Sorry if this one’s in the archives but I sought and couldn’t find.
What’ the best way of getting laps to saturate with resin? I just finished the lam on my first board, and with both sides the resin just seemed to drip off. Made getting those laps to stick a rough process.
My guess would be the answer is “more practice/experience”?
epoxy or poly???
On the off chance nobody puts this one out, and I can’t remember who suggested this, but, one SLer said to brush the rails and underside of rails first, then pour and spread the deck, then work the laps over the tacky rails.
Wet the laps out by holding them out and spreading the resin onto them, then lap them down…?
Anyone else? (Verify or deny?)
Hi, on Cleanlines’ Damascus DVD Mr Cleanlines explains an easy trick they used back in the days to use less resin and that i used sometimes to saturate the laps with good results.
Double the weave that’s holding around the board up on the deck (i hope this makes sense in english), put some resin all along the rails (over the doubled weave) and use the squeegee. Put the weave back on the rails, now you have the rails/laps saturated.
I hope this helps.
Coque.
Yes it is.
Also, when laminating, you should drive resin from the flat surface of the bottom (or deck) towards the rail in a long, continuous move, with your squeegee correctly angled and not moving too fast, so that resin flows on all hangingb cloth. If well done, all cloth hanging from the rails will be saturated doing this. Only then you will squeegee the cloth around the rail, starting in the middle of the board and working towards the nose and then towards the tail. I think you should look very closely at a glassing video or (even better) try and watch a good glasser if you can. It’s no big deal, really, once you have seen it done.
yea… epoxy or poly is important, as there are different techniques for both.
If you’re using epoxy, fold the cloth back and paint the rails with a brush, then fold the cloth back down. THEN warm the resin in the microwave… that way its thick on the rails and thin for the flats. Spread the resin to the top of the rail only and let it ooze off the edge and down while your spreading out the resin on the flats. Once the resin has soaked into the cloth, start pulling out the excess from the stringer to the rail, lapping in one, smooth pull, and wiping the excess off the spreader back into the bucket. Once the whole board is pulled and lapped, go back and check for dry spots or pools of resin where the cloth could be “floating.” Anywhere there’s too much resin, including the rail laps, will result in poor adhesion to the blank. Same with too little resin. So pull out all the excess with the spreader, and then go grab that brush and paint the dry spots down with resin that you scraped back into the bucket off the spreader. If there’s any cloth hanging, paste it down with the brush. Clean up any drips, and you’re done.
Well, I usually do another different trick.
I don’t saturate the laps. I do saturate the FOAM whre the laps are suposed to fold on.
I mean:
-I’m going to glass the bottom.
-I turn board deck up, mix some resin+catalyst and saturate ,with a squegee or a paintbrush, the areas of foam 2"-3" next to the rails.
-Then I turn board bottom up (gripping it whre ther’s no resin yet)
-I lay cloth over the bottom, cut and glass as usual, not worrying too much abou saturating completely the hanging laps
-Finally, fold the laps along the deck, and they’ll catch all that resin you spreaded before.
BTW: if you use the same batch of resin for laps and flat glass…hurry up!!!
I find that when doing a double layer it is a little more difficult to get both layers of the overlap saturated. I fold both layers up and get them wet, fold them back down (it’s generally quite a mess at this point) and with a pair of all metal scissors, trim all those loose hanging strands before squeegeeing the laps under. I spend a good amount of time working on the underside to avoid drips and air bubbles.
Howzit John, I wet out my rails first by running a bead of resin above the rail and sqeegeeing it so it flows over the rails evenly, then I wet out the rest of the bottom or deck ( what ever side I’m doing) then with the resin left just rewet the rails. This technique uses a little more resin but it’s a sure way to completely saturate them. The real trick is getting the resin to flow evenly so you don’t get any dry spots, but that comes with practice and lots of laminating.Aloha,Kokua
I can’t believe no one else is doing this, it’s so easy and effective- use a 3" paint roller to do your laps. Saturates easy. You can go back over it with a squeegee once it’s all stuck down.
llilibel,
Is the paint roller saturated with resin as you are doing this, like you would with a brush, or do you spread the resin everywhere with squeege and then lap the rails under with the roller? Also, is the roller disposable, or do you clean/re-use?
Thanks,
JSS
I saturate the roller when I pour the resin out onto deck (I’ve been using RR epoxy). I toss the roller when I’m done. The thinner the nap the better as there will be some resin left in the roller when you throw it away. It sure beats letting resin drip onto the floor though.
Cool, does this roller method work as well with PE?
…no, dont work well
is exactly like Kokua said; then, grab another squeegee (harder and smaller one- but not like the yellow one. use the transparent ones or a hard rubber one) and clean the laps from the half of the rail to the lap under; pushing a bit
so, in this way you avoid all the bubbles.
Howzit reverb, For years I just used the same rubber squeegee for the whole board ( how I was taught ) but now I use the yellow ones and they seem to work just fine, just don't use the pink ones, never seen the clear ones. Aloha,Kokua
The 3” short nap short handle roller works really well. After all the flat area is saturated with normal squeegee technique pour about 4 oz. ( for a 9’0 board ) of resin in a small roller tray. Saturate the roller evenly via the roller tray and begin rolling the lap from the board mid point toward the nose or tail length wise along the rail apex. Taking passes along the rail lower each time until you’ve completely tucked the rail. Re-saturate roller as you go and as needed.
When you’re finished tucking the lap go back over it with a squeegee to pull it all nice and tight.
This technique takes some practice to get down but, when you’ve got it your laps will be tight and flat. The application does take longer than the normal curtain pour. But, as much as a third less resin will be needed for the lamination.
Works really well on color lams too, with big 2 ½” or 3” laps….
D.R.
…Kokua,
I found them in the ACE hardware stores
pretty cheap
and very very good ones
the yellow is too much rigid for my taste in the 4 oz cloth
Howzit reverb, I was just at ACE buying squeegees for a project and didn’t see them but even thoght ACE is the place we don’t always get the same products as you guys. Aloha,Kokua