Rumblefish
What do you thiners do you use to thin down resin , Pardon
my ignerence is that what TPRDA is
Kytrider
Thanks for information i am going to give it a go come winter .
TPRDA is a thinning agent you add to Bote-Cote 2:1 Epoxy.
Unlike other thinning agents it does not contain acetone or other solvents for thinning so is much better for you.
By thinning the 1st coat of eposy it allows it to soak much forther into the ply/timber.
Huddy if you are in QLD, google bote-cote and they are based in Brisbane. Great Aussie made product.
Rumblefish, I want to paint my board prior to applying epoxy or varnish (still undecided), is any acrylic paint alright, as i am shying away from the marine paints, at this stage, as they are $$$.
Any thoughts?
OK, two different answers!!
If you want to paint underneath for graphics purposes then do your epoxy coat first then do the paint. You can then varnish over the lot for a laquer type protective coat, although to essential.
If you want to paint the whole board to give it a commercial board look then still epoxy first with two thinned coats. Then mix some sanding compound (powder, very cheap for a small amount) with the 2:1 epoxy and use a flexi paint scraper to apply a thin layer of this that you can then sand to get a great smooth finish.
Then you can paint over the lot.
International paints are good and come in small amounts, 250ml I think. Use yacht primer for the first coat and then use Toplac for the 2nd. it's pretty cheap this way as you don't need the undercoat, although the primer is grey so you might need to lay the topcoat on thick. With some practice you can get a really good finish with a foam roller and 'tip off' (google painting techniques) with a good brush.
Hope that all makes sense!!
Sorry about the multiple posts but the server is freaking about the size of my posts
Also
boardlady.com/index.htm
www2.swaylocks.com/node/1012644
kite-stuff.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2746#2746
groups.yahoo.com/group/boardbuilding/
www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=2354538&sid=ebf8cb5c856126fc10e10d1f38fc0414
picasaweb.google.si/zobLESs/MyFirstSeriesOfKiteboards#5314249730495407474
Cheers
Fossil
Great to see so many people having a go at making their own boards. I recently made my first one form Klegecell and using a vacuum bag setup to fibreglass it. It was a great experience and now I'm on to #2.
I documented all the steps including making the vacuum pump, rocker table, board design and construction board and also wrote up a review of what went right and wrong.
my blog is as
www.boardbuilders.co/
It woudl be great to know if you find it useful and have any comments /ideas on things I've posted.
Also, I found that the board builders site on www.kiteforum.com is a brilliant resource.
One of the biggest issues I came up with on my first board was the appearance of air bubbles in the fibre glass. I read around on google a bit and came across some advice but nothing that seemed to be something that I had obviouslys stuffed up.
Anyone have any tips on how to avoid airbubbles in expoxy resin when fibre glassing??
Cheers
Matt
I found that the Kledgecell etc does not add to the strength of the board but merely "keeps the resined pieces apart".
So as an alternative to the more expensive cores I used HD (high density) styrofoam sheets. easy to use, relatively inexpensive and epoxy friendly.
My second board was a very lightweight unit. In hindsight i had not used the correct weight of cloth & resin to attain the strength required.
Gave the board to my son, a beginner , he used it for around 20 minutes before it was converted to a two piece unit, broken below one of the straps.
I am now repairing said board using a Paulownia core and a "quad core " method as used by Brokite in their workshop videos.http://www.brokite.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=63
They have a different method of rocker table & vacuum.
Fossil
Some more sites to visit:
Bolts, inserts & thread tooling
ejwinter.com.au/
www.insertsdirect.com/
www.bolt.com.au/index.php?cPath=1010_1588_1644_1689
www.collinsid.com.au/ProductList.php?Operation=SetSessionVariable&Variable[cat1]=Fasteners&Variable[cat2]=Bordo+-+Powercoil+Thread+Inserts&Variable[cat3]=Metric+Coarse&pager=1&startpage=1
Raw materials suppliers,http://www.amcsupplies.com.au/catalogue/
www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=50&
www.fibreglast.com/contentpages-vacuum+bagging+equipment+and+techniques+for+room-temp+applications-230.html
www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=epoxy+resin+suppliers+south+australia&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU&aq=f&oq=
www2.blackwoods.com.au/infoBANKProduct.aspx?SG=2000165&S=16&G=2003644&P=7119841
www.bamboodirect.com.au/installation_options.html
www.highpointtimber.com.au/index.html
www.d3o.com/
www.fgi.com.au/
ddfiberglass.com/
sbray.
Looks like i will be busy on the internet lookign at your links thanks.
Do you have a link on where to buy Paulownia in Sydney at all.
ta
To answer some questions;
Q-Cell is a generic filler powder. Makes the resin thick for glueing and sanding, although not as easy to sand as a dedicated sanding powder, also alot heavier.
Air bubble are usually caused by air coming out of the job as the resin goes off. This can often be helped by keeping the tempreture consistant throughout the curing time.
Yes klegicell or divinycell foam will add strength but if you put the same amount of glass top and bottom as a bit of ply then yes it will be weaker but a hell of alot lighter. If you made the foam one the same weight as the ply one then it would be alot stronger, especially as you make the foam thicker.
started my first board 2day.
ive decided to make it out of 2 layers of 7mm ply with bout 40mm of rocker and will be flat between the foot straps. and im gonna glue the 2 layers together to get a bit more strength. ive gone with this idea so that the middle of the board will be 14mm thick while the edge can stay as thin as possible (7mm).
i have a couple of other little ideas that i will show u in photos to come (hopefully not to far down the track)
cheers huddy
Board is looking great. good work so far. I hope we get to see some video of it in action.
I think that with 2 layers of 7mm ply the board with strong as a tank but the trade of is the weight and the question is whether that much strength is necessary. I made a 132x39 out of 2 layers of Klegecell and put 3 layers of 6 oz elgass top and bottom and it ended up weight just 2.1kg before accessories and handles a good bashing in the surf well. Klegecell is about 80 kg per cubic meter compared to 450-700kg/cubic meter for marine ply. The other thing is that marine ply is not necessarily waterproof where as HD foams are.
On thing that I have seen someone do is cut out 2 long sections of the upper ply layer and inserted lighter material and the strength , apparently, wasn't compromised. It was like having big stringers on the top to add to the stiffness and strenght but there was a big weight saving. Just food for thought for the next one.
I havent heard of klegecell before. I was investigating for my next twintip core, either Paulownia wood, divinycell, or corecell. How does klegcell, compare to the to foam based products i referred to? So many options. Must keep building boards to trial them.
My next projects on my list
Strapped surfboard, small twintip, mutant, skim board, wake skate.
Skim board and wake skate will be made fromoffcuts off other projects. But i better finish my first one and give it a go.
Huddy, good to see you made a start. My beer of choice, whilst creating is Becks,
Make sure you leave the board in the rocker position for 48hr, to ensure you dont loose your rocker, shilst the glue dries.