On my bottom lap (going onto the deck) I always get little air bubbles along where is the lap is. Is this just because I didn’t sand the lap down enough. If it is how much do I have to sand it down and is it supposed to be perfectly flush with the deck.
Thanks
Adding a layer of glass, saturated with resin, always adds some material.
Maybe you need better saturation of your bottom lam, on the rails…more resin, squeegeed in.
I always sureform lightly, the joint, to feather down the hard edge.
Small air bubbles, pin bubbles, is usually a sign of DRY lamination, from too much squeegee-ing or dry laminate.
Howzit Spaz, air bubbles are caused by 2 things, too much resin and too little resin. If it's too little resin most times they will fill in when you laminate the deck, but too much resin traps the bubbles and that sounds like your problem. Just squeegee that part of the rail some more when you lay it up, sweep the excess resin on to the foam which will also protect the foam when you take down the lap before lamming the deck. Aloha, Kokua
When I am glassing I can see them form and try to make them go away and they don"t so I think it is just becuase i am not sanding down teh lap line enough. The laps are totally saturated. I will post a pic of them in about 15 min.
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Thanks for the help
Wow, this board making thing can be too complicated for us to figure out.
Maybe the correct ratio of resin to glass, applied during the correct time of day (cooling temp, or static), done over a properly prepared blank, by someone who knows what they’re doing (not me), is the only answer.
Here is the pic. You can see the line of the airbubbles around where the lap line would be.
ok the pic didn’t work let me try this again.
Take this for what it’s worth as I’ve never glassed a complete board, but in my ding repairs I’ve found that if you don’t knock the lap line down enough the transition is to abroupt for the cloth to stick down. So there is a ridge that the cloth lays down over. When you squeege the cloth down it presses against that ridge, but unless it’s tacky it just pulls back up. I would say grind down the lap, or sureform the lap down to a more gradual transition and it should help. Once again this is just my intuition since I haven’t glassed a whole board YET.
I will soon though 
it looks like exactley what BUG is talking about. the glass is just not lying down as flat as it needs because of the “ridge line”. I also use a shearform and/or sand paper to get the transition as smooth as possable before laping the next layer. go easy and take your time if you use a shearform as it can snag the foam and start looking realy ugly.
BTW
I do the top first then the bottom. just seems to work better for me.
cheers,
M
i use a auto body file to file the lap… it works insane, a file is a much more percision tool then sandpaper or a surefoarm and it doesn’t clog from lam resin… i saw it one day at Fiberglass Hawaii and asked what it was for, “smoothing laps” was the answer…
That the body tool file that has circular shaped cutting edges?
Yeah, that’s the one I used from board 10 on.
Still clogs from wet lams, but easy to brush clean with wire brush.
you think Fiberglass Hawaii in santa cruz has them?
it sounds a lot better than even the micro plane sureforms.
M
I think what they are talking about is the typical “bondo” rasp you can find at almost any autozone. I’ve used them on cars from time to time. I was actually thinking of using one of those instead of a sureform to see how it would work. What also do you guys think of using a dremel to sand down those lap lines. I use one from time to time on small dings to smooth out the transitions with decent results. Slowest speed with 80 grit first, then bump the grit up if I have to. The dremel witht he flex hose attachment has worked well in the past for dings for me.
That’s a line of bubbles.
Too much resin on the lap edge. Dry it out as your last step tucking it in.
Prep that lap better. You should not feel any lump (ideally, after some practice).
Hi Spazman
I used to have the same problem till a few of the guys helped me out on this one. Now I use a combination of the tips that were given to me. Once I have folded the laps over I continue to go around the board cutting any unwated strands off and then squeeging the laps as flat as I can I continue to do this even into the gel stage. After the laps have dried I go around the board and surform any bits that are sticking up a bit too high depending on the spray job of the board. Then I lay up the deck layer. On this layer is the key, squeegee this layer completely once done and before your resin gels go around the board and baste the join of the lap try not to squeegee too much. You will see the bubles dissapear as you do this. You can surform after this stage before you put on the final layer.
Just how I do it
What also do you guys think of using a dremel to sand down those lap lines. I use one from time to time on small dings to smooth out the transitions with decent results. Slowest speed with 80 grit first, then bump the grit up if I have to. The dremel witht he flex hose attachment has worked well in the past for dings for me.
Used it on my first couple… with the pencil attachment. Works good, but can work too good. Hand sanding is just about as fast if you do a decent layup. I stopped using Dremel, ever since I improved my glassing/laps technique. Good layup, smooth flat with squeegee, baste, let it sit, sand flat, optional second slight baste, glass deck.
Sand down the edge using an air-driven right angle die grinder ($20 Harbor Freight). Use 50 grit 2" disks that can be soaked in acetone for cleaning, and set the air pressure to about 50 psi for a slower cut. Baste the edge prior to sanding if it’s a bottom lam so you don’t dig into the foam on the deck. It also sands down any cloth overlaps at the nose/tail perfectly. This method makes such a clean transition only a very narrow pinline is needed when doing two color lams.
