All - Got any tips? A friend of mine is letting me have 6oz. off his roll for $1.25/yd - seems like a good deal…
But, after getting good advice from folks here re. more glass is better for more weight than stones (Ha!), I decided to go with a heavier glass schedule on the gun I’m working on. Deck = 1x4oz, 2x6oz, w/1x6oz 2/3 length deck patch. Bottom = same as deck but w/1/3 length tail patch.
Anyway - I found lapping in the tail esp. to be difficult. Had to hand around for a long time “re-attaching” it.
It was about pencil round at the end… Once the rail gets under 1/2" thick, I go 50/50 cuz I’m gonna put a hard/sharp edge on after with “putty.”
I hear you about keeping it long, I had it plenty long when I did the deck, and was thinking part of the problem was the weight of the glass-glue hanging down - had to “hang” and keep laying it back up, so… I cut it shorter for the bottom, and realized along the way, it probably would have “stuck” a little better had it been longer…
“Live and learn.” Next time…
I know it may sound stupid, but, not having had problems with four layers of 4oz, I’m still hoping there may be “tricks” for working with 6oz.
6 oz shouldn’t be that hard to work with. maybe it was a close weave 6 oz, or maybe a warp glass 6 oz. There are all sorts of different 6oz weaves?
Anyway 6 oz is…or I should say “should be” real easy to work with, especially only 1 layer. It gets tricky when you do 2 or more. Remember to not rush the glass job. Wet the glass out…this means move the resin all over the glass. Then let the glass/resin saturate…this means let it go clear, no white spots, or weave showing. Then laminate it down…this means press and pull the resin into the foam and off the board. Only laminate once or maybe twice, over working the cloth / resin will only pull the resin out of the cloth…kind of like over wringing a sponge, you will get air pull back and make lots of tiny air holes. make sure you leave the resin/cloth amply saturated.
This is where we get to your rail problems. Proper saturated rail laps will stick to foam real easy. Properly saturated rail laps will lay down on one pass, and you shouldn’t have to over work them to make them stick. Just tuck and move on to the next foot of lap. Make sure you laps are at least 1.5" to 2"in past the tuck on the bottom of the rail
don’t know exactly what your deal is, but practice fixes all the mistakes of the past…I’m getting long winded here.
Ken hit the nail on the head with the hard edge reply. ven 4 oz won’t wrap rand a 90 degree angle you need a couple of passed with the paper then build it up with the hot coat and a tape damb.
Actually I find 6 oz wraps better as the space between the fibres is bigger when you get up to the noes/tail if you use the right action with the squeege you can push the fibers closer togerther doing away with the need for relief cuts. I only use those in the tip of the nose and the corners of the tail.
Thanks for all the replies guys - The glass looks like regular weave, not that I’ve seen the “warp” kind (The kind with more glass the “long” way - which, from what I read, sounds good.).
Anyway, I think the two problems were, due to troubles with the deck, I cut the edges short in the tail, and I have four layers of glass.
As I wrote, there are no “hard” edges - I put them on after the fact. But even with the long edges on the deck lam, plenty wet glass, etc. I had the nose and tail falling off, and I haven’t ever had that with 4oz.
If I can say I’ve learned anything - keep the laps long.
If I’ve read that right and you’re trying to wrap 4 layers of 6oz at once then I would guess that its the wieght of the extra resin held in the weave that is pulling the cloth down.
But I would have also thought a longer lap would have increased this problem. I would guess that the reason this hasn’t happend with 4oz is as that would hold less resin and not be as heavy when wet.
lam fewer layers at once, 3 has been my max but 1 on those was a full length deck patch, stager the layers of glass,
If you cut the bottom layer to the very edge of the blank, if it is slightly too long and even a mm of the fibers sticks out over the eedge then that can doesn’t like to wrap coz they are too small and can lift up and leave air bubble, but I’ve not seen it pull down the lap.
This seems really obvious, coz I’ve read your prev posts and I know your experienced but you are snipping off any stings that are hanging down. I usualy pull the bottom few fibres out of the cloth to help cut these down.
Also a dusty blank can stop the lap sticking, do you give the blank a spray with the compressor before glassing?
If the resin doesn’t go off fast enough the foam can soak up the resin and leave the cloth on the dry side and that may make it droop.
I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head so I hope that helps.
Thanks again Woody - I recon it’s the thickness of the 4 layers and all the glue they hold. Next time I’ll keep em longer, and just plan on hanging around till they stick.