glassing/cf help

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alex Schulze on May 13, 2010 at 7:53

Hey Ben,

Board looks sick, loving the shape. But it has been made thin, and will still flex abit after glassing, well alot. I havent tried carbon fibre before but I was in a similar situation to you a couple of months ago. I had made a freeride board that was 3 layers of 3mm ply, 39x9" top mount, so I took some phone books and set them up where the trucks would sit, and slowly stood on the board, it nearly touched the ground. So I needed to add some stiffness. I took a strip of 3mm ply and ran it down the centre of the board, and layered the top and bottom with glass. It's now a very comfortable flex.

I reccomend fibre glass. Carbon Fibre is really really expensive, $96 sq m. Glassing is much cheaper in that if you screw up you havent wasted so much.

To glass you need:
-Fibre glass(I use 650g, very heavy compare to others)
-Epoxy Resin(glue)
-Cheap disposable brushes(never use a brush you want to use again
-Icecream container(to mix the glue in)

If you look up the White Pages you'll find a store that specializes in glassing and carbon fibre, they should be very helpful with all of your questions. As for rounding the edges down, it takes alot of sanding. Or you alternativly could use a router. I hope you have found some of this useful.

Regards,
Alex

Permalink Reply by Ben Shane on May 16, 2010 at 18:33

Thanks lots alex!

I've been doing more research, and am considering a vacuum bag system.

I've been thinking of using:
Hand pump I figured a regular vacuum cleaner couldn't generate enough pressure. =S
all i need i the bag, which i'm still trying to figure out where to buy and sealing tape and netting.

i'm basically trying to re-create (under budget) roarrockit's TAP


any advice?




Alex Schulze said:

Hey Ben,
Board looks sick, loving the shape. But it has been made thin, and will still flex abit after glassing, well alot. I havent tried carbon fibre before but I was in a similar situation to you a couple of months ago. I had made a freeride board that was 3 layers of 3mm ply, 39x9" top mount, so I took some phone books and set them up where the trucks would sit, and slowly stood on the board, it nearly touched the ground. So I needed to add some stiffness. I took a strip of 3mm ply and ran it down the centre of the board, and layered the top and bottom with glass. It's now a very comfortable flex.
I reccomend fibre glass. Carbon Fibre is really really expensive, $96 sq m. Glassing is much cheaper in that if you screw up you havent wasted so much.

To glass you need:
-Fibre glass(I use 650g, very heavy compare to others)
-Epoxy Resin(glue)
-Cheap disposable brushes(never use a brush you want to use again
-Icecream container(to mix the glue in)

If you look up the White Pages you'll find a store that specializes in glassing and carbon fibre, they should be very helpful with all of your questions. As for rounding the edges down, it takes alot of sanding. Or you alternativly could use a router. I hope you have found some of this useful.

Regards,
Alex

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Steve on May 16, 2010 at 18:48

Alex is spot on there, your board is just too thin, you probably need 7 - 8 layers of the 1.5mil stuff to get what you want or as Alex has said a stringer is a good way to stiffen up a flexy board.

Check out a sticky thread on silverfish in the board building section. Its called fibreglassing without a bag. Its got all the info you need to get started. Go with fibreglass first and then once you have that sorted move on to carbon.

For your bolt holes clamp a piece of wood on the underside of your board where you drill your holes and that will stop the splintering. Just drill right though into the clamped piece. Use a fast drill speed with a slow feed rate.

I would just save up and get the TAP kit direct from roarokit. Get the bigger bag though, I think its 70 by 20 inch. It makes life easier than trying to squeeze your molds and layups into the smaller original bag. Think it cost me around $170 delivered and its worth every cent

Good luck

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by DA BEAR on May 16, 2010 at 18:55

Ben,
Have a look at carba-tec, at least you can go over and have a look before you buy anything.

http://www.carbatec.com.au/vacuum-clamps_c19153?zenid=f8e912bb4f365...

Wayne.

