First, thanks to all of you guys for the great threads on balsa compsands. I’m halfway through my first balsa compsand fish.
I’m pre-laying up my skins with 4 oz and RR epoxy in my garage and not using a vac-bag yet. It’s my first one, so I thought I’d go low tech and just get used to the entire process. My question is, should I worry about the 3" x 1/16" thick pieces showing a little curvature after I’ve laid up the glass? I put the skin up in my attic to get some elevated temp to try to cure them a touch more and when I took one down, the pieces showed a little curve across the 3" dimension. I was thinking the residual moisture in the planks was sucked out and they would probably lie flat when I vacuum bag the finished product, but I was just curious.
There may be some creative and resourceful way to do it without a bag, but nothing comes to mind that doesn’t have varying degrees of risk. (Sand bags, or wrap it wet around your blank with the clear cellophane tape on a roller rom Home Depot, or ??)
Or PM me and bring your stuff to Tampa and I’’ help you bag it on with my stuff.
Please keep in mind that vacuuming IS low tech. Once you go through the process and build your vacuum system, it’s very easy. The process can be done on a minimal budget, and the learning curve will be worth the effort. Good luck on your project!
Benny, that is some good stuff there. I’ll probably bag the skins next go ‘round. I did use your wet out technique for my skins. I used about 150ml of resin for a 26" x 7’ area. I’m sure I could reduce this with a bag, but for a first try, I’m just more interested in getting comfortable with the process and steps. I felt like I was making fins while rolling the epoxy into the folded up cloth.
This morning the warp has settled a little, but I’ll see how big the gaps along the length will be when I bag the skins to the foam core. I’ve got to get some thicker bags, as my 2 mil ones will probably end up being a leak fest. We’ve got some decent waves today, so it will have to wait.
yeah, my longboard shaper stopped by after a wave check and he wondered why I didn’t just bag the skins to the blank as opposed to laying them up first. I was taking small steps when I really should have just done the bagging. Next time!
Whoa Nellie! Boy did I learn a lot tonight about PU glue and prefab’d skins and what vac pressure to use with Lowe’s eps foam and how I’m going to do skins the next time! Yikes! I don’t know if I’ll post pics of this one.
Oh, one related question. My little Gast pump was squealing pretty hard. I mean, high pitched whine. What’s up with that? I cranked down the valve release so it’s only pulling 11" out of 24.5" max, but it’s pretty hot.
