making a blank with perimeter stringers
making a blank with perimeter stringers
i picked up about ten sheets of eps from a warehouse that was getting rid of a bunch of packaging material. i cant let that go to waste now, but it is 1.0 density eps so it needs some support. i was thinking that instead of sawing them in half and adding a stringer to all 10, i would try making perimeter stringers out of balsa wood (at least on some of them). ive been looking at alot of threads and had a couple primary questions.
1) For glueing balsa wood to EPS, should i use gorilla glue? people were mentioning elmers glue, but that seems weak and i think that was between two sheets of foam, not between balsa and EPS.
2) Is it worth it to invest in bar clamps? I was seeing everybody glue up their blanks with bar clamps and i was looking on the internet and 24" clamps run at about 7 to 15 bucks each. Can I cut this corner by just wrapping the board in masking tape or something else when i glue the balsa pieces to the rail of the board?
Ive never done something like this before, usually just order blanks and make boards. Any advice would be really helpful.
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Hey
Search the archives
here's a start and there's more
http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1017338
http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1018416
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Hi Scboy,
I did one last year, just used gorilla glue, worked well. Pretty low tech but was easy and effective , I just used some bricks and weighted down the separate pieces of EPS until the glue went off!
heres the post if you want to check it out,
www2.swaylocks.com/forums/need-some-glassing-advice-someone.
not really sure how to post a proper link!
Re: [nocean] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Hi Scboy,
I did one last year, just used gorilla glue, worked well. Pretty low tech but was easy and effective , I just used some bricks and weighted down the separate pieces of EPS until the glue went off!
heres the post if you want to check it out,
www2.swaylocks.com/forums/need-some-glassing-advice-someone.
not really sure how to post a proper link!
try this one: PROPER LINK
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Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Gorilla glue and this wrap work good.
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Thanks Huckleberry!
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
You can also use a good quality marine grade five minute epoxy and tape the balsa around the rails. That can be a quick method. I prefer bagging them on with epoxy all in one go (does take a bit of practice)
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Perimeter stringers? Maybe not all twisting is bad. Sleep on it.
1. Elmers glue is ok. Gorilla is better but expands, you just need to keep the pieces from floating apart. It depends on if the seams will show, and many other things.
2. It's up to you whether you think you need to buy clamps. Prolly depends on how many more you think you will do. Remember, a carpenter is only as good as his tools. It's a personal decision if you want to try and get away on the cheap.
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Do like I do, dumpster dive your local bike shop for blown out inner tubes, cut them at the valve stem, split then length wise, once for racing tires, twice for balloon, cinch them around the blank, you can pull them good and tight, as tight as bar clamps and they are free
Former gremmie, who followed his dream to do the best job possible
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
How thick are the sheets?
What we do is take a 2" sheet and a 1" sheet or how ever many sheets you need to make the thickness you want then cut out the outline shape about 1/2" narrower. I like to use a 1" piece on the bottom and thicker piece on top.
Then we epoxy the sheets together with the top side of the blank on the bottom side of a board that has the rocker you want to use. Sometimes we'll strips of wood between the sheets for springers. Other times we just place reinforcements for the fin boxes.
When you put the epoxy on the foam, don't go out to the edge, leave a small space so that when you start foiling the board, you don't have to cut through epoxy. You can hot wire the foil after the epoxy is hard, the blank should hold the rocker shape for a little while. Or, you can add strips of perimeter rails with the foil pattern, then bring the foam down to match that . If you cut out the strips for the rails with the foil thickness, you can use a 1/8" piece of plywood. Cut out both sides making sure they are the same shape, then glue them onto the blank. I like to use 5 minute epoxy and cheap masking tape to glue the first piece of the rails to the foam. Be sure to work out the rail's shape so that you don't have to shave down the plywood. Plywood will give you a strong one piece rail, and then you can have anything you want on the outside of that. If you can get balsa long enough to make a one piece rail, you can use balsa. Otherwise, you just have to use several pieces of wood to get the length you need.
Once I have the rails on, I profile the deck and finish adding the rail bands, then shape out the rails.
1lb EPS is very soft, so you'll have to do a heavy glassing. You may want to seal the blank with an epoxy microballoon mixture before laminating the blank. We only use 1lb EPS for wood composite sandwich boards. Those have either 1/8" of balsa with a normal glassing schedule, or thin veneers with glass under the wood and then normal glassing schedules over. Having a durable skin seems to work OK with the light EPS. The skin absorbs the impact of your feet weighting and unweighting, and doesn't end up with small indentations like a regular board.
Re: [scboy4382] making a blank with perimeter stringers
Bike inner tubes work good, also some duck tape is "stretchy" and is easy to use for glueing up stringers. Definitely go with a gorilla glue or similar, Elmer's glue won't dry with foam.
Kevin
www.SpirareSurfboards.com
kevin@spiraresurfboards.com