Just finished the Lam coat on my first board. What a mess. It did get better after the hot coat but this board is going to the kids. Biggest problem was getting all the glass saturated and lapped under. Second biggest problem was air bubbles. Close third was getting the tail and nose nice and tight. This probably names every first timer’s problems but any tips for the next board would be apprecitated. Any tips other than the obvious…going to a pro…
Kelvin, I just wanted to let you know that I had exactly the same experience you did on my first board and just finished glassing my second and third boards. There was a huge improvement in the glass job just by learning from mistakes made the first time. Heres what I think made the difference: 1) read or get a catylist chart and use the longest gel time possible. I used 10 cc/quart in 65 degree shade and got a 20-30 minute gel time. 2) Spend time cutting the tail/nose edges so excessive wrinkling/overlapping is avoided. 3) Work with a partner so you have double the time to really lay down the laps smooth. good luck!
I agree, the difference from my first board to even my second was huge. Likewise the difference from my third board to my tenth was equally as great. It’s a tough initiation glassing your first board. Here’s a few hints for next time 1. UV Cured Laminating resin. AN ABSOLUTE MUST! Use it and you’ll not have to worry about cure times as it it only cures when exposed to UV light (sunlight, or UV lamps). Just using this will vastly improve upon your performance! It will let you be methodical and in control without worrying about gel times. 2. Use more that you need. By properly wetting out the laps until FULLY saturated, you will avoid a lot of problems like air bubbles, creases, and sloppy laps. I hate to condone waste, but the best thing about the UV cured resin is that you can dump a lot on the board and wet out till till everyting is fully saturated. Using more than you need will help you do this. Besides you can always dump a lot on the rails and squeegee the excess off into your bucket for later use. So it’s not like it is a total waste. If your careful and take your time then you can get most of the excess back into your bucket. And in time you will get a feel for the flow of the resin and gradually use just the right amount, but use more at first. 3. USE RUBBER SQUEEGESS. I used the hard plastic kind on my first board and they make a mess. The corners snag, and the material is not very bendable. You can get rubber squuegees at Fiberglass supply, FoamEZ etc. The right tools make a world of diffference! 4. PROPER fiberglass trimming. make sure you tape off the board prior to glassing and then trim the cloth as close a tolerance to the final lap size as possible. the less cloth here the better your laps will turn out and the easier it will be on you to wet them out and fold them under. Get a good pair of shears for this. One trick you can do is to also pull a strand or two of the cloth at the very edge of the lap lines to create a “feathering” in the cloth. This reduces or gets rid of the nasty little “hanger” strands when glassing. 5. When you lap the nose and tails, if you make a few cuts in the glass prior to laminating that will help you get a better fold under in those areas. You make cuts going to perpendicular to the cloth going far enought that your shears almost touch the foam. Depending on the board shape you are doing will determine the number of cuts in the tails and nose. For example a rounded pin tails needs mor cuts thatn a squared tail. What i like to is fold the cloth under prior to laminating (dry) and see where the cloth starts to form waves or begins to overlap itself (think wrapping a x-mas present). Where the cloth overlaps itself, take the shears and cut straight in the middle of the overlap. Doing this will really clean up the trouble areas. Hope that helps. Drew
Never used UV cured for anything but ding repair. Does it set up the same as regualr resin? And does it stop curing…does not yellow excessively as the board ages? Guess you would have to glass in a shop then take it outside…is this what you do?
UV stuff is wonderful to work with. It’s a powder additive that is mixed in to a regular old Laminating resin to enable it to be cured by UV light. However i just buy mine premixed from Fiberglass Hawaii. It flows exactly the same as resin kicked with MEKP. There are arguments out there that the stuff is actually stronger than resin kicked by MEKP because adding that actually breaks down the resin and makes it more brittle. Who knows?? I use it because it makes laminating a much easier process. As far as browning, and color variations go…the stuff works the same as regular resin… I only really do color tints, and I’ve been using the UV stuff now for about 4 years so I have not noticed any browning. I suppose on a white bboard it would be similiar to regualr resin. And yes I work in my garage which is mostly free from UV light. when I want the stuff to cure I simply open the door and drag out the board still on the stand. Another great quality to using the UV resin is that it will cure to a complete cure in minutes as opposed the MEKP stuff which actually needs a week to 2 weeks to fully cure. Which means you galss a longboard noth deck and bottom in an hour! Also the stuff does not go bad. If you ahve excess resin you simply pour it back in the can and it’s good to go for next time. Less waste!!!
Can UV catalyst be added to Epoxy or only Poly resin? If so, what is the difference between the two. Thanks. Dex
Watch a pro sometime if you can, to see his sequence and squeegee work. Pro’s are MUCH faster than beginners, but usually a lot of their resin ends up on the floor - the price you pay for quality, some might say. I use 3/4 inch Scotch 233 tape, it’s the best for resin work, though maybe better than needed for lams. Cut the glass just an inch wider than you’ll need, less to wet = faster job. Make gore cuts at corners and bends where the weave of the glass won’t permit an even wrap over the rail. For most of us, this means a cut at each corner of square or squash tails, a cut at the nose and for longboards one each about 8 inches along the rail from the nose. When you wet your rails, by whatever method, and are ready to start wrapping them onto the bottom of the board, START AT THE MIDDLE AND WORK TOWARD THE END. This is the number one thing, I can’t stress it enough. Sorry if you already knew it, but if you don’t/didn’t do this, you’ll have all kinds of problems. Glass under cover where it’s cooler and not under direct sun, even under a tree. Carefully measure your resin and catalyst, I use about 0.8 percent. Write down the amount of resin and catalyst so you can refer to it next time. Hope these items help. Again, wrap rails from the middle towards the ends.
UV catalyst is only for poly right now. Epoxy is actually easy enough to use that anyone can laminate with it even without UV cure. In fact, for the beginner it’s easier. It saturates more evenly, doesn’t drain into the blank and gives you more work time than poly. “Flip” time is about the same as poly and all the resin you use is the same mixture, a simple 2 to 1. And unlike UV cure poly, epoxy can also be used on all foams and all the usual poly color additives work as well.