yoshio, i use the plasterers tape described earlier and do a whole side in 10-15 minutes… i trim it by hand after gluing…
I really like the sound of this! Anyone know what a roll of platerer’s tape costs? All things given I’d be happy to spend an extra $10 per board and save 5.5 hours work. And I am guessing you’d get more than one bag out of a roll.
-doug
cool stuff! now I hope i can find the product or something similar here in japan.
Thanks,
jimmyyoshioshibata.
you can save time by taping and not glueing
i glued the sheets on board no1. and it took hours but it still looks the best.
now i just tape the outside with masking tape
if i do straight up?@and down it only take 15 to 20 mins
if you want to do something a bit interesting with 45 degrees
or herring bones it take a fair bit longer.
its really interesting how you can workout things that reduce times considerably
i think the board im working on now will be around 18 hours i hope
my first one took me 30 hours
but i stuffed around heaps making sure everything was right.
How about zero tape, zero glue, 15 minutes?
Dan, I wondered when you’d start to put that up…
Glad I didn’t have to wait too long.
Few words on your process, for us in the peanut gallery, please?
Ben
Hi Yoshio
Its all about jigs, if you want to decrease the time to do anything you have to make it dead simple to do
Jigs where every thing fits together without measuring and messing round is the way
Check bill barnfields posts as he says you must be able to repeat a task quickly and consistantly to get the hours down
Mike
Guys, this is gold stuff 
I was going to go with a tape/jig combo I have in my head. Which might not work that well because it’s just sitting in my head (test run!).
And now DanB posts this 
Dan - you gonna spill or just tease? 
-doug
Dave, do you tape all joints with the plaster tape or just here and there to hold it together somewhat untill you get it in the bag?
regards,
Håvard
yeah dan
thats so cool dont leave us hanging
it looks like glass on one side done flat under vac
but how do you get your joins so good or stop things from moving
i cant think of a jig that would do it
maybe pins of some sort???
oh of course
hold balsa together by assembling on a table that vacuum holds stuff
and then put a layer of pre wet glass over the top
thats why theres so much bleed through cause the vac sucks the resin through
am i right am i right ???
all the way haarvard, probably adds strength too!
Hi sabs! I was reading this post again and find your numbers for the fill coat was very small. Do you mean you’re using 40grams for the HOTCOAT or is this fill coat something you do in between the Hotcoat?
And I also weigh my cloth and try to get close to1:1 ratios when laminating but I have problems with tiny airbubbles trapped in my lam. after laminating it looks perfect(bubbles not visible) but then after hotcoat you can notice those tiny bubbles in my lam,usually where i have two layers of cloth. I dont preheat my resin, but does preheating solve this problem?
Thanks,
Jimmy yoshio shibata.
Hi Jimmy
Preheating solves a lot of issues because it means that the resin is much thinner
However small bubbles are quite often a result of over working the resin,epoxy should be laidout gently dont force it or push it fast the same goes when mixing use a flat wide stick, mix slowly all ways scrap the sides, when mixed it should not be full of bubbles if it is use a gentler action.
My average resin usage is this with a single layer of 3 oz on the bottom the cloth will weigh about 90 grams therefore laminating I will mix 90 grams of resin
I then pour and squeegy at the same time ie follow the pour with the squeegy,pour only enough for the suqeegy to spread in one pass
Then do the next pass untill all the surface has been covered
Then WAIT for it to wet out DO NOT FORCE IT
Because you are using such small quanitys of resin ther should not be a need to push resin great puddles of resin around spreading it out
Then within 24 hr i will lightly sand with 240 grit then gently screed 40 grams or less to top off the weave
This can be a product like duratec instead of resin if you like its job is not structural its job is just to fill any weave so the gloss finish looks good.
The board is then finished with a 2 pack clear, again using only 60 grams in the spray gun so that only about 30 grams ends up on the board
To get it light and strong less is much better, working the resin gently and slowly you will end up finishing the job quicker as the sanding time is greatly reduced and there should be almost zero waste!!
Hope this helps Mike
Jimmy,
It’s also worth keeping in mind that the materials you are using naturally “breath” according to whether they are maring up or cooling down. If they are warming up they will “breath out” and this can cause bubbles (pinholing). If they are cooling down they are “breathing in” and will absorb a little epoxy.
So if you apply your epoxy when your workspace (and materials) have gone past the warmest point of the day this cause of pinholing should be eliminated.
-doug
Thank you very much for some great info!! I was doing hotcoats similair to when using poly,pour and then spread with brush and then sand away excess,with of course lesser amounts,say like 400g per side for a 6foot board.
With your method I can save so much resin AND time.
Thanks for sharing,
Jimmy yoshio shibata.
Hi doug! I know what you’re talking about and have had those problems,
but this time I wasnt really talking about pinholes,but much much smaller airbubbles trapped under my lam. And sabs gave me great advice so hope these problems wont come up again.
thank you anyway,
Jimmy yoshio shibata.
G’day Jimmy,
If you had that coverred then I reckon sabs will be right.
-doug