I’m making a 7’2" fun board and want to use an opaque on the bottom and a tint on the deck. Normally, I’d use 6 oz glass on the bottom and two 6 oz layers on the top for a board this size. I’m looking for the easiest way to do this laminating. Should I do the deck lam with the tint first, then lam the bottom with the opaque and cut my lap line (I’d be nervous about cutting all the way through the deck lam too using this method)?. Or should I lam the bottom first, cut my laps and lam a tinted 4 oz inlay, followed by two more 4 oz layers of clear deck lams? Any advice? I haven’t done an opaque lam before. Is there any trick for finding your tape line when cutting the laps? I’m assuming the tape is going to be tough to see.
Doug-Check the archives under “cut laps”. We usually do a tint inlay,then a clear over that later.There should be plenty in the archives,we were just talking about this subject last week. Good luck.TEDK.
Its basically three glass steps versus two.Do the bottom first and cut the laps.Next clean the line up with sanding block and tape the board along the lap line.Glass the deck patch(or inlay as you call it) with tint resin and cut the laps(you can cut into the foam).Finally do the second deck layer in clear resin with a “freelap”.Hotcoat as normal.A pinline on the deck hotcoat will probably be needed.Its really pretty easy. R.B.
over the life span of the tinted lam … the fading in the case of darker colors as well as pooling and occasional big cells and cavities making irregular coloration frustrating …the sealing of the surface before tinting has become a facination of mine.Either clear sqeegeed on resin on foam or in my latest endevors multi color tints in manic applications with a final clear hot coat and sand before a clear glassover and subsequent layers of glass keeps the amounts of resin lost to absorbtion to a minimum. …Upon the aquisition of the old “Blue Machine”…and seeing the worn spots on the rails in the tail from obvious sand drags I concluded that these gems were in fact glossed blue tint …I subsequently tried using the final step method on a couple boards…my application leaving thick thin places in the oncaves and pooling in the lap viods kept them from being beyond critisism…although the colors have not faded and the control factor with accompanying pin line would seem to me to be a considerable alterative… a sand and gloss over the tint and pinline though a weight consideration does wonders for durability and control of tint irregularities… ambrose… in the wings stage left … the board Im making now is stoking me up
I have the same concern as Doug about finding the tape edge on an opaque cut-lap. I know this stuff is archived, but I still can’t find what I need. Over the last couple of years I’ve done some really impressive tinted lams with advice I’ve gotten from here (thanks R. B., Kokua, Herb and others)but I want to do an opaque. Seen recent advice from R. B. and Rascoe but I still am a little fuzzy with these problems: Do you slice the cloth with the blade perpindicular or parallel to the deck? A post from Rascoe made me believe he bends the tape 90 to the deck and slices with the blade parallel. Otherwise would you overlay a second taping and cut verticle? I’ve made a rail-guage tool with an attached razor blade to do tinted cut-laps. Works pretty good except if the lam kicks too hard before your done (suncure)the blade will flex and follow the weave. Also sometimes slightly miss the tape line and have to pick out slivers of green tape. With opaque I could just leave the slivers in, no problem, right? How the hell does Jim bend a razor blade 90 degrees? When I try they shatter, tempered steel! Sorry for rambling, but thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge guys! Lance
Lance: I just did a cutlap opaque, a dark yellow. I taped it off as normal then stacked another layer of blue painter’s tape on top of the good stuff. This gave me a darker line to follow even through the opaque color. Due to the lighting I was working under and my own shadow, I had a tough time on one side. I took my cheater rail tool with a sharp scribe tip in it, set it at the same width as my lap line and laid down a light line to follow with my blade. Got real close, only a few little spots with slivers of tape to fish out. Good luck. Tom S.
Try using black tape. You can get some at an art supply store! Drew
To Lance & others: About cut-laps,yes,pull the glass that is overlapped onto the paper & tape up from the board.I usually mask the whole board off with paper,so the 1st thing I do is get rid of all paper out in the middle.Then, I make little slices about every 6-10inches across the cloth/tape as I’m lifting it up from the board.This frees it up & makes it less taught.Remember, timing is pretty important here;too soon and you will pull the cloth off the foam where it is supposed to be bonding,too late and well, you know.I once used a chainsaw to get thru an over-hardened lap(jus’ kiddn’).But seriously, a perfectly timed cut will lift up and off the board where the tape is, but stop precisely at the tape edge,where your razorblade should be coming along.And yes Lance, the pulled up excess lap is like a 90 degree angle to the rail.Actually, they cut better if you pull it to you even more than 90, so the blade corner follows in that tight little angle formed when you pull the cloth to yourself. I like to bend the blade also,right in the middle. It will only bend slightly,or the blade itself will crack, like you noted. This helps keep the blade angled upwards, away from scarring your foam.You are really sliding the blade on it’s side,allowing only a corner to cut thru the semi-hard lap. Like I said last week,I was taught that you didn’t need to see the tapeline,you pull back and find it cause it stops lifting up at the bonding point.Yes, the nose and tail can suck,the cloth is thick and harder to cut.I usually go as far to an end as I can,and then resort to cutting from above, straight down into the foam,trying to match the lines evenly at the stringer.Some opaques are more opaque than others,if you can barely see the faintest hint of tape at the ends it really helps.Sometimes you just wing it and cut where you think you taped.Personally,I think tints are a breeze,and even acid swirls or whatever you call them are pretty easy.Solid opaque pigment lams are more of a pain because of the aforementioned problem,filtering chunks out to prevent streaking,mixing enough of the same shade for 2 sides,and they seem messier during cutting.Some guys put cobalt in 'em to help the resin kick with lots of pigment in it.Another thing that helps cutting taped laps is having a nicely tucked,pressed down flat lamination.Puddles, or too wet rail laps(or too loosely lapped over)will not bond as good to the foam,and thus might let go during the pulling up or back.I hope I’m not ranting too much…
one pigment board i did, i left the bottom lam overnight to harden and it was rock hard the next day - hard for cutting with a razor like you guys mention. I grinded right over the tape line, then when i pulled up the tape to cut the lap, it was VERY easy to cut and almost peeled right off in some places where it was thin, so if you were good, you could basically grind and peel the tape excess off.
Howzit Richard,I’ve seen Bobby Allen of BASA surfboards here on Kauai leave boards for 2 weeks before cutting the lap, but like you he would grind the area first.Aloha, Kokua