Late takeoff - me and the board did underwater dance - result: bunch of dents from my foot between the side fins on the bottom, no real shatters. Rode the board after and I can feel a loss of smoothness - sooo I gotta fix it. Getting ready to fill the dents with resin and sand flush but I remember people talking about taking out small dents in an unglassed shaped blank. So I’m wondering if I might be able to get them out with the hair dryer or at least bring them up a bit. I’m hesitant to experiment and screw up in this crucial area of the board. It’s a green surfblanks australia. Anyone have knowledge about this ?
I’ve done it with success on some boards but also completely failed with others. I have come to think that certain foam brands respond better to the heat treatment than others. Anyway, try it; go slowly, with side lightings to help you see any progress. Take your time, don’t burn or delaminate…
Don’t think it will work and here’s why.
You would need to heat it enought to expand the air molecules ( yea I know that this is
innacurate, that I’m really expanding the space between the molecules ) enough to push
the glass back out. But an equal amount of force would go back internal and damage the
cell structure.
Once the foam cell structure has been crushed it can’t be healed, it will always be damaged
and weak.
I’d leave it and call it a phaser feature. Tell everyone that it gives insane lift.
Or fill it with micro spheres and resin. I’d rather not because of the extra weight.
I’d router it out, cut a piece of poly foam to fit, sand flush, fix like a normal ding. Pretty minimal weight gain.
Outside the box thought here and I don’t know if it’d work: sand the pressured area w 60 grit, wipe with dn alcohol, make epoxy microballon slurry, get a little hunk of blue dow foam (denser the better, if you have a choice), liberally coat ding and blue foam w slurry, apply weight to center pushing as much of the foam down into the hole as you can, sand flush, you’re good to go. Careful the area could be prone to future damage.
Just fill with bondo and sand flush–how much weight would it add anyway unless the dents were 2" deep. And a little extra weight between the fins won’t affect the performance appreciably.
Gentlemen - my question is concerning the possibility of applying heat to a glassed board to lift out dents, not ‘how to fix a ding’ As i mentioned above, I can easily fill the shallow dents with resin and sand flush, but I’m real curious whether or not heat would do it. This is a good board and I’m not about to ‘experiment’ on it. Just wondering about the possible use of heat. I suspect that the answer is no as the glass / resin is cured and brittle, not flexible for the most part. Really curious if anyone has tried the hair dryer approach. (only experienced need apply)
Pat,
Check your private message.
Pete
Pete…
are you holding out on us?
If you got experience with this one…BUST IT OUT!
I want to hear it for sure!
I haven’t tried it…Theoretically I have a couple of ideas…but they are just theories.
SHARE MAN! SHARE!
Mahalo
Tried it with a heat gun. Didn’t work. Actually did the opposite and made it shrink. I don’t think a hair drier will do much. Hair will start to burn at 140º f. Blow dryers probably don’t go higher that 120ºf before they shut themselves off. Heat guns are way hotter than that.
I’ve used a heat gun to remove sizeable dents from a blank, but that’s with it directly on the foam. I’ve also used a wet cloth and iron. On glass, you’ll have to heat it up even hotter to get the same amount of heat to the foam because the glass will dissipate the heat over a larger area. If you’re going to fill and repair these anyhow, try the heat gun but be careful. A hairdryer won’t get hot enough.
Quote:
I suspect that the answer is no as the glass / resin is cured and brittle, not flexible for the most part. Really curious if anyone has tried the hair dryer approach. (only experienced need apply)
Then again were it not somewhat flexible, you’d have a ding instead of a dent.
Only experience I have is with the search function. 
http://www.swaylocks.com/…dents%20heat;#371586
It appears someone had limited success with an iron.
Todd,
Pat is an old compadre from Costa Rica and I was touching base. If interested why, see rental listing in “Surfshop” re: Nosara.
Also, was telling him about a VERY hot iron rubbed over a wet terry towel on the depression. It’s been gone over before a few times here. Herb S. and Kokua and I had an afternoon debate on it a few years ago - running back and forth from our respective shops to the computer to compare techniques - but I couldn’t find the thread. Hot iron - wet towel - try a few times…towel dissipates the heat (heat gun can burn) and the hot iron - steams like a bitch - can lift some foam. Just as used to get dents out of wood - but you’re not dealing with open pores here - it’s an alternative method to try.
Still, have never seen any method get 100% of a dent out…
Let’s hear your “Theories”…
Pete
Hey Pete1
It was mostly in jest. Not meaning to intrude.
Thanks for the clarification.
You never know when something like that may come in handy.
I have done minor fills that end up all but invisible.
Mostly cosmetic for some really finicky types.
Anything that had a major structural impact I would cut a half moon and fill/inject with a micro-balloon heavy mix.
After it sets I just do a top coat.
The way I do it, a top layer of glass is not even necessary.
Sorry, I know you guys don’t need any lessons in ding repair.
I just wanted to share.(-;
For god sakes man, if it’s not leaking just surf it. When it breaks, get a new one or fix it. All boards have heal dents. if you want a more durable board, make a WDM style board.
Or do like resinhead and ride turtle shell covered seal carcasses!
Resinhead,
Just for clarification. The heal dent is on the bottom between the fins…
asymmetrical single concave???
Are we having fun yet guys ? Pete - I’ll try the iron + terry cloth . Yeah - the dent spots between the fins are in the middle of a single concave and I was surprised that I could feel the noticeable difference on the next wave.
Hi Patrickfreen…
Quote:
Are we having fun yet guys ? Pete - I’ll try the iron + terry cloth . Yeah - the dent spots between the fins are in the middle of a single concave and I was surprised that I could feel the noticeable difference on the next wave.
You could hit the bottom of my board with a hammer and I would still be out there surfing. I would not even feel a thing. I struggle with fin placement. Is it just me? … Back in September I surfed Sunset Cliffs on a small day. My board hit a rock on the paddle out. I had a good surf that day. Found out later that my center fin was 2 inches back from it’s normal spot.
If you can feel the difference from a ding…more power to you…I will never be at that level…
I just go with the flow …
Ray
Quote:
Resinhead,
Just for clarification. The heal dent is on the bottom between the fins…
asymmetrical single concave???
Still doesn’t matter. But maybe if you took it to a driving range and hit golf balls at it, you could come up with a cool pattern…dimple/ lamanar flow / fluid dynamics…hey maybe this could be something…oh wait, that was dome back in the 80’s
Fact of the matter is, the only way a surfboard performance is screwed up is when it’s born. if it’s a good board, a few dents holes, and slashes won’t hinder performance. if it’s born a dog…it stays a dog.
A shotgun w/ #4 x 3" maximum load works…completely removes the dents !..jk…lol.
Herb