Gluing two halves of EPS without stringer?

Gents,

 

I have a 9’6"(ish) Fuser brand EPS blank that is spliced in half with no stringer. Can I use quick kicking Gorilla Glue to bond the two halves together without the stinger? If so, I intend to hand shape the blank and have it glassed with carbon fiber perimeter rails to compensate for the missing stinger. I’m a little concerned about the lack of center strength or possible issues with the glide due to the foam not being a solid piece across the board width. Adding a stringer is not an option (or at least I don’t want it to be). What say thee?

how thick is the board?  i like stringerless boards, but I am courious to know why it is not an option.

foamtheory,  yes you can, and don’t let anyone say you can’t.  still stringers are helpful in boards that long, and yes this keyboard doesn’t capitalisse and certain letters are missing, but the view more than makes up for it.

If you’re concerened about flex or buckling laminate a strip of carbon fiber along the bottom centerline to act as a stringer.

The fact that you’re gluing up 2 halves will already make it stronger than a standard stringerless blank.

~Brian

 

I bought some of those blanks too.  What I have been doing is putting micro stringers of wood in them. This one is a triple stringer.  I't was a 10'2 in the 2 halves, I just cut it up a bit more then glues it all up.

I'm more worried about the carbon fiber perimiter rail thing. those rails will stiffen up the board, and be a bitch to clean up.

 

Do the perimiters in wood. and glass as normal.   wood has great flex, carbon fiber....no so good.

 

DrB-711-22-2-78

Boss Hog

 

 

This one is / was 16ft and 1.5 foam....it needs a stringer to keep it from flopping and warping on the glassing stand.

1600SS

Thanks guys, much appreciated! 

 

Greg, I wanted to take the opportunity to try something different. Its been center stringers for me since I can remember…

 

resinhead, thanks for the tip! I don’t have any experience with wood perimeters unfortunately. Wouldn’t the carbon fiber perimeters be akin to Hayden Shapes that are ever so popular? 

 

The blank is like 6-7" thick and real chunky. I was thinking of shaping in my own rockers and bringing the size down to 6’6" for the finished board.

Plot your desired foil/rocker for a 6’6’’ against that 9’6’’ blank profile before you start. Re-foiling a 9’6’’ into a 6’6’’ is a tough task.

Resinhead is right. Carbon stringers are a bitch to clean up. Especially with EPS. Wood is the better option. Gorilla glue works great but work fast. Once you activate it, it expands quickly. Consider doing it in phases.

Post some photo’s I love to see other peoples work.

Barry Snyder





[quote="$1"]

Gents,

 

I have a 9'6"(ish) Fuser brand EPS blank that is spliced in half with no stringer. Can I use quick kicking Gorilla Glue to bond the two halves together without the stinger? If so, I intend to hand shape the blank and have it glassed with carbon fiber perimeter rails to compensate for the missing stinger. I'm a little concerned about the lack of center strength or possible issues with the glide due to the foam not being a solid piece across the board width. Adding a stringer is not an option (or at least I don't want it to be). What say thee?

[/quote]

Hello FoamTheory,

In your first post you talk about a 9'6" FUSR blank. A few posts later you talk about building a mid 6 foot board. I can broker a deal to get you the proper blank and save that 9 footer for someone that wants to build a log. I just cut out a 6'2" disc and I'm getting ready to cut out a 6'2" pin tail from a 6'9" M FUSR.....want to make a deal? ....I'll trade one of my blanks for that 9'6"...I have a friend that has some FUSR EPS so we might be able to dial you in a little better.

When gluing two EPS halves together here's a few tips.

Do the two Halves line up? Did you check? Did you put a straight edge to the foam?....like an eight foot piece of masonite cut on a panel saw.....

The FUSR foam is tight bead 2.5 foam. It's tuff stuff. A hot wired cut is good for gluing....but... brown Gorilla Glue expands as it cures...and expanding glue likes to make it's way into EPS foam....so...if you are gluing up EPS foam you might want to spackle the foam before you glue....and don't use massive amounts of glue....the glass job is where you get stronger, not in the stringer glue up.........I love this stuff!!!!

Happy new year!!!!!      Stingray

 

Hey Barry.....I love your work.....

......So..... maybe I buy a blank....without a stringer....do you sell these light weight stringers to backyard guys???

and if I make an appointment do you give tours?......Thanks for your stoke!

Ray

I would use thickend epoxy instead of PU glue.

http://www.demandproducts.com/Spray-Foam-items/search.php?search=glue

Place I get my foam cut gave me a book from this company that offers spray glue and sum cool sanding tools

Hans, that’s what I use too, but be sure and scuff up the surface a little.  I found that even epoxy doesn’t bond well to the hot-wired surface.  have you had that problem?  I noticed it when I bonded some EPS off cuts horizontally to make some blanks from pieces.

Stingray, I’m in the valley of Oceanside. Look me up. Stop by anytime, Barry

Thanks again all for the replies, they are all well received. 

 

Stingray, good points on the 2.5lb foam too, it’s tough stuff but very high quality. I have already hand shaped three of the smaller FUSR blanks down from the 6-7" thickness to get my own fish rocker - that was a B-I-T-C-H! I use the cut-off pieces of blank to make foam hand planes for body surfing, so the extra length is not lost. I’m going to hang on to this blank and still might make a bigger board out of it, thanks for the offer though, sincerely appreciated.

 

BSD, I thought he was referring to carbon fiber rails, not stringers? Thanks for the pointers on working fast. Beautiful work by the way. 

 

Epoxy is out since I don’t have any handy (yes, I am that lazy). Also I don’t glass my own boards (boooo!) 

 

I will post some pictures of the crazy shite that I shape up soon.