You mean the “relief cuts” at the tip of the nose and tail?
I cut a tab. I make two snips, a half inch apart, parallel to the stringer, that creates a tab that sticks straight out from the point. The tab should be about 3/4 inch long and a half inch wide. On either side of the tab, I cut off the cloth 90 degrees to the tab, half the tab length. I lap the rail all the way to the tab, then tuck the tab. Then I lap the other rail and make the last tuck over the tab.
-l_l-
There has been so much really helpful stuff here, I think that the glass job on my present project may even stand a chance of coming out good (yeah, we’ll see).
I’m going to leave it til the weather warms up a little as I went to the garage to do some work on it last night and even after having two oil radiators on for 5 hours my hands were still numb after half an hour. Besides, the way I work it’ll be May by the time all the woodwork’s done anyway. I’m going to print this thread as a resoource so that I can re-read it all when I’m ready to start with the tricky bit.
Big thanks again to all!
This is what first got me stoked about Swaylocks. I’ve been making my own EPS/epoxy boards for a good while now and am well on to compsand construction. But when I was first turned on to Sways there were top notch shapers and epoxy masters like GL giving advice. There is some great info in this thread. I think the archives are difficult unless you are trying to find an old thead for specific info.
I don’t us any poly except for repairs on friends boards. I really like being able to use industrial materials and not have to deal with the “surf industry”. Epoxy/EPS/Timber is great.
Can’t say that I really have anything signficant to add. I use a plastic yellow squegee to laminate - thanks to advice from GL and against advive from friends who are poly laminators. I don’t clean it after - use 40 grit and a razor to clean off the dried epoxy before the next lam. It seems to get better and better. I recently bought some new squegees but the old one is way better- thinner and more flexible. The best squegee I’ve used was a tapered EPS off-cut from cutting a rail band -coated with a couple of layers of epoxy. I don’t remember how I came up with this but it worked great for a couple of boards until the epoxy wore through and the EPS started flaking off.
I use a throw away 60mm brush for the laps and often mix a bit more resin. I just don’t think there is a bonding issue unless you are taking an extremely long time (hours) to laminate.
In the middle of winter I use a space heater in the shop but it virtually never freezes where I live. I’ve never had an issue with epoxy hardening -eventually -and I’ve use all sorts. But it’s much more predictible in warm weather. Warm is good.
My work space is right underneath the family living room. I’ve been using epoxy there for over a decade with no issues. If i do a poly repair everyone complains.
Hope all goes well Jase - the kool-aid is tasty.
I know I am resurrecting an old thread here, but I don’t see my problem addressed…
I am getting ready to start doing a couple of glass jobs and wonder what is the maximum temp I should attempt to use RR fast?
It’s been pretty hot lately (85-100 F) and I am afraid that I will run into trouble at this high a temp range. What sort of symptoms will I run into if it is too hot?
Thanks in advance…
Unless you’re a bloody good laminator, I wouldn’t use RR fast in 85 deg!
100F would be madness.
I lam a board in about 15 mins (i’m pretty slow), and I can do that at about 70F with RR fast.
Any hotter and i’d get myself into trouble.
Thats 15mins from mixing the resin to finish tucking the laps.
Thanks - that’s the info I was looking for. I’ll probably have to do it at night then when it is cooling down, and perhaps I can get back in the morning while it is still cool to do the other side. Then both can go off in the heat of the day.
Not sure how good I am at this, it’s been 30 years since the last board I made (PE resin then of course). But I used to mix em pretty hot back then and I could get it done before it went off… This will get interesting.
Sounds like you know what you’re doing anyway 
The only other suggestion I have is to do a test patch of about half a square foot of cloth, and time how long it takes before the resin becomes unworkable at that temperature.
Then guess at an appropriate temperature that will give you the time you need.
It would only take a couple of ounces to do the test, if you can be bothered! It may avert disaster
Just mixing the resin an timing how long it takes to go off in the pot will not give you a valid time - epoxy goes off MUCH quicker when in a large mass.
Spread it out into some actual cloth and time it, that will give you a true indication.
I’ve read that every 10 deg the temperature is raised halves the pot life, but I can’t remember if thats Celcius or Farenheit, and i’ve never tested that myself!
It sounds like Celcius to me at a guess
KKSurf gave you some good advice. I’ve found that RR takes slightly longer to laminate at cooler temps than PE because it soaks into the cloth slower. But at higher temps, the mix becomes much less viscus, and with Add F it flows even better. I’ve used fast up into the 80s F and have no problems as long as you get it out of the bucket quickly. The resin soaks right in and you can move at a nice pace. But over 90 degrees F you’re looking at potential problems. You have to really mix the stuff for a few minutes, so that starts the clock ticking. By the time you pour it all out, it’s getting warm in your hand, and by the time you spread it and tuck the laps, you’re looking at glue. So getting the last bit of excess out of the weave is difficult, particularly on the deck where you have two layers.
Or, just get some slow or extra slow.
I have a comparable question about epoxy, also the first time making owe baord.
It is a Fish (5'10, 55cm wide, and 6,35 cm thick) 3 layers on deck and bottum of Oz4 (because it is a stringerless board). But how mutch of this epoxy/harderner mix mutch I use per side???
I hope someone can give me an advice
12 oz bottom 18 oz deck 6 oz per side on the hot coat. That’s a bit more than I use but you’ll probably need a bit more on the first one. If you run short you can always mix up a bit more to finish.
electric blanket