Blame it on Sways...
Blame it on Sways...
First, hats off to those that can glass...seriously.
I did not want to drop 900.00 on a new long board this year....so I thought, why not make one?
So....I started reading sways....hourly...go ahead, ask me anything and I can tell you what Thrailkill, Greg, Oneula, stingray, Resin Head and that compsand guy said to do...
I started with a 9'4" junk blank I found down in SC for 50.00 ( I did buy 3 good blanks while there), it had a twist but plenty of room to shape it out (I thought so anyway). I also picked up a modified planer at a pawn shop on the way home for 45.00, its a Bosch, it can cut up to a 1/4inch (!!!) and you can change depth on the fly. All the other tools I would need I had, even a big old Milwaukee sander/polisher.
I had no template to work from, I just went by eyeball engineering and knowing what type of board I wanted.
The shaping part was pretty easy, I skinned it with the planer and then swapped to the surform and block/paper, I read here that you can make big mistakes quickly with power tools! I believe it!
I did everything at first by eye then I measured everything out and found I was within an 1/8th inch in symmetry as far as width and one half matching the other. Shaping took two hours.
Good so far.
I had trouble with the stringer, getting it level with the foam was pain even using my smallest hand plane (I build guitars).
It was easy in the nose concave I shaped in but the deck....ugh!
Is there a super secret to getting the stringer level without tearing up the foam on either side?
I tried taping it off, a scraper, a planer and a small block...and still tore some foam next to it.
I got all of my glassing stuff together, triple checked it all out and then laid out the glass, mixed the resin/colors and catalyst, I read to have everything ready as to not freak out and waste time looking for tools.
I masked the deck for a nice cutlap (thanks sways), laid on the bottom cloth and started with the squeegee.
I went ahead with a slight swirl of color, yellow and blue, pouring 6 ounces of yellow and then the 5 drop blue
(thanks 'show us your resin tints' thread!).
Every thing was going pretty good till I realized I did not blow all of the dust off.
Ugh.
I used enough resin to saturate it though and hope it should be fine.
I had lots of trouble with the rail laps, either too dry or too wet and dripping everywhere, I didn't make the right relief cuts in the right places till everything was wet...
Though my resin mix said a 'pot of life of 30 minutes', I actually had way more time before I saw any gelling.
Next time, I won't panic...
I flipped it after it was tack free (three hours!) and cut the masking and the lap, pretty nice for the first timer!
I then cut the glass out for the deck and realized I wasn't sure how far to extend both. I read one went all the way around the rails and about three inches onto the bottom, where does the other end? On the deck lap? Sounds good to me!
I didn't extend that second glass layer all the way to the nose, I want the board light so I trimmed it in a pyramid at the 7'10 mark to reduce swing weight in the nose.
So far so good...but those rail laps on to the bottom! UGH!
This morning, it looks good, I have to sand out some tits and boogers, saturate the rail lap on the bottom where its laid down but has a few dry spots, cut open three very small blisters and get them flat, before I hit it with the fill coat.
I read that if I leave any high spots or drips before hot coating, they will project through and I will end up chasing them through final sanding.
So...
Blank....50.00
Glass....35.00
Resin....40.00
fin box...5.85
Misc.....25.00
Shaping your own board with the swaylockers shared knowledge behind you....
Friggin priceless!
I will add some pics later...going surfing now...
Re: [surfinghigh] Blame it on Sways...
Sound like you did okay for a first timer, and I'll bet that in the end the board looks pretty good. Especially for the price.
One: Cutting the stringer down without tearing the foam relies an a sharp plane. I use an inexpensive finger plane made by Stanley that is only about 3 inches long. The blade is not razor sharp, but it suffices. Being a guitar maker, you know you have to cut with the grain. A slight convexity in the blade is desirable but not required. Cut stringer, then block sand with 100 or screen. A luthier would likely have several such instruments; some like to use a small spokeshave, others a block plane with low angle blade. Whichever one is used, it must be sharp enough not to tear foam. Your blank may have complicated this if it was poor quality foam.
Two: I brush off the dust first, then use my little compressor to blow away the rest. Could probably leave the brush on the shelf, but it's habit.
Three: if you post your location, chances are there is someone in the area who can stop by and walk you through. This would have saved a lot of anxiety, taught you a LOT, and resulted, hopefully, in fewer "gotcha" moments. I've done this with a couple people. I sure wish someone had done it for me. Well, there was a friend, but this was back in high school and certain things didn't have priority I now know they should have.
charlie
Re: [surfinghigh] Blame it on Sways...
If you didn't vacuum-brush or blow your blank before glassing, you were pretty lucky that masking tape on the deck didn't decide to go to the floor in the middle of the process. In fact, you were lucky that you actually could make it stick. Beginner's luck...
Anyway, it seems like you pulled it out quite OK for a first glassing experience.
(I can hear Chips yelling in his sleep -they are supposed to be sleeping right now in Australia-: "Post those photos, maaaaaaate!")
Next one will be (almost) perfect. (That's what I've been saying to myself for more than thirty years now...)
