Home made Boards

I got the Paulownia blank for my Alaia's from this place
surfinggreen.com.au/

Hope that helps

Okay,

I have applied 2x coats of epoxy to thedeck, and have just finished 1 coat on e bottom. I am very happy with the progress, though are small minor imperfections in the deck. Would i be best to sand the deck, with a fine sandpaper, and apply another coat, or can i sand it slightly prior toadding a paint finish.

Looking good, and will post more photos tomorrow, after i get the second coat on the bottom done.

Also, how long should i wait for the epoxy to cure prior to painting it up.

Thanks
KR

Matt,

Perhaps the guys with lots of boat building experience with epoxy could comment on the following info I picked up on another board building forum.

<snip>
A hair dryer or heat gun works great too, especially in cold temperatures
that tend to lock the bubbles down deep.. Warming up the epoxy thins it out
enough to let the bubbles easily rise to the top...

Be careful though don't linger in one spot with the heat or the board might
look like you're on acid.
You don't need to use slow cure epoxy, just mix regular/fast, but don't
over mix it aggressively ... Slow steady mixing produces far less bubbles..
No "whisking egg whites" action, or that's what you'll get..

Transfer the mixed fast epoxy into a larger flat container and let it sit
for a few minutes to let the bubbles settle out.. The flat container slows
the kicking of the resin...

Always warm epoxy in either a pan of hot water,or a microwave for a few
minutes... Don't ever microwave the hardener, but it should be room temp...

Finally, warm your room up to 80F if you can, it's much better for resin
flow and bubble reduction as well...
Never glass on rising room temperatures, this creates bubbles...If you
can't keep the room near 80F for long, always glass on a falling room temp,
this reduces bubbles. Don't go under 70F though if you can..
<endsnip>

Have heard the "always glass on a falling room temp" several times before from differing sources.

I am an amateur, so some confirmation would be good.

Fossil

Huddy, a tip on laying out epoxy.

I followed the instructions on the back of the tin, for how much rto mix for about 1/2 m2, approximate size of my twin tip. As i am not using cloth to lay out, on my first mixing, i mixed up allmost 3 times the amount actually used. So my tip is:

Mix enough mixture to make up about 100-125ml of mixed epoxy, per side and per coat.
I bought a 500ml resin, and 250ml hardener. Which theoretically i could of Got close to 3 coats per side of board.

kr

Epoxy Coating x 2 top and bottom.
I have just sanded the top of the board, and applied a 3rd layer, which will be my last.

Rumblefish,
I have. Finished my epoxy coating, and am happy with the finish. I will probably leave the board clear with no paint. I have read that epoxy generally doesnt have good UV properties, and will start to turn a whitish colour. What would you recommend to prevent this from happening. I am using Norglass Epoxy.

Ta

KR

Board looks fantastic!!!

Epoxy will actually go yellow with time from UV exposure but were talking 100's of hours. Won't hurt the board at all and in fact you'll probably never notice it.

If you really want to protect it a good quality gloss marine varnish will do very nicely, believe Norglass do a good one.

Can't wait to hear how it rides!!!

Looks like an Awesome board mate, Bring it by WSS when your next in the area. Id love to see it.

Well deserved - will be interested in how flexible the tips are.
Last laminate I did was 3 x 4mm marine ply good for sanding but your single layer on the tips looks much better for flex.

If epoxy gets worn through - a lite sand and a recoat - I have found it re-bonds to old epoxy surface really well - so if board goes well should last 4 years.

Finally found the link to airbrushing - by NERK - this is well worth a read...
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53331

AP

Looks awesome Kyteryder - can't wait to have a go !

Hi Sbray,

Board Looking good for a rebuild.
Just a few questions.

1. Why did you need to rebuild the board?
2. Did it delaminate or other reason?
3. Like the look of your rocker tanle. What are you using as a surface?
4 What did you use to laminate the Paulownia wood?

ta
KR

Instead of a separate blog I thought I might post some of the Ideas I used, while building DIY boards.
Some I would use again, some not. Perhaps others can build, embellish and recommend mods to my ideas.

Inserts:
The woodworking tools mentioned by Charl dv "one of those wide bladed drill bits (forgot the name)" is either a;

Spade bit





Or a Forstner bit





Be careful with either as they can chew wood at a great rate.


As for inserts in glassed boards, I use 30mm x 30mm x 6mm threaded aluminium blocks, epoxied into the core.
I already had the taps and dies for 6mm dia threads but figured the cost of a full set of metric & imperial Taps & dies,
from Fleabay gave me more flexibility for further projects. Tools are a worthwhile investment!

The aluminium was from a "backing plate" that I scrounged somewhere in my past and squirreled away in Fossil's magic cave.

The snowboard inserts look like a great idea unless you want to have multiple threaded inserts close together (for adjustment).
you could also use the barbed "T" nuts.

I vac glass the top & bottom sheets over the inserts & core.
To prevent the epoxy from entering the holes I use a grubscrew covered with a small circle of "contact".
I create the contact circles with a normal paper hole punch.

After the epoxy is cured I find the insert locations (using a perspex template)
and clear the holes carefully using a countersink bit & hand drill.

If you require something stronger, or strip a thread, then use stainless helicoil thread insets as well.

I loctite all of my hardware to prevent loosening and/or thread movement.



Cheers
Fossil

Well it floats, and flies.

Here a few pics of the maiden voyage

I used the Boat Cote Aquacote products when I made ply boards. It's water based so you don't have to mess around with solvents and thinners. Just add water.

You can apply it with the blue gloss rollers from Bunnings. They're cheap enough and work ok.

Initially I used sanders for fine shaping but that takes ages and the dust is appalling. A cheap electric plane can be had for $40 and that is fine.

I did the laminating thing for rocker. Just put a piece of wood under each end to set the height then a heap of heavy stuff in the middle.

Cheap self-tapping screws make good clamps to get rid of voids around the edge. You cut those bits off anyway.

For light wind boards I just used 12mm ply. No laminating, no rocker. The natural flex in the ply gives it just the right amount of rocker when you ride it.

Eventually I got tired of the weight of ply boards (and the dust and messing around making them). I got Cardboards to make a copy of my lightwind ply TT and that is still my favourite and most used board. It will beat anything upwind except for a raceboard.

It's a touch ironic that production boards now all have wood cores and are quite heavy compared to the foamies.

For my first board I put counter sunk stainless screws straight through the bottom of the board and had nylock nuts onto the strap binding plates.

For the later ones I used T-Nuts and the result was very slick. They weren't expensive. I got mine from a place in Moorabbin. I think it was these guys....

http://www.costlessbolts.com.au/prod_range.htm

A bit of googling shows places that will order over the net.

www.uncarvedblock.com.au/products/Stainless-Steel-T-Nuts.html

$19 for postage is a bit rich.