hey guys, so i glassed teh bottom of my board yesterday and it’s my first time glassing. basically, it was a bit colder (67 degrees) in my apartment where i was doing it, so i put in 1.5% catalyst, as i thought that was still a bit on the conservative side. unfortunately not… it started gelling while wrapping the rails. i had other resin and cat ready just in case, and did take care of most of it, but near the tail (the last section i got too), i have some messiness to say the least. what’s the best way to sand this down? i’ve searched on here a bunch and seen that another guy had this happen, but on his top layer, and he had the protection of his bottom layer already on the foam. should i put a hot coat near the edges of the lap line for protection and use a metal file to sand the lap down? some ofhte rails have some thick resin also, so maybe the file can sand that down too? that’s what i’m thinking, but i figured that it can’t hurt ot see if other guys have had this happen when glassing the bottom. i’m attaching a couple of pics. thanks for any help!
Ouch!
Well I got to say, it looks like you’ve got some work ahead of you!
Would you consider peeling off the laminate you just did, sand the blank smooth, and starting over? Take the lesson you just learned and apply it to the next board.
Practice makes perfect.
ah, i have thought of that, but it’s pretty dry now, so i’d rather not peel/sand it all off, hoping i can blend the lap somehow. cut off/sand off any glass that arent attached to the board, and go from there? yea i screwed up…
That is ugly, welcome to the club. This is how we learn. You can try to baste the adjacent foam with a light coat of resin and start filing away at the lap. This will help preserve the foam.
How good are you with a grinder? A smaller 4" grinder with a light touch will help to start. As described in other threads, this takes a bit of a “touch”. You hit the trigger and let go, as the rpms are winding down hit the lumps. Use a light touch.Use this method on all the highest spots and file the rest smooth. You can use a sanding stick with 50-60 grit to bring down too. This is not a lost cause. This, is what will turn you into a craftsman. We all make mistakes. It’s all in how well we can cover them up. Don’t give up! At the very least you can just do it all by hand. This is a great lesson believe it or not. You’re not likely to forget and do a repeat performance.
ps. Wrap your stands a little better on top.Looks like the end of the “ear” can ding the foam.
Razor knife, cut it lengthwise into strips. Really not hard to do before hotcoat. after sanding, you’ll loose 1/16". You’ll be happier in the end.
I second using a grinder. A hand file would just get clogged and be frustrating. This will be good practice getting your technique down for later ding repairs and such. Just go slowly with a light touch.
awesome, alredy going with the grinding/sanding by hand approach. hope it works out. if not, i’ll learn somethign else i’m sure. thanks for the help!
I just lost my cherry with my 4" grinder on my sons first board, it is awesomly terrifying, only thing that has occured to me is that the lam coat is a bit sticky so when you grind down the big blobs it leaves behind the dust from the disc, and it inbeds the dust into the resin left behind, i have found this has left ‘tell-tail’ signs of grinding behind in the glass.
I use a surform to remove anything like that. Doesn’t clog up too much, like sandpaper, and it’s pretty efficient at removing material. If the blade gums up a lot, swap it out. Sanding or grinding will smear the lam resin and result in dirty spots.
One way is to go ahead and paint a coat of lam resin on the laps and use a little one handed surform that cuts on the pullstroke. Thye are cheap. If the blade clogs up take it off and soak in acetone for bit. Clean the resin off with a wire brush and you can go ahead and clog it up again. Don’t feel bad. It’s a common mistake.
I have a curved sanding block with white 80 grit paper glued to the convex side. Works great for things like this. The paper is made by rhynolux and kind of hard to find. I use the 40 and 80 grit. The surfboard suppliers usually carry it and it’s on ebay sometimes.
The white grit is great for white blanks. Have fun!
