So i thought I would share two little tricks I just discovered that have really helped me get a clean finish. The pro guys probably already know this stuff but for the begginers out there I thought it may help.
Before Hot coating the whole board tape of the top and bottom as if doing a cut lap and hot coat the rails both above and below. Sand back with 120 and youll get a nice smooth transition for your lap bump. The added bonus is that you’ll have two layers of resin so theres less chance of grinding down into the weave on the sensitive rail area. wahooo !
The second thing I discovered is to use an orbital sander after doing the intial 120, sand with the circular sander. It produces a much finer finish and doesnt leave swirl marks ! ! !
Good idea zack. Here’s another one I figured out yesterday. I’m sure some are already doing it.
After you hotcoat one side, pull the tape and hit the bump with a razor blade. Cuts like a hot knife through butter. Then hotcoat the other side and do the same. It greatly reduced the hotcoat bump and only takes about 30 seconds.
Bg Surfer: Im basically referring to where your laps meet on the deck and bottom. Tape them off, leaving an inch or two gap from the lap bump and hot coat the rail. Usually when I sand with only one hot coat the weave will appear close to the rail or on the rails. The “pre” filler on the rails allows you to sand out any bumps in these sensitive areas and ensure your rail line is as flat as the original shape. The middle is flat so this is of less concern as I dont really touch the weave there. The added bonus and my favourite part is that you get a much cleaner finish to your sanded rail, with less weave showing. P.s this also works great for cut laps and fairing the raised cut.
**Van Helsing: **Yeah its a little bit slower but I think for us backyarders its not to much of a problem. 5 minutes to hot coat, 5 minutes to sand ? ?
Fishy: Good idea, did you cut the bump when the hot coat was still a little bit flexy ?
I think a tricks thread would be great, its all these little secret tricks that equate to a much nicer board.
u don’t know if it was me or it’s just the typical noob error. When laminating, i don’t spread the resin uniform.
with tinted/pigment resin the color is not smooth i have lots of darker and lighter spots. i also think that the foam sucks more resin where the darker spots and less where the lighter ones.
maybe with more practice i’ll get rid of this error.
to be sure that the resin is uniform spread what i do is to saturate the foam with a thin hotcoat (I USE UV RESIN) take it to the sun for 1 minute (40%-60% cure) than laminate it.
NOW THE TYPICAL NOOB QUESTION: after the first cut lap, what u guys do before laminating the bottom because sometime i get bubbles between the layers where the cut lap. is a good idea to fill it with resin to make the lap smoother?
Hey Colin I usually laminate the bottom first then the top. From your writing it seems you do the opposite ? ? im not well versed in colour tints but i’d assume your getting bubbles where the cut lap ends.
If I was you I would do as follow
For your deck lap lay some resin down with a brush over you cut lap and surrounding foam. The resin applied with brush will help you from digging into the foam when sanding.
Once hard sand down the deck lap with 4 pieces of 40 grit sandpaper. Use one piece of sandpaper for each half of the board i.e tail to middle - middle to nose. This will help your pad from gumming up and smudging over the glass.
(once your finished sanding place the sanding discs in acetone and they can be reused for the next board)
To remove the marks made by the sanding, brush some styrene over the sanded areas.
once this is done lam your deck and make the cut on the bottom.
I would then use the process that I outlined above of hot coating the rails and over your cut lap.
Great advice Zac, my local factory started doing this about a couple of years ago - they just paint the rail top and bottom but no taping. Then they squeegee the hotcoat on the deck and bottom giving a minimal fill for the weave and a light brush out to finish including another layer over the rails - ends up with a real light job and minimal sanding.
Yeah rich I poke around the local glass shop and this is the way they do all there sanded finishes. There probably the best in australia on par with moonlight in california, so if there doing it, it must be the best way.
Yes you are right…the technique came from a guy who’d been working out in Aus and had returned to work here in the UK. I’ll be able to catch up on all things down under shortly as I’ve just been granted a skilled migrant visa…Sydney bound with the family by November!
Thanks reverb. Yeah, I read that thread and the older Cut Lap Questions thread.
Sounds like Zack is taping off the deck and bottom then coating the rail area between “lap bumps” (and a half inch beyond/over – toward the center – the glass cut lines) in one resin application, before top and bottom hotcoats. Or have I got this all wrong.
I understand the actual cutlap technique just fine. I’ve done a few with poly, but not epoxy.
Isn’t this just “basting,” but doing the whole rail instead of just the lap line?
I’ve done it with epoxy… but only on the deck lam (bottom lap line) works the same. Except I don’t tape off, and I don’t brush it on… I use a spreader. With epoxy, the hotcoats can go on a bit thicker, especially with KK, and you can also kind of “float” the deck layers of cloth over the bump (don’t mash down the cloth into the lap line). If it’s faired and rolled, you don’t really even notice it. So basting is not needed on the deck side, IMO. The bottom has to be perfectly flat and tight, so I baste and sand before hotcoating. You can do it around the faired fin patch edges, too. Not a “production” approach, I don’t think, but good for the backyarder.
I hate the tapeline that crosses the apex of the rail so I hotcoat each rail separately, overlapping onto the flats. After it sets I blend that line in with the flats before taping off the outer edges of the lap lines and hotcoating the flats. I’m basically “hiding” the hotcoat tapelines along the laplines. This allows me to lay a heavy fillcoat on the rails and a lighter fillcoat on the flats so I have a little more to work with on the rails before hitting the cloth. As above, it’s not production friendly and I could probably skip it if my hotcoating technique was better. But I suck.
I only do that with epoxy, though. No need to do that with the PE resins 'cause they don’t ever seem to leave a line. .
Indeed, the deck first and after the bottom. I do this to make the hotcoat lil bit easier (just my opinion).
sandwich is how I call my lamination technique: 1st deck, 2nd bottom and 3rd deck again. the 3rd one i cut it right where the bottom’s cutlap, so no overlap and easier to hotcoat.
Dude i’ll definitely try sanding laps like u told me.
The only thing i don’t understand is this:
3. To remove the marks made by the sanding, brush some styrene over the sanded areas.