questions questions

im about to start making my first board… i have done a lot of research and partly know what im doing but have some specific questions.

where can i buy resin? would an auto body shop have the right kind?

do you need Q cell for fin box and leash plug

where can i buy what is needed to be added to resin for hot coat?

if you add buff out agent and sand with 400 paper on hot coat can you make it shine like a gloss coat?

how long would it take a begginer to completely glass a board from just the shaped blank

and finally would a mouse sander be okay to use to sand hot coat

thanks

hey landlock, I am only slightly ahead of you (one board) so dont take this as fact but here are some answers as I see them. 1 Idont think the corrner pep boys will have resin 2. Qcell yes 3.foam ez / fiberglass supply among others 4. some people say thery can get a hc to shine pretty well but it will never be a gloss 5. glassing, up to you and the 100 variables that go into it, I got real lucky 6. mouse sander, youd be better off with blocks, the mouse is so small it would be danm near inposible to keep anything flat, bad new I think. good luck, where are you located, some local surfshops have evrything you need from blanks to resin.

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where can i buy resin? would an auto body shop have the right kind? Auto store resin won’t be the right stuff. You want isophthalic polyester, unless you use epoxy, and then I don’t know what to say. Find it at a surf shop, preferably, or yatch supply store, but check inside the can before you buy, and/or contact the manufacturer for information.

do you need Q cell for fin box and leash plug… Not for either

where can i buy what is needed to be added to resin for hot coat? Make you own from styrene monomer and parraffin (good old candle wax, or canning wax).

if you add buff out agent and sand with 400 paper on hot coat can you make it shine like a gloss coat? I hand sand with 220, then 400, then machine buff with a polishing bonnet. White auto body polishing compound will do fine, don’t use the red rubbing compound, it seems to have “rocks” in it.

how long would it take a begginer to completely glass a board from just the shaped blank? Steps are these: Lam the bottom, lam deck patch and deck, set the fin (glass on or boxes), hot coat top, hot coat bottom, sand all over, finish coat top, finish coat bottom, wet sand all, polish all (or just polish the bottom and rails). That’s ten steps. Using UV cure resin, you do lam all and hot coat the deck in a day, but I used to do each job in one day, so ten days. It depends on how much time you have.

and finally would a mouse sander be okay to use to sand hot coat? NFW. A 7-inch sander with a handle off to the side is what you want. Certainly not more than 3000 rpm, preferably 2400. Harbor Freight has 'em. In days gone by, I sanded with a 1/4-inch drill and hard rubber pad, oh the pain, but it was what my mom had. You can do it with a DA (double action) or random orbit, but NOT a belt sander.

Just to add a little

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im about to start making my first board… i have done a lot of research and partly know what im doing but have some specific questions.

Bro- we’re all of us ‘partly knowing what we’re doing’, myself not least of all. Don’t sweat it.

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where can i buy resin? would an auto body shop have the right kind?

No, what you want is surfboard resin, available from several suppliers. The best supplier is prolly the one closest to you.

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do you need Q cell for fin box and leash plug

No, actually I like to bed those in a little cloth rather than goo. I think it’s stronger.

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where can i buy what is needed to be added to resin for hot coat?

Well, that depends. If you are lazy or smart, depending on how you look at it, you’ll get laminating resin, sanding resin and gloss resin. That will take care of it for you, no muss, no fuss.

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if you add buff out agent and sand with 400 paper on hot coat can you make it shine like a gloss coat?

Maybe, but why bother? Use glossing resin, it’s a pretty simple step and the weight difference is minimal. Besides which, I’m of the opinion that a good gloss seals the board up better and adds to the longevity of it.

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how long would it take a begginer to completely glass a board from just the shaped blank

Ahmmmmmm - ‘longer than you expected’ is the best answer I can give ya. Don’t add a whole lot of catalyst, lest you wind up with the stuff gelling while you are trying to put it on and that can REALLY ruin your day. Also, a cool day or evening, out of the sun so it’ll go off slower.

You can probably guess how I learned that.

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and finally would a mouse sander be okay to use to sand hot coat

Ahmmm…only if you have about a week of free time. Like Honolulu said, a random orbit sander or random orbital sander ( see the Swaylopedia) is your best bet - a good tradeoff between speed and inadvertently doing serious damage. And for your first board, going slow isn’t a bad thing.

A hint- change the paper often. Sandpaper gets clogged and filled with crud, so instead of cutting it just makes friction and heat and ruins your glass job. You can probably guess how I learned that one too. Besides which, why ruin a sander with dull paper- sandpaper is cheap and sanders are expensive.

Hint#2 - if ya gotta push on the sander to get it to cut, something’s wrong. Just let it kinda glide along, long strokes so ya don’t sand through anything.

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thanks

De nada, man. Hope that helps

doc…

go to an online shaping store for materials(not the tools but resin glass blank) www.fiberglasssupply.com is good, i personally don’t like foam ez beacuase they don’t sell the chemicals o and for two boards DO NOT but 4 thins of 8 oz of MKEp. anyone need some? all in all one board will run you about 180 with shipping may i suggest shaping two boards cuts down on the cost per board by a third.