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"You should have been here yesterday..."
http://www.guetharysurfboards.fr
Re: [balsa] Blame it on Sways...
I swear the best board I ever had was twisted,bumpy,filled with pin air and the fin box was tilted.It rode unreal.I built it in an overnight frenzy because a swell was coming.You guys are getting to carried away with all of this cosmetic stuff.Shape it..ride it..have fun.
Re: [cleanlines] Blame it on Sways...
Here are some pics....
A little yellow 'mud' on the rail but thats what sanders are for...
Note the next victim, a 10'2B USBlanks triple stringer...
Thanks sways, all of ya rock!
I put the hot coat on the bottom an hour a go, waiting to do the deck and then clean it up with the sander. No gloss, just a sanded finish as this will be a comp board (though I might do pinlines as soon as I find a post that says how...lol).
Pretty happy so far, not out much money and I thoroughly enjoyed the 'anxiety' of it all, kicking that resin and knowing 'here it comes, this is for all the marbles'!
I owe a lot to sites like this and the free flow of info with no attitude.
Re: [surfinghigh] Blame it on Sways...
Quote:
Is there a super secret to getting the stringer level without tearing up the foam on either side?
I tried taping it off, a scraper, a planer and a small block...and still tore some foam next to it.
Hold the plane at a slight angle across the stringer, don't start off the back come in and touch down.
Check the blades is alined correctly and you not taking too much off at once.
Most importantly you need a very sharp blade otherwise your just waisting you're time.
I use small stanley hand plane to start then switch to a david combie plane that takes razor blades, very sharp. in the rockered area on the deck near the nose I use a spoke shave and a thumb plan on the tip of the nose.
I sounds like thinks went well though.
No Attitude, just gratitude.
Re: [woody_waverider] Blame it on Sways...
I have 15mm spoke shaves and other very small planes that fit the tips of my fingers. I use them to shape soundboard braces for guitars. They are plenty sharp, I think its just my technique-I don't have any yet.
I just finished sanding the board out after doing the hot coat late last night, I tried using my big sander but it scared me with the amount of material it would remove so I only scarfed the laps and the nose and tail.
The rest I did by orbital with 40/80/120 and now I am on to 220 and up, heading to a finish of 800. I am building three more so I should invest in one of those pads every one uses, seems safer any way.
I have a few pinholes to fill and then I will do some pinlines in red, install the fin box and fin and paddle the thing tomorrow, surf or no surf...
Like my wife said, "whats the worse that can happen when you build your own, it sinks?"
Well, it def won't sink!
Next one gets cut laps top and bottom though, way easier to feather than the free laps I can do right now.
Re: [surfinghigh] Blame it on Sways...
Ahh....the stringer is going to be high in the long run anyway after the foam shrinks and gets crushed on the deck.Gonna have dings and scratches so go ahead and ride da buggah.Ugly boards rule.It can be a status symbol.At least they will know it has soul.My friend Jim Stephens Underground Boardworks just built a board for a client and they purposely made it look yellow,cracked,and dinged.His philosophy behind the concept was that at least it stood a good chance of NOT getiing ripped off.
Re: [cleanlines] Blame it on Sways...
Howzit Mr. Clean, And the guys wife ( if married ) won't know he got a new board, he can tell her it's a used one.Aloha,Kokua
Aloha, Kokua
Re: [kokua] Blame it on Sways...
I bet if you polled everyone on here we all probably had many of the same problems on the first board. My stringer in the nose rocker (and but crack) gave me fits. I refused to buy any tools to make my board so it took some tries before I was able to find something which I could trip it down with (convex curved wood rasp, which then got sanded smooth). Yup, didn't blow my board off, had issues with my laps, even though I used Greenlight's bamboo glassing which uses bionic double sided tape. Sanded through the epoxy in some ares like a jillion times, I finally ended up finishing my board by spraying it with two cans of Krylon cleat coat and wet sanding it. As far as pin lines, yep there are some great posts on here about how to do that. Screwed that up too, they bled and are little bit uneven. In the end I decided I really didn't give a crap about the cosmetic crap, the shape was good and I made the damned thing myself, something that none of my friends who surf WAY better than me have ever done.
By the way, I am sure that many of my problems were ultimately my fault due to the fact that I don't like to plan things and that I was usually drinking beer while working. Who cares, it rides great.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.
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Re: [surfinghigh] Blame it on Sways...
when you are laminating you want to really saturate the laps, its ok if they are dripping just try to make sure that there isnt more resin on the floor than on your board.
if it took longer than 30 min for the resin to kick i think you need more cat. if the resin is gelling too slow it will drain out and off the board which will be a problem especially on the laps and around corners. ideally you want the resin to kick in about 10 or 15 min, you may need more time to make sure everything is wetted out but if you give it too much longer you will end up with really dry laps and bubbles in the nose and tail- particularly with swallow tails and the like.
by the way if you are near me at all i would love to come by and give you some pointers in exchange for some guitar building lessons
http://santacruzboardbuildersguild.blogspot.com/
www.lasolassurfboards.com