well, it's been a few MONTHS [?!] now .....
but tomorrow , provided the seabreeze kicks in , as forecast [to cool things down] , the 'mad science' begins again ?!
I have 2 litres of resin , the glass pane has been masked off , for an 8" x 10" panel ....
but for now .... bed ! [10pm thursday here , now]...
stay tubed !
ben
for you , 'jrandy' !
these are for 6 " x 8 " panels [first] ....
After all six different coloured pigments have been added to the resin in the [in this case , a small empty tuna ] tin ,
.... it is catalysed ,
stirred a couple of times ...
then poured out , onto the glass pane ...
once the pane is thoroughly covered with the resin swirls ,
I generally put one or two layers of six ounce cloth on top , and hope the resin pattern will saturate the cloth . If it doesn't , then I have to use the roller [as in this case] . I needed to use more resin , so it ran easily to all four corners of the panel ....
Using the roller too early can 'smear' the colours a bit ...(see what's happening here ? ....oopsy !]
..... so , I generally prefer NOT to have to use the roller , wanting the resin to really penetrate the cloth from below , instead [that make sense ? ]. Also , that way , I hopefully won't have to clean colours off the roller so much , either .
For this panel , I used two rollers , wiping them occassionally to get the colours OFF the roller and trying to avoid 'muddying' the colours , if possible .
Because , once the two to four colour layers are down , I basically just want the remaining layers clear , so I will hopefully be left with some pretty clear colour 'seperations' , come foiling time [in the past , I have made the mistake of colouring 'TOO MANY' layers in the panel , and they ended up looking 'busy' , colour-wise....
The pattern on the inside [against the glass pane of the fin] will be different to what you see here , which is the 'outside ' of the fin , once set , and pulled off the glass pane ....
here it is , outside on my balcony .... alongside two 8x10" volan panels that I laid up , earlier in the day ....
My next one will be a 'mandarine' tint , the last of the 8x10" cloth , and there won't be much resin to spare after THAT , unfortunately !
hopefully , I 'may' be able to squeeze another 6x8" panel out of the remaining resin ...probably also a mandarin tint , so I can maybe have a 4 fin 'twinzer ' setup matching set !
...to be continued...
cheers !
ben
the 'inside' of the panel [ie: looking through the glass , at the first few layers I laid the pigment into ....]
Also , here is the inside of one of the 'Volan' panels , too...
I used 15 layers of volan per panel [ then , with 17 layers of 'clear' 6oz , on top of that] :-
1. because I didn't want them to 'end up 'too green ' [?!]
2. because I wanted to have two equal panels [so I could make a quad set or two , or a couple of thruster sets , or a 2+1 plus ? keels or twin fins , perhaps ? decisions .... decisions ... ;)
cheers !
ben
Thanks for the pics Ben. I love me some resin swirls!
I did a 9 x 11" panel this morning, 1/4" plywood backed with 5 layers 6oz and epoxy resin, green and clear stripes. This will be for sides, I have a center blank that is 5 layers 6oz with the ply on both sides. The intent is to foil the plywood for an easier first go-around and then seal with 3oz glass +resin.
-J
good on ya , 'J' !
got any photos of it to post here or elsewhere , please ?
cheers mate !
ben
Here is a link to some pictures, thanks for posting yours.
It does slow down the process to document it, I respect all who take the time to do it for the rest of us.
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/axle_photomatic/finmaking%202013/
Still need to foil them, still don’t know what I am doing for sides. The color plot is from Hans’ FinFoil program, the other template from Greenlight.
-J
thanks mate , good on ya !
One of the Volan panels has been templated , now ...
the orange tint panel , one of three , has been templated too....
I cut out the green tiger stripe side bites tonight, pics added:
http://s125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/axle_photomatic/finmaking%202013/
....excellent !!
foiling to come eh , 'J' . " Let the fun begin ! "
q: just for clarification ...
Is the next step , prior to foiling , that you glue / resin the wood to the glass panel , then foil the wood , yes ? [then glass the wood , obviously , too, once foiled]
cheers !
ben
Yes, time to foil. They seem pretty tiny after making an 8’-0" board…
The side fins were made with 5 layers of glass epoxied directly to one side of the 1/4" plywood. Intention is to foil the wood and do a final glass-resin skin afterwards. I have a pic to add to show this.
The blue center was made with 5 layers of resin and glass,then the 2 pieces of plywood were roughly cut to fit and I used epoxy to laminate the 3 pieces together. Same as above, foil the wood and skin with glass and resin.
-J
carbon fibre inlay …6x8" and 8 x 10" , and harry’s wood veneer inlay , 6 x 8 "…
cheers !
ben
Silver 'metallic fleck ’ [ powdered pigment ] …
two wood veneer inlays , 2 carbon fibre inlay panels …
And …some potential fabric inlays , ‘waiting in the wings’ … 
cheers !
ben
yooooo chipp try the leopard cloth hahahaha that would be a funny posh fin
next time i will try make a fin pannel by layers of 1mm plywood beetween layers of fiber cloth.
cheers
hi Col !
Hey , it’s great to hear from ya , how have you been ???
yeehaa … yep , please make some more fins , mate ! [ good on ya ! ]
So … how did your last fins , that you made , go ?
Are you still enjoying them ??
cheers !
ben
p.s. -
this arvo [‘afternoon’] , I made a 5" x 7" panel … with green , copper , and silver ‘metal fleck’ [metallic] colours …stay tuned !! ** :)**
Hey Chipp …
Last time i surfed was around 3 months ago, last time i shaped around 4-5 months ago and last time foiling fins 4 months ago.
I can’t enjoy boards/fins i made coz 3 month ago i got fucked by the sciatic nerv and couldn’t move and got hospitalized.
Can’t wait to start shaping again, bacause i have a old wind surf foam that i wanna transform it to a nice long, thick and wide long board with blunt nose/pin tail, D type fin made from 2 layers 1mm plywood tinted black and rest cloth and resin tinted white.
But i think till summer it’ll be impossible!
Cheers mate
cheers Iggy !
get well soon , mate !
‘metallic fleck’ pigments panel …
This was the result of using turmeric ,mixed with resin , as a tint …
Thanks heaps , ZacKoopman , for the great idea !! …cheers , mate !
well, the last two days have been spent cutting up enough rectangles of 6 and 4oz cloth , to [so far] have ten potential fin panels.
I still have enough cloth left to cut , to net me at least another three or four small to medium panels , most likely.
When they are all done , it will be time to begin laying up some more panels , again … [wood inlays , pigment [metallic fleck], fabric inlays … I may even do some CLEAR fins , just for a change [?! ] ]
… to be continued …
cheers !
ben