I’m making a home depot board but I did the glue up running the length of the board. I have about 12 gorilla glue “stringers” running the length of my board. The problem occurs in the rails especially where the nose and tail start to taper in. Wherever the glue is it is very hard to sand (obviously) and it is kind of sticking out a little bit. Is there any tips, tricks, techniques on how to handle this problem?
no ideas for ya but on your next one just kind of mark out where you need the rails to be and only glue to the inside of that part so that there is no glue to deal with. Thats what I did on mine. Just got to glass it up.
Been there. It sucks. Use 36 grit on your sanding block (turn it to the hard side if you have a soft backing on it). You might want to lift it with one hand to get it off the racks while you scrub it with sandpaper. 1lb eps flexes and crushes way more than 2lb. Don’t worry about deep scratches or tearouts. You’ll have to seal it anyways.
I tried my hand plane over it like a traditional stringer and ended up with bigger tearouts. Stay away from this method. Good luck.
Can you get an exacto blade or razor blade and cut/trim the chunks out? Perhaps shave them? I suffered similar issues on my layered insulation blank, but my core is covered with balsa skins. I took a surform at an cross cut angle on the big globs and a heavy sandpaper grit on a block (and also a sanding sponge) for other spots. I agree that some spackling might help when all said and done. I’m not going to use much PU glue on the next one, except on the balsa rails.
Try putting a piece of masking tape on either side of the glue when you sand so you sand the glue and not the foam.
Monkstar, Try a semi-rough file. They are good for isolating and shaping trouble spots. A tool supply store should have a decent selection. I recommend getting one that already has a flat handle as part of the file, so you don’t have to put a wooden one on yourself. That way, the whole thing is flat and is easier to finesse over the surface of the board.
Doug
This is going to sound a bit mean spirited, but…Next time save up the extra $30.00 and buy a blank from your local EPS guy. Save youself the hassle of all that gluing, and trying to sand that crappy blank. Thing probably took all day to cut and glue up, just to have a bunch of glue lines. Go and mow 2 lawns in 30 mins and get the cash for a blank. Now with a good blank, you can spend your time getting a good shape.
Even if you bought a block of EPS, got a Variac, Made 3 kinds of hot wires tools, perfected the rockers and technique to hotwire. It’s still a hassle. Then you got to cut the blank in half, and glue it up with the right kind of glue. Man I’m telling you it’s worth it buy your blanks from some one whose got the set up to do it right, and whose do it a million times.
But then again I think you just found all this out.
-Jay
Come on, its not nearly as much fun or rewarding to mow lawns. With a bit of forethought, you can keep the glue away from the edges as was already said.
On the other hand, though, a bad blank Will make a bad board. When you make your own blank its hard to see it as objectively as someone else might, someone not as attached to the blank will have an easier time deciding if it is good, salvageable, or needs to be chucked.
If the board is for you and you want to build it completely (minus all the chemistry, of course) making your own blank is fun and definately “worth it” to me
I friggin hate lawn work!