Permalink Reply by Ben Shane on May 16, 2010 at 22:30

Steve:
-7x1.5mil = 10.5mil! my board will be super thick! like... 2cm thick? 0.0
-i've actually checked out the fish. does using a bag really make that much diff? I read on fish (which varies in opinion as you may know) that w/o the bag, the glass is really uneven, and tends to bond poorer. =[

wayne: it costs like 120 bucks. am hoping to homemake one cheaper, but thanks for that link. saves me shipping from the US.. unfortunately, they don't have the 20"x70" bag.

question: i have a toothless press. I don't suppose i can use that together with a vacuum bag system will i? i don't see how. =[ will prob use vac bag for fibreglassing only. =S

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Steve on May 16, 2010 at 22:49

I think you have misunderstood me, you should have used 7 -8 layers of 1.5mil hoop pine for a solid deck, pretty much double what you used. If your adding a stringer and glass add 3 - 4 more layers of the 1.5mm to your 4 layer deck.

Of course it depends on what glass you use, width of your stringer etc etc but that should give you a ballpark, trial and error from there

You can glass just fine without a bag, in fact I would say it would probably be easier to learn this way. Bond strength should not be affected if you do it properly.

Permalink Reply by Ben Shane on May 17, 2010 at 2:51

steve: yes! i totally misunderstood. sorry.

about the stringer, my deck has alot of concave and camber. how will that affect attaching a stringer? i was listening to a friend of mine in one of the trial runs pressing my board and he suggested a progressive press. after pressing just two plies, i added a third. the results were that the third ply would not conform to the other two's shape and popped up where there was no contact with the press. very ugly, very sad. =[

is that what you meant by adding more plies of 1.5mm to the board?

sorry for so many questions. I dont' have the time and money for too much trial and error. also, as a beginner, I have no sense of how to estimate the effects of adding stuff. >.br />
do you think that i can get away with maybe 2 layers of fibreglass to each side of the board? I'm only 60kgs on a pretty short wheelbase deck =S

Steve said:

I think you have misunderstood me, you should have used 7 -8 layers of 1.5mil hoop pine for a solid deck, pretty much double what you used. If your adding a stringer and glass add 3 - 4 more layers of the 1.5mm to your 4 layer deck.

Of course it depends on what glass you use, width of your stringer etc etc but that should give you a ballpark, trial and error from there

You can glass just fine without a bag, in fact I would say it would probably be easier to learn this way. Bond strength should not be affected if you do it properly.

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Steve on May 17, 2010 at 6:29

aahh yes I've been down that road before too. For your deck I would try a 80 - 100mm wide stringer . Pre make this with say 3 layers of 3 ply ( or you could use hardwood )and bevel the edges to 45 degrees. Once that is made then just epoxy it on with as many clamps as you can. Fibreglass the top and bottom over the stringer.

Fibreglassing your thin deck probably won't acheive much as its, well too thin. Sandwich construction needs to have a bit of distance between the top and bottom layers to create strength

Permalink Reply by Ben Shane on May 17, 2010 at 12:30

that sounds, really sound.

by pre make the board do you mean:
-press 3 layers of stringer together and stick it to board? or
-press 3 layers of stringer unto board at the same time?

i don't actually have that many clamps on me. =S do you forsee any problems using le toothless press to get the stringers on? the only one I see is getting the board to sit exactly where it was shaped =[


thanks alot! again, really appreciate the help! =]

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Steve on May 17, 2010 at 17:52

pre make your stringer with the 3 layers, let dry, bevel edges, then glue stringer to deck whatever way works. If your deck has camber you might just be able to put a lot of weight in the centre to hold it down and then position it from there seeing you have no clamps. ghetto stylin!

Permalink Reply by Ben Shane on May 17, 2010 at 23:39

Thanks steve! really appreciate the time you take to make it really clear =]

hopefully, nothing will go wrong and i'll put up pics soon =]

Steve said:

pre make your stringer with the 3 layers, let dry, bevel edges, then glue stringer to deck whatever way works. If your deck has camber you might just be able to put a lot of weight in the centre to hold it down and then position it from there seeing you have no clamps. ghetto stylin!