I don't know how many times I've posted this up, but it seems that even guys who have been around here for quite awhile just refuse to take good advice. Again I say; Again; A right angle air drive die grinder with a two or three inch 3M diskit pad. Industry Standard! Grind that stuff around the rails down Patch or baste as necessary and glass the other side. I don't do precentage of volumne. I put 15 cc in a quart and a half of Poly for a long board and reduce it down from there. If I haven't done one in awhile I drop to 10cc. I reccomend that next time you use UV. A four inch electric right angle grinder belongs in a welder's shop, not a surfboard factory.
Have been using the right angle air grinder for 30 years. When I make a comment on Swaylocks I sometimes assume that the person asking the question is a beginner. I also assume that he may possibly not have an air compressor…hose…grinder…roll lock pad and discs.
Swaylocks is still frequented by a lot of beginner builders and sometimes you have to help them with basic stuff.
Believe me,; I understand. Yet the archives here on swaylocks are a wealth of information that beginners should avail themselves upon. It's hard for me to understand why sometimes you can lead a jacka$$ to water but thay won't drink. The use of an electric right angle grinder on a surfboard (when one should know better) is perplexing. But it's like 2008 when Obama got elected; I told my liberal friends on Maui, "You get what you deserve".
Two most important things in glassing.
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Working quickly.
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Working neatly.
Don’t over-work things and keep everything neat as you go from the beginning to the end. Working neatly starts by having everything neat and in its place before you mix resin. Have all your tools neatly arranged and ready to go. Don’t fire off the resin and then find out you forgot something. The neater you do the first side…the neater the second side will come out. The neater your lam job the less sanding you have to do. The less sanding you have to do the less chance of sanding thru and it goes on and on.
Next time you decide to laminate, why not use UV Cure Resin; you have unlimited work time and instant hardening in the sun; what happened to you is the nightmare a lot of us went through at some point; for me, an amateur board builder, UV Cure was a frickin miracle; climb aboard and get with a better program!!!
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Believe me,; I understand. Yet the archives here on swaylocks are a wealth of information that beginners should avail themselves upon. It’s hard for me to understand why sometimes you can lead a jacka$$ to water but thay won’t drink. The use of an electric right angle grinder on a surfboard (when one should know better) is perplexing. But it’s like 2008 when Obama got elected; I told my liberal friends on Maui, “You get what you deserve”.
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I bolted on my question to a begginers htread as i knew it may help the author as well as myself with any solutions offered, MsDing, if you get annoyed wasting your time helping out us beginners when the information is readily available in the archives*, then don’t waste your time writing your comment and move onto more advanced topics that deserve your time. I am well aware of your merits McDing but you do like to antaganise for little gain, resulting in knocked confidence (not mine as my boards are shit with or without your advice, good job it’s a hobby)
*(so ready in fact that when i, and avid Swaylock reader during the short window of time i have in the summer to break out a couple of boards before work starts again, cannot find this information even after an entire evening on the website)
Brummie---You shoulda read a little more avidly or cruised the archives before you screwed up your kids board. Maybe then you wouldn't of lost your cherry with a high RPM grinder.
It doesn’t look that bad to me from what little I can see. Been there, done that. I would not strip the whole thing. I would use a razor to cut out any fiberglass not bonded to foam, patch those areas with new fiberglass, then sand the whole shebang smooth with an orbital sander or a sanding block. Continue to the deck.
My view of grumpy old bastards is this. In general, they will take the time to help you if a) they like you, or b) they think what you are doing has merit. So if a grumpy old bastard takes the time to help you, but peels a little bark off of you in the process, the best response is a thank you. In general, when a grumpy old bastard ignores you, you can be pretty sure they think you’re a worthless shit. Mike
M'Ding, Makita makes a drill body sander/grinder with a 4 or 5 inch hard backing disc that is very handy for many things especially roughing in glass on fins. Similar to the small pneumatic gringer only a larger base. Will try to find model #.
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Makita makes a drill body sander/grinder with a 4 or 5 inch hard backing disc that is very handy for many things especially roughing in glass on fins.
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I have a 4" angle grinder with sanding attachment that is my go-to tool for foiling homemade fins
