I use the EPS foam(white foam). I have two boards sitting in my basement waiting for some glass. I’ve shaped them with a regular planer, not much problems with it. No chunk blowouts, no tears. Maybe I just work slow, I don’t know. You might need to spackle a board shaped from EPS though. The foam consistency varies and you might find spots where there are some small holes. The spackling is not a big deal, just use a rubber squeegee, sand and your ready to glass. The finnish of the blank may not be as nice as with a polyurethane blank, but not a big deal for a personal board. You can always do some resin artwork. You will need epoxy to glass it though. regards, Håvard
Thanks Havard, I am going to try to get started this weekend. No big deal if it doesn’t shape too well, I am more interested in the glassing side of it. If I get gouges or snags I will spackle as you suggest, and I was going to paint the blank with a white latex paint (three coats) so I can use poly resin on it (probably with the UV additive). When I get better at glassing I really want to start using the Clark blanks anyway.
Thanks Havard, I am going to try to get started this weekend. No big deal if it doesn’t shape too well, I am more interested in the glassing side of it. If I get gouges or snags I will spackle as you suggest, and I was going to paint the blank with a white latex paint (three coats) so I can use poly resin on it (probably with the UV additive). When I get better at glassing I really want to start using the Clark blanks anyway.
Tyler I was thinking of doing the same thing.do you think the glue lines will act as a stringer? I had a foam board buckle in the middle with no stringer once. then I thought of doing it your way. Let us know how it turns out
Tyler I was thinking of doing the same thing.do you think the glue lines will act as a stringer? I had a foam board buckle in the middle with no stringer once. then I thought of doing it your way. Let us know how it turns out
I would test the paint and poly stuff on a scrap piece first to see if it works. Epoxy is not that expensive and would give you a stronger board, wheater you use polystyrene or polyurethane. Whatever you do, good luck. regards, Håvard
I would test the paint and poly stuff on a scrap piece first to see if it works. Epoxy is not that expensive and would give you a stronger board, wheater you use polystyrene or polyurethane. Whatever you do, good luck. regards, Håvard
Mutt, Glad some of all that talk in the archive helped. Mr.J and I had a whole lot of palaver. I still need to finish off the pink XPS (extruded polystyrene) board. I painted it with acrylics to cover the pink and have just rec’d some of Greg Loehr’s 2000 epoxy to do the glassing (Greg, Thanks - this stuff looks so much clearer than the west-system epoxy I was playing around with - I’ll try to do it right). On the tools. With the pink foam I found I needed to move slow with a power planer to get a clean cut. Avoid using a surform on this foam unless it’s for very rough shaping, it catches and can leave a line of tears in the foam deep enough to require spackling. On sandpaper I found that 80 grit would work but any rougher a grit and the foam was too easy to tear. So it was slower on the whole than you’ll probably find the white EPS (expanded polystyrene) to be. I’ve hacked around with little pieces of EPS and it is easier to plane and shape, but then usually requires spackling. If you paint the blank and use polyester resin to laminate, I agree suncure or solarez would be the call. easy to work with and a quick cure so that any seepage through the paint won’t have a lot of time to do damage to the foam. Make sure to post a pic of the board after it’s done. Best, Eric J
Mutt, Glad some of all that talk in the archive helped. Mr.J and I had a whole lot of palaver. I still need to finish off the pink XPS (extruded polystyrene) board. I painted it with acrylics to cover the pink and have just rec’d some of Greg Loehr’s 2000 epoxy to do the glassing (Greg, Thanks - this stuff looks so much clearer than the west-system epoxy I was playing around with - I’ll try to do it right). On the tools. With the pink foam I found I needed to move slow with a power planer to get a clean cut. Avoid using a surform on this foam unless it’s for very rough shaping, it catches and can leave a line of tears in the foam deep enough to require spackling. On sandpaper I found that 80 grit would work but any rougher a grit and the foam was too easy to tear. So it was slower on the whole than you’ll probably find the white EPS (expanded polystyrene) to be. I’ve hacked around with little pieces of EPS and it is easier to plane and shape, but then usually requires spackling. If you paint the blank and use polyester resin to laminate, I agree suncure or solarez would be the call. easy to work with and a quick cure so that any seepage through the paint won’t have a lot of time to do damage to the foam. Make sure to post a pic of the board after it’s done. Best, Eric J
Thanks again Eric J. I will post a picture when the project is complete.
Thanks again Eric J. I will post a picture when the project is complete.