Hey. All the compsand talk, and some have wondered about the old school techniques. Here is one that I owe to Cleanlines mostly, and a couple of Sways regulars who bailed me out on a board I screwed up and mangaged to salvage with cloth inlay. Thanks to all. Here are some ideas for guys just getting started.
I was “volunteered” to make a LB for my sons high school team auction. I resisted, but after some the Dad’s heard I was on the hook for a longboard, they started talking about who was going win the bid. Anyway, here are some photo’s and tips I learned from other and on my own.
First step. Mark off the cut line. Shown is my rail marking tool. I used a couple of PVC tubes with some leftover resin. I use to PVC guides instead of one to better hold the line steady. One tube was kind of shaky for me. Then drilled for screws and a long stick for measuring. Holes cut at 1/2 inch intervals.
Marked and taped and ready to lam. The cool cloth in the background. Harts Fabric on the internet.
Laminated. Used RR epoxy. No color runs. Just smooth it out like fiber glass. I used good tape.
If the tape lifts from the resin, you are screwed. So how do you cut the tape line with dark cloth over?
Whoever told me how, thanks. Cut the lights, and put a bright flashlight under the tape line and
cut with a razor. Shows up nicely. Dark tape is a plus.
How long did you let the RR resin set up before trimming? I followed Cleanlines advise and let it fully harden and had one heck of a time trying to trim it.
You can use a brush or perhaps a squeegee. You could even use your fingers because it is non-toxic tempera paint. Just resist the temptation to make tempera hand prints and glue dried lima beans on the deck.
Also called the Cleanlines tape method to get the parallel tapes down. Before beginning, if you are doing this on EPS foam, :make doubly sure that you have put down a smooth spackled and sanded surface for the tape. Any little craters will leak under the tape. Not a problem if you are doing this on a sanded fill coat of epoxy. But on fill coats you should spray clear sealer over the taped area so that color doesn’t run under the tape.
Method:
First, mark the rail with a light pencil line. Lay down the first tape line. DON”T COVER THE PENCIL LINE WITH YOUR TAPE. That way your color will hide the line. Duh. Don’t pull the tape tight as you lay it down, don’t stretch it. Just lay it down and attach it with your other hand. Try to look ahead while laying it down and don’t just focus on the small picture. That helps keep the wiggles out. Wider tape will give you a smoother line with fewer wiggles. Change tape sizes if you need to when going around tight curves.
Next, using the first tape line as a guide, lay down another adjacent tape line (the width of your colored pin line). This tape is a throw away and will be removed before you paint. You are just using it as a spacer line. (Yes, tape is expensive, but that’s about 10 cents worth of tape).
Next, using the same width tape of your first line, put down a third tape line adjacent to the second. This is the other boarder for the final pin line.
Next, pull off the middle, narrow tape line and trash it. Burnish the two remaining tape lines with a Popsicle stick or your finger nail. Do it again. Do it again. (I’d love to find a spray sealer that wouldn’t eat EPS to seal the tape better).
Last, paint on the color. After it has dried, you can come back with a razor and clean it up a bit. If you have a really fuzzy area (you shouldn’t if you spackled well), you can use the Jim the Genius clean up method: wrap a small piece of sand paper (200 grit) around the sharp edge of a razor blade and rub the edge against the fuzzy line. Works like ,… I don’t know. Works great. Use your shop vac to clean up the colored dust.
No delams over the fabric. Guys have been doing this for years. Never heard of one.
No DNA or anything. Just use standard methods. Add F for the epoxy. I guess if you wait too long to cover it with the next layer you could use DNA, but it will smear your tempera pin line. (Ask me how I know.)
Within 24 hrs will help you sleep better at night.
I have only freelaped. But If your tape line is at the edge of the fabric, I don’t see that it would be a problem. This is a very old school technique and I am sure the masters did it when cut laps were the only thing done.
Just a couple of PVC pipe sections and every time I had some epoxy left, just dumped it in with tape on the end. Then drilled them and attached the guide.
I used fast resin and waited about 1.5 hours , 80 degrees F for air temp. It was still soft. RR epoxy is so good for cut laps. If you bend it, just push it back. Don’t wait until it gets hard.
I like tempera paint. Water clean up. Non toxic. Cheap. Lots of colors to choose from. Low fat. Less filling. And I like doing this method instead of spray painting. It takes a lot of time to tape up a board for spraying. And any little seam not sealed before spray painting will allow a puff of paint spray in on your white board. I know this.
Looks good.Bear in mind that my advice is all based on old school polyester resin techniques.Epoxy is still somewhat of a mystery to me.Seems like the light under the board trick was first mentioned by Tom Sterne.Where is Tom anyway??and…Magic Man??? I spoke with Dale Solomson the other day and he is recovering nicely from his heart problems. RB
It comes in matte or gloss. I have used the matte with great results, but my main problem when painting on spackled EPS foam is that subsequent color masking will pull up the previous colors. Do you have a trick for that? I use 3M 233+ tape, Dap Fast’nFinal, and cheap acrylic and tempera paints, thinned with water. I have tried heating the tape with a heat gun before pulling, and sealing the paint with clear, but both still pulled up some paint. I have not thinned paints with Future yet, but was wondering if I should try that next, or if I should try a different tape.
