it should help get them free, but you have to back the grub screws out a little.
I bought these plastic eye droppers for doing fin boxes and filling in holes with resin. They are great. Just cut the tip to be as wide as you want and then you can use thin or thickened resin. They are really cheap.
