I just browsed the surfblanks website yesterday. There is a new section, where they are offering "the stringer you have when you're not having a stringer". Basically a 1mm stringer, purely for holding the rocker while in a shaping machine.
Would a 1mm stringer be suited to a veneer board?, in terms of not being too stiff?. My noob mind thinks that it might be well suited, as it would hold the rocker, but not be as stiff as the normal 3mm stringer.
What do you think paul/guys?
Thinner stringer could twist easier than thicker stringer, therefore it might possibly break sooner too.
The stiffness of the skins should compensate for that a little bit…
Greetz
Backyarder who prefers rocker beds and stringerless
Hey Beerfan,
Midget sells all his blanks stringerless as well. you just ask for a plain blank when ordering. I'm ordering some blanks this week if you are interested.
Daren
Entity/Beerfan,
I’m in sydney and really want to do a timberflex thing. The supplyer I was put onto to get EPS was Australian Urethane Systems. I worked out roughly $90 per blank to cut out of a large billet off the price they gave me. Went off the idea for a bit because you can get a PU blank with a stringer glued in for $25 less than this. 1# sheet foam is cheap from building supplies if you want to bend in the rocker for a compsand but it doesn’t seem like the best way and I discovered that glueing up sheets for rocker is a pain in the arse to shape.
Where do you get your EPS from on the east coast?
I glued up a 1/8th ply stringer in some free eps sheet foam from BBC to see how it shapes. The stringer had a slight twist in it and stayed there after the glue up. I guess the foam is softer and wont straighten these twists out? Does anyone have problems doing perimeter stringers if the timber is not perfect?
I worked in glue-up at a big PU blank manufacture in sydney and it never really mattered if the timber was too bent?
Hey Marsh,
There are a bunch of EPS companies in Sydney.
I use A & C Polystyrene in Wetheril Park. I send them the file and they cut the rocker in out of a billet any length you want. Get quite a few blanks (approx 8) out of the block and it works out to around $30 or so a blank depending on the density you order.
Hope that helps.
Daren
ok,
i made a WMD which is 5.921.52.25.
without exterior glassing, it is already way too stiff
just so that anybody else who will make one knows…
thin em out, or use thinner veneer.
just sharing.
wouter
Daren ,thanks for the offer mate, but im not suite ready yet. I think the 1mm stringer option might help for doing the first one, but stringerless would probably be just as easy i suppose. Flex is not super important for me, so a little stiffness is ok for me.
Cheers daren.
P.S i may bug you for tips n tricks on fin installs on epoxy when i get set up haha. Not til next year though.
Wouter,
That’s been my experience. Perimeter stringers/4 oz/veneer/4 oz : top and bottom and you get a bench.
New one is stringerless: veneer / 2oz : top deck only and the flex in the blank appears about right (compared to a shaped PU) - but more spring. Glassing 6/6 later this week.
Red
yeah if you read some of my earlier comments i predicted there would be plenty of coffe tables coming out of this construction method. you should be able to turn a board upside down and it should deflect at least a few inches like a polyester board does ( which is why they are so damm yummy)
dont go 6/6 mate!
mine was stringerless by the road…
foam was 1.5 = 24kg/m3
cheers
Just to add to the numbers for consideration......
On a recent 6' boo quad I went top to bottom....
4oz deck patch, 4oz, 0.6mm boo veneer, 4oz,
1.1# EPS core,
2oz, boo veneer & 4oz.
Fairly thin, 1 3/8" 12" from nose, 2" centre & 1 3/8" 12" from tail.
Oh and 15mm balsa rails, with veneer overlapping top and bottom.
The flex feels fine.
After about ten surfs no obvious pressure dings, but it definitely feels spongy between the finges if squeezed, so see how that goes.
your onto it karl. the springy stuff makes them magic. but you have to watch for eps breakdown. main reason i ditched using 2 ounce cloth inside. again back to berts thread . he shows simple that there is more then one sheet of glass on the inside. there is definately patches in places and it doesnt hurt to let a bit of resin into the core on the deck side
EPS foam is available everywhere and 1.5 is common.
As for stiffness, a lot of what I've built was in fact overbuilt. Great weights but just stronger than nessasary.
Using a 1.5 blank with a 1/16th stringer, a 2 oz under the deck, nothing under the bottom, and a 4 oz over each side gets great performance and durability. High density rails can be done if you want but I've dropped perimeter stringers in these because it's just a bit overkill.
Urethane blanks are gonna be a bit heavy. I actually think too heavy.
Posted this on another thread, but it’s fully relevant here as well. 1.5# EPS stringerless, bamboo veneer deck w/ carbon rails:
Tom Neilson shaped the blank and Drew @ Inspired Surfboards (drewtang on here) glassed it for me.
I’ve only gotten a chance to ride it once in some weak chest high surf, but it’s insanely light. Right around 5.5 lbs. with trakpad and fins.
Just got a feel for it, but it seemed to ride well. Very lively. Have to wait and see how it does in some better waves, but if it holds up nearly as well as my last 2# epoxy/eps board that it replaced I’ll be stoked. That one lasted almost 4 years with regular abuse.
I’m stoked on this whole method. Light weight and strength, what’s not to love.
edit: dimensions - 6’0" x 19 3/4" x 2 1/4"
So you just use the 1.5 for the rails??.
hi lawless . a 5.5 to 6 pound poly will last a long time. when you say insanely light sub 4 pounds comes to mind. thats how light i can make a balsa board and at 4.5 ponds they last a long time as well if you keep them repaired and dry. i think and as indicated by peoples results is wmd is somewhat overbuilt. i think light deck dents are a good thing, it indicates that the board has give. this creates a polyurethane feel in a composite board. composite boards are notoriously stiff. If anyone goes back and looks hard at berts posts and his experience after how many thousand composite boards you can see the same information im giving here. so i dont see resistance to denting as an advantage of a composite board.
a composite board can be light and resistant to snapping and be thinner for better sensitivity and also have reduced torsional flex and faster flex return
if you build them thick and heavy then theres no point doing them. just do polys because they at least have some give and flex when you glass them heavy. or accept that your building a coffee table that will last a long time.as far as performance tho. if they the stiff ones go so good the pros would ride them
Nice stick lawless
Do the carbon rails stiffen her up a bit?
I am debating that for my next board.
Hi Greg
So if you drop the perimeter stringer, and just have the 1.5 EPS on the rails, will it hold the rocker when bagged without a rocker bed?
Karl
I watched this video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW7SjABe8Lc
Nice video! But I have one remark:
You say “can’t hurt it” Then you knock on the board and you can see in the reflection that you knocked a dimple in the board (wich was not there before you knocked).
But thanks a lot for the video, I has a lot extremely useful information!
I’m really intrigued and can’t wait to try this method of construction. A couple of questions:
Do you need to use any peel ply, resin flow or resin trap in the bag? I haven’t heard it mentioned and didn’t see it in the video but wanted to ask to make sure.
Will this 25 micron vacuum pump do the trick? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66466
Thanks,
Tommy