Hi guys. I have this handy little air tool disc sander I like using for flushing out laminates. My sandpapet a lot of the time is getting clogged up with the lam resin and I waste a lot of discs. Sometimes I just pick the stuff off and other times I can sand a lam and it doesn’t gun up my disc at all. Still haven’t figured it out, I think if I used too much lam resin when laminating that leads to gummed up sandpaper. Im just a hobbiest… Any of the pros out there have tips on have to preserve sandpaper when sanding lams? Thanks!
Not sure what you mean by “Flushing out laminates” but I can help with clogged sandpaper. Are you doing a Hotcoat? That is Lam resin + Additive F which basically makes it so you can sand your resin. Without this it will clog the crap out of your paper.
Hi,
Epoxy or polyester resin ?
For poly u jave to nicely dry out your lam’ so there’s no excess resin over the glass. To sand down the overlap areas such as nose, tail, and other corners, just use a rought sand paper like 40-60 and it shouldn’t clog.
If you’re using epoxy, the sticky lam resin may be a pb in your resin/hardener ratio.
I saw a thread with same question no so long ago:
http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/sandpaper-saving-tips
It was about pb of clogging even if it was a bout HC…
I’m assuming your talking about sanding the deck laps after you’ve glassed the bottom. If your doing clear free laps or volan cutlaps you can paint the lap with abit of filler. kick it slow so it doesnt burn the foam then sand the next day, no gumming and can use one piece of 80 for alot of boards.
Sounds like you’re using poly resin. If your sander uses resin backed disks, then put the clogged disk in acetone and use a clean one. As that one clogs up, the acetone should be dissolving the resin on the other one.
I’m doing ding repairs on poly boards mostly. After I lay my fiberglass patch I sand the edges of the patch to flush it out with the board.
Laminating resin is designed to stay tacky for optimal bonding between layers (Laminating = manufacture by placing layer on layer)
Sanding resin is designed for …
For ding repair try using laminating resin to lay down the cloth. Do not sand at this stage. Brush on a (sanding resin)hotcoat over the repair and you should not have the clogging shown above. Sometimes you have to double hotcoat the ding if you hit the weave or you need to blend it in some more. You said that you are repairing poly boards so I hope you are using poly resin for your ding repair.
There are a number of good tips found above if you read through them again.
ie. When doing a free lap while glassing a new board, let the board cure for extra time until more “stickyness” goes away. This will reduce clogging. The acetone trick mentioned above will also help. Good luck
Like I’ve said in the past – Harbor Freight die grinder and a 2 or 3 inch disk for grinding laps. Drop them in acetone over night and clean them with one of tose tooth brush sized brash brushes. That’s it. L
Good tips! Thanks bluenose! When i fix a ding …lets say a crack, i’ll masking tape around the area, lay cloth with lam resin, squeege off the excess onto the tape, let it kick, and razor blade the excess cloth/resin off around the inside of the tape. I’ll leave it to dry overnight and get super hand before i sand. There will be a little step on the fresh lam from where i razor bladed the excess off. I know you cant full on sand into lam resin because there is no wax in it, but my worry is if i dont feather out the edges of the lam then if i hot coat i’ll see the edge of the cloth. little patches i can always feather out the edges of the patch clean, but big ones always screw up my sand paper. THat pic i was fixing a big gouge. But hey thinking about it i’d rather risk having to hot coat the thing twice instead of wasting a bunch of sand paper. I’m gonna give that a shot next time. Ive tried cleaning the sand paper up in acetone but that tends wear it out faster, the little sand particles fall off, also not an option for the disc sander because my disks have an adhesive back.
Mitch’s Surf Shop in Solona Beach, Ca sells a UV cure catalyst for poly resin. It is a powder that you mix in with your resin. Put the board in the sun on a hot day for about 5 min…Lam resin will be rock hard in no time…great for ding repair…sucks when the rim of your resin container gets exposed to UV light and seals the thing shut…Ha ha
You need to lay down a thin layer of sanding resin over the patch. No clogged paper.
Sometimes I have cheated and done the whole lot in one go with sanding resin but you have to make sure the repair area is sanded first to get a decent bond, and also the fibregass can start floating in the resin, I have only used this method for repairing my own boards when the repair is not in a critical position on the board. Stronger and better result to do it in 2 stages.
I have got to the stage where my laps don’t really need much sanding at all, just a 1 minute sand with a block and some 150 grit white sandpaper. Nice and smooth and tight with no invitations for air bubbles.