Today i decided to add a couple fin plugs to an old board i had. i’ve only messed with epoxy one time before this, i usually do poly boards. I did everything i usually do with poly boards, and then mixed the epoxy 2:1 like its supposed to be and poured it in the holes. about 5 minutes later i returned to see that the epoxy was bubbling and the tape was burning and smoking. I used epoxy that had been sitting in my shop for over a year. What do i do next time to prevent this next time? that is if i ever get the nerve to do it again
Only for a train splattered sacrifice.
Wouldn't even consider doing that now tho'
First time I used epoxy to set fin plugs in a PU blank I had the same problem. I was able to yank out the plugs before the resin hardened too much. Then I had to clean it all up and do it again.
With PU and PE it’s easy to make a smoking hot board. Never did get flames though.
Last board I ever saw on fire was on the beach at Wander Inn one night after a day of glassy surf.
The fire was going, the gang was tokin, a jug of Red Mountain was being passed.
One of the surfers hanging around the fire had just made a deal for a good used log that afternoon,
and he was so happy with it after an evening session,
he went and grabbed the beat-up Dexter popout he had been cursed with for the past year
off of the racks of his car and threw it on the fire.
Board just flamed up like a huge torch, and then as it crumbled into the flames,
the wind suddenly picked up hard onshore, which got us laughing like crazed howler monkeys,
as we realized the surf gods didn’t like popouts either…
Hey Drifter, your problem is due to the resin exotherming - its normal, the resin generates heat with the chemical reaction when the hardner mixes in. You need to either do staged pours of your epoxy - only need to leave it so it’s gelled before the next pour…most of heat will have dissipated by then. You may find 2 or three pours will fill you up tot the top of the plug resevoir (presuming you are using FCS? You can also sink the heat from the bottom of the board with an ice pack. I have had a similar problem back in the day and I removed the plug like you did, cleaned as much mess out as possible before the resin hardened and then refilled the hole with Q-cell and resin before starting again.
Since then I’ve only ever used Lokbox or Futures in EPS as there is only a minimum amount of resing used in their installs - thus less heat from exotherm.
Cheers
Rich
You can do multiple pours with a single batch of epoxy by putting the epoxy for the next pours in a freezer.
I’d recommend this because mixing small batches of epoxy is less accurate and results in inferior quality.
Last set of fin boxes I did, on a 2lb eps blank, it got hot but never saw any smoke. They were futures, not sure if fcs needs more resin. I also did it in like 65* air though. I could feel the heat if I touched the deck side of it.
I’ve heard of people putting a well sealed plastic bag full of ice water on the deck side, maybe even the bottom too. That will soak up some heat and slow the reaction a bit.
Some epoxies have a recommended shelf-life…read the label on the can.
Yes. When there’s swell, it’s because of me. I burn them all the time.
Surf Sacrifice!
Love the black, toxic smoke!
Kidding.
Hans is right. The freezer thing works. My friends glass shop who does a lot of Epoxy, does that with his hot coat brushes too. It definatly slows down the resin.
Barry
There are many boards I would like to immolate. They are called SUPs.
Sammy,
Do you know what SUP is short for?
Suppository!
HAHA!
Barry
perfect!!!
Far too often, SUP = Selfish Unskilled Person.
Where I live, we call them twat yachts.
Yo Drifter2-
I’ve seen many a super hot batches go off in my days as a grom hanging out in the back glass room at Harbour Surfboards. Always needed to add water to cool them off! Of course back in those days the issue was the glasser added too much mekp since almost everything was poly resin.
As far as setting a board on fire I was present during a surf sacrifice in the very early Eighties. We used to have beach parties at night with a fire pit, all groms and adults alike were there. The surf had been flat for some time and Morgan, the figure head at the time, decided it would be great to have a surf sacrifice. He proceeded to start a board on fire and push it out in the flat sea. It was actually pretty awesome to watch and of course got everyone fired up. I still to this day can’t believe how vigorous that board burned, pretty flamable stuff in the finished form.
I don’t remember if the surf sacrifice worked and we got waves but that board going out into the sea has burned an impression in my mind for life!
Brad