I have been reading in the archives but do not understand exactly what vacume bagging is?
I understand that with wood it enables you to attach a good quality to lesser quality, a veneer.
But I don’t exactly understand how it works with boards and what the advantage is. I did find out where to get supplies to make one, including refridgerator pumps and such.
But can someone explain in simple terms how it works and what its used for. Also if there is any video of one can it be posted please.
tight bond of glass/resin to board without excess resin soaking into the blank. maximizes strength-to-weight. also good for sticking down wood veneers in a compsand because it keeps constant pressure from wood to foam while everything gets set in place.
in compsand board building its a method used to apply the wooden skins and rails onto to an EPS blank. The shaped blank and wooden skin are placed into a large plastic bag. Resin has been applied between the EPS blank and the wooden skin. Vacuum bagging materials are on the blank and skin to create a path for the air to be vacuumed out of the bag. A vxcuum probe is placed through the bag. The bag is sealed and a vacuum is pulled on the bag. The vacuum bag presses the wooden skin onto the surface of the blank working like a clamping device. For more details on compsand surfboards you're going to have search the archives. Here is a link to a Google video showing the basics of vacuum bagging not really surfing related.
For us newbie’s out there, can anyone recommend a good place to start learning about composite building techniques? IMO it sounds like the way to go, but I’ve only build 4 boards so far, all PU/PE, so I don’t really know how to get started with vacuum bagging / compsand building. Is there a great (or even good) thread that will get me started? I’ve searched the archives quite a bit and found a nice thread where Bert Burger explains what he was doing ten years ago in terms of vacuuming on a skin. That was very helpful for me in terms of visualizing things, but not quite enough – I’m naive, I know. Is there a thread out there that shows people’s wet out tables, lay ups, etc.? I’m asking a lot, but sways is amazing. Heck, I learned how to build my own surfboard here.
check out “areospace composite products” on the web
bagging is farely easy for decks and bottoms. Thats as far as I will go with veneers over foam, I think if its wraped around the rails the board may be too stiff. plus I wont use a stringer
