Ray,
Strene Monomer is surfboard builders “secret sauce”.
Has a ton of uses.
Great for getting rid of shatters, milky sanded fiberglass, cut-laps and so much more.
Ever had that white looking fiberglass after sanding on top of darker colored boards? Gets rid of it!
Couldn’t do without it.
A gallon lasts forever.
It will remove those cracks if you sand into it deep enough before laminating the bottom again.
Stop by, I’ll give you some. Oceanside.
Have used 2 oz on 2 14 ft wood kaholo stand up paddle boards now and am now using it on all my standup paddle blades. Please don’t put your resin down and then the glass cloth. You will get rinkles in it that you can not get out when you squeegee. You will end up with a mess, I ended up pulling off the cloth and starting over. (did it twice) What worked was do cut laps. Lay the glass cloth over the board , smooth it out by hand. Trim the cloth so it hangs of the rails a couple inches. Then put spring clamps about ever six inchs clamped to the over hanging glass. This gives a lot of weight to strentch the glass cloth and will keep it from slipping around. With all the clamps on smooth out all the wrinkles with your hands. The cloth will drape nice and tight like a stretched drum skin. I give it 15 minutes or so to let the cloth stretch out tight from the clamp weight. I use west systems foam rollers or the black foam rollers from ACE hardware. I cut them about 2 inch wide. Real wide rollers will want to pull up the cloth. I start at the tail of the board rolling down the center and from the center to the rails. Spreading the resin out and letting it soak in Then I go back and role from center to rail. Don’t need to use a lot of pressure , just getting a thin even coat that will soak into the glass cloth. Then go over it with a squeegee and pull out all the execess resin and scrape it into a grunge bucket. You don’t want to use the resin in the grunge bucket.(its foamy and full of air). If your doing it right there will be no resin running down the cloth and dripping on the floor. The weight of the clamps keeps the cloth tensioned ,so it will not pick up the cloth when rolling or slip when you squeegee. If you have anyplace where the cloth goes around the rail and is tucked you can remove clamps and squeegee around under the rail. When dry enough cut your laps and pull the tape. I found I need 2 fill coats over the glass cloth put on with a roller. wants to be rolled on even and very thin . Once you have the resin on you work it with the roller like your trying to get it all off, That mean you want it really thin. There will be thousands of micro bubbles left by the roller. When the resin is all rolled out you pop all the bubbles by lightly pulling a black 3 inch foam brush over the surface. you are not brushing resin just poping bubbles. The foam brush will come up dry. I sounds like scrapeing your fingernails on a chalk board. As soon as the first coat has set you can do a second coat. When its dry it can be sanded with 150 paper. I do my gloss (finish coat) by spraying 2 p automotive clear coat. .
mmm,sounds like a recipe for a fine meal.
…ambrose…
thet thayer craft menu of 2oz varietes
would lead me to ponder …
Hi Barry, question about styrene monomer. Does it also work in getting rid of milky/white looking fiberglass over dark colors when using Epoxy? Or only poly. I have some that I use to thin out poly resin but haven’t used it for any epoxy work.
Thanks!
Who is a source for styrene monomer in Orange County, Ca (Huntington Beach area)?
Thanks
Rev chem in Costa Mesa should have some. Give them a call. Also, you might be able to score some from Pure Glass or ask Ray at Clearwater. Chuck Dent in HB might be another source if you only need a bit. Just bring a airtight container as the stuff evaporates quick. Just a word on Styrene: Its a known carcinogen so use all precautions when using it. It breaks the bonds between styrene molecules in EPS so never use it on Epoxy/EPS/XPS boards!
Surfteach beat me with the info. He’s right, never use on EPS.
Oh, I guess I should have told you, on the can it states,
“Known to the state of California as an Carcinogen”.
Surf Supply / Fiberglass Source sells it.
Hey Barry, thanks for the offer…will you be around Monday afternoon? Monday is my day off…
I think I know where your shop is…in the “Valley”, near the “airport”…two blocks from the “bore’s nest”…Ray
Yeah. I’m there till about 3pm.every day.
PM me and I’ll give you address & phone #.
Bill Shrosbee is a great guy and a great shaper. 2oz is not imppossible to work with; lay it out and wet, stretch, and then cut. Wood Ogre’s technique sounds worth exploring. It you lessen the viscosity of the resin it doesn’t float as much, another use for styrene.
If you squeegee properly it doesn’t float at all and no don’t thin the resin. Im talking about epoxy resin here !
suddenly I reliezed that my brain is stuck in epoxy mode because I haven’t used polyester resin in so long. Better disregard any advise I gave cause it only applies to epoxy resin ! My BAD !!!
Woody don’t want to go into details, but after Ray preps the board he should cut the resin with at least 10% styrene, more like 20%, and wear a good respirator- problem solved, or should say solvented.
…hello G Rat, in my opinion I think is better to buy a less (low) viscosity resin than adding monomere to a current one. There are many types in the market to suit it.
Adding monomere would be add too much problems and hassles for a guy that never worked that way and with a thin cloth. Many things occur when you work that way.
Look up what styrene monomer does for polyester resin and get back to me Reverb. Furthermore consider what Ray is trying to acheive. I get tired of hearing BS around here; I think Ray can handle it, and since my friend Barry is offering what he calls “secret sauce” he should try it out. If you knew anything about polyester resin you’ld know why. The BS around here passing for knowledge is thick, and it needs to be thinned out.
…or styrened out; well, I know what styrene does to the resin man, but probably as you know, there s a bunch o poly types and I used almost all and I say again that IS better to use a proper viscosity than add styrene to a “normal” one to do a lamination. No BS from my part; also Im helping here from early 2000 and trying to keep those BS to a minimum
Purposes of Styrene
Styrene is added to unsaturated polyester resins and vinyl ester resins for two major
purposes — (1) to dilute the mixture for effective viscosity control so that the fibers can be
wetted; and (2) to serve as a crosslinking agent and promote the ease of crosslinking of the resin.
Not my words but useful; check your filters.
It’s a question about 2 ounce cloth.
BarryS gave me some styrene…stoked!..the goal is a water tight board with little weight gain…
Some people seem to think 2 ounce is hard to work with…I lam’ed the bottom repair today…no worries…not working over raw foam…
Stingray
Stingray,
Did you sand down to weave prior to laminating? Were any of the cracks still visible? Did the styrene make them seem to disappear? How did you apply styrene?
Thanks
I power sanded the bottom of the board with 60 grit. I have a 5" and a 6" random orbital sander that connect to my shop vac. After a while you just get tired of the noise and the vibration. Keep in mind that Stingray and the customer want a water tight board. Making the cracks disappear is not our goal. Hit weave in several places but not the whole board. I then sanded each crack with 60 grit by hand. The Styrene was applied with a one inch paint brush. Let that stuff dry / evaporate and applied a little more. Then a Red 3M scuff pad by hand over the whole thing. Lam’ed with stinky poly resin and two ounce cloth…The deep cracks are still there…the small stuff gone. Hot coat later this week…When you come to me with a reapir I tell you up front that the board will be water tight,if you want to go crazy with a “restoration” I’m more than happy to send you on your way.
I did not see 2 ounce as hard to work with. So far we have a few posters that are using 2 ounce and many sticking with 4 ounce. Carry on…Ray