what is the trick to knowing how much to sand before laminating a ding so the end result is flush?this is without hopefully losing strength in the cloth/s.
cheers tom
Well, my rule has alwys been to sand maybe through the hotcoat or at least into it, but leave the glass cloth underneath pretty much untouched. Let the new cloth lap onto the old cloth at least an inch, feather the edges and hotcoat/gloss and sand and it’s close enough. Use, say, 4 or 6 oz cloth and it’ll be well nigh invisible and plenty strong enough.
hope that’s of use
doc…
sorry doc but what do you mean by let the new cloth lap onto the old cloth at least an inch- like an inch around the ding?
thanks heaps for your help mate
tom
Overlap the filled area by 1" all around to provide continuity with the rest of the glass on the board. This distributes stresses more evenly. It you just resin over a break in the cloth, it will eventually fail again and leak.
There’s no real way to get a reglassed surface completely flush. If you try to, you’ll just increase the repaired area 3 or 4 times the original size as you attempt to feather it. You’ll also weaken the repaired area and the “good” glassing around it. Try to blend everything in going no more that twice the size of the original repair, and use 4 oz. cloth over filler. Good sanding and polishing will hide the change in height of the repair.
Hey Tom - not sure where you are located but there’s a killer book out there called “The Ding Repair Scriptures”. Used to have a blue cover but now I think it’s yellow… Thin paperback - some of the surfshops carry them… Ah, just found they have it at FoamEZ…
http://www.foamez.com/store/productDetails.cfm?prodID=105&prodIDCat=9 At only $11 I think it’s worth it. I’ve re-read it a zillion times and still find it useful. Good luck!
Once again, Pete takes my original and improves opon it. Pete, I think we oughtta get together and write The Definitive Ding Book or something…
In any event, as I’m back to my regularly scheduled programming…
hope that’s of use
doc…
A layer of laminate is about 0.01 inches thick - add hotcoat and about 1/16th inch.
If you have overlap, you cannot have a full strength ding and have it be seamless.
If you grind down overlap, you will not have a full strength repair.
Feather it in.