I want to make a workbench that has a large bit of perspex or some sort of plastic covering it, this is so i can vac together my skins. At the moment im using my bagging film to cover a large bit of MDF, then putting my stuff on that to be bagged. They come out nice and shiny but its a lot of waste and very time consuming when you have to wack a new piece of film on the board b4 every skin.
Is their anything i can use as a base that wont need a mold release wax, i tried a sheet of glass but that was a lesson in what not to use, had to throw that away!!
Anyone know of anything that definitely wont stick to the epoxy?
What about HDPE? You could do a test run with a old milk container, the plastic ones are made from HDPE. If it works just get a big sheet of it and screw it to your bench.
-Jon
Update: Just did some quick research. Epoxy will not stick to HDPE, nor will polyester. In fact, all the research I just did shows that not much will stick to it.
Moonfish,Polyethylene for sure, known as HDPE.High Density Poly Ethylene.
www.dotmar.com.au has a front page, go to Quick Search on the right, click and click again on Polyethylene/Polystone/PE to see all your choices. You can ask a question by using the Contact Us button at top right.
HDPE is the same/similar as cutting board plastic so you can test it yourself.
Ive asked a few places to send me free samples to test and they generally arrive within 2 days.
It generally feels slippery and is similar to the plastic in some shopping bag.
If youre going to use it as your rocker bed and just tape a sheet over your board to make a sealed “bag” you’ll need to outline it with something else so your tape sticks. It needs to be carefully cleaned because any scratches become handles for epoxy.
Yup i was going to bag all of my laminations, but i dont know now. This is my first balsa compsand (actually its my first compsand ever!) so far i’ve made and bagged the bottom skin, bout to do the top skin next, then my rails. Just finished shaping the bottom contours on my blank, but i will wait till all my rails and skins are ready b4 i start to attach them to my board. (im gonna start a thread for building this board today so crew can give me advice on how im going)
I dont have a rocker bed, is that essential? or can i weight the nose/tail etc manually to do my rocker adjustments? Its pretty much how i want it anyway, was just gonna put a little kick in the nose.
I tried using a sheet of glass to do my next skin, i heard that epoxy wouldnt stick to it and that appealed cos of the fact i could place the balsa on there and cut it out without damaging the surface of the glass, prob was the part i missed is that i still need mould release wax, Ha HA… down the drain went a good 50 bucks of materials and balsa, oh well i guess the learning curve was worth it.
Anyways, thanks for the info i will have a look at the link and see if i can get some to try, but i wont be cutting on it though, dont want anything else sticking to my work pieces.
i had thought of using something like that, like i said in my previous post to SF, it would be nice to be able to cut on it due to the lack of room in the garage but at the end of the day if i cant so be it, i would rather save money on materials.
How do you find using that stuff, still get a nice finish on the glass?
Ha! I wish…As soon as i come up with a simple way of having a variable contour mat i will let you all know. Bert is like david Copperfield, everyone has an idea how he pulls of his boards, but no one really knows…its magic. HAHA.
We use glass topped tables for everything. With epoxy you must give it a wipe with mould release wax, a quick polish and its perfect. Any scratches will be a problem so fill them with release wax as well. We have released many hundred items from the glass with no problems at all (unless scratched!).
Another surface we use is Formica, again waxed and scratchless. HDPE is great as it doesn’t need waxing but being softer does scratch more easily. You can also buy PTFE sheet for lining moulds (has a self adhesive back) and nothing sticks to that (actually I got a pancake to stick once but that had something to do with my cooking!)