I’m working on my first board and am aiming to do a yellow tint. So, last night I decide to tint my resin to get ready for glassing today. I mixed roughly 5% by weight of west systems pigment into ALL of my resin research epoxy. The problem is, I forgot that I need clear epoxy for the fill and gloss coats. I do have options. My girlfriend just glassed a hollow wood board and has leftover MAS epoxy and hardener. And, a roommate has some west systems epoxy and hardener around. My questions:
Should I just use my tinted RR epoxy for the whole job to avoid coating a different brand epoxy over my RR and suffer the poor color consequences of using a tinted fill coat.
Or, should I lam with the tinted stuff and then use either the MAS or the West Systems epoxy for the fill and gloss coats?
The underlying question is if I will get a good (i.e. strong and long lasting) glass job if I layer one type of epoxy over another.
I hunted around the archives, but couldn’t find anything addressing this specifically.
And the best way to avoid blush is to make sure it’s warm and dry, no? I’m in Oregon where things are toasty and humidity is ~45%. I was hoping to use “additive F” in the fill and gloss coats, but with the other epoxies I don’t suppose it would be wise to try using a RR additive… All told, I’m looking for strength over beauty.
Thanks much for helping. There’s a lot I’ve pulled off of these forums and I’ll definitely post pictures of the finished product in the gallery.
Just yesterday afternoon in San Francisco, I used Additive F in Fiberglass Santa Cruz’s stock epoxy (non RR epoxy )for the hotcoat/glosscoat on a fish shape.
It slowed down the curing time by a factor of 2 (without the Additive F, the epoxy cured 2x as fast), but this morning, twelve hours later, I had nice surface. A tiny bit of sanding to take down the odd blip and small hard-shelled aphid looking insects that committed glossacide, and a quick hit with 800 and 1500 wet/dry sandpaper, and I think it will be pretty good looking.
But before I do that, I need to scrape off some tape remains (from pulling the tape last night at gel stage), vacuum the bottom, degrease with a little denatured alcohol, and gloss the bottom.
But I digress…a properly mixed, Additive F did not hurt my epoxy work.
Well, I decided not to risk it and went with additive F in the lam with the pigmented RR and then kept the additive F out (can we just call this stuff xylene or whatever it is – additive F sounds goofy) of the first hot coat which is curing now. I made sure to not handle the board before hotcoat and the epoxy was still a little tacky. I did get lots of “tits” or fish eyes or whatever upon hot coating. Lots of bugs too but I don’t think there is an additive for that.
Anyhow. In a few hours I’ll go home and see if the board is flippable and go into hotcoating the deck. Maybe I’ll try a little additive F in that to see what happens.
What I’ve learned so far :
mainly to be patient.
don’t glass on a buggy night.
make sure the laps are very wet before wrapping them.
Make sure you have all of the materials you need on hand. These schenanigans of mine could have been solved by being patient and ordering a bit more epoxy from fiberglass supply.
Filter the hotcoat resin or at least be sure everything is really clean.
I think board #2 will take half as long to glass and will look twice as good.
Well, I’m to and almost through the sanding stage now. The hodge-podge seems to bonding okay with no obvious issues aside from what was mentioned before. Any problems have a lot more to do with the user (me) than the materials.
Installed a fin box using a dremel cutting/routing bit (1/8" diameter = good control) with a straight edge clamped directly onto the board to guide the cutter. Put the box in with two layers of 6oz, lots of resin, and then glassed over the top. Should hold it.
So, This afternoon I’m planning on putting the final coat of resin on. I’ll post pictures soon. Looks like Oregon is going to get some swell next week of the type that this board is meant for.
this would be a 7-0 by thick by wide with a round pin. One fin. color: YELLOW!!! wide point 3" forward although I’m not sure if it really turned out that way. Hard rails back drifting to 50-50 for the rest. Any swell under 4’ and I longboard (in the past that applied to everything) this is meant for steeper days in a few select places I like to surf.
Here are some photos. I glossed the bottom in too cold of temperatures last night and it just wouldn’t flow out. Had a hard time pushing resin around. Ah well. I plan on a sanded finish anyway.
I think the fin box is crooked…
And the tail looks like a nose… But, it is board #1, so…
Yeah, the skeg looks a little off, but who cares. YOU made it! Right there you are ahead of the average surfer. You’re really going to crank when you turn left (?). My first board back in '66 had uneven rails, but it still felt good to ride something which came from my own efforts. I’m getting better, but I’m still making mistakes. In some Eastern cultures, to make something perfect is felt to be an insult to God, so some small mistake in workmanship is made by craftsmen in acknowledgement of our lesser status. That’s not a bad philosophy.
maybe I’ll put a fin box up front too then I’ll have options. Lots a options. Maybe the skewed fin will help my backside bottom turn? Thanks for the good words. I’m convinced swaylocks is the best thing going.
I’ll get back on here in a few days when we get some swell.
