PRESS DISCUSSION

[akary]

soooooo...

after the huge success i had bending with a jig and jigsaw to make the custom deck that i put those UPtrucks on a lttle while ago, i thought i might make a proper press and start laminating my own stuff(need a project 'til my leg is back in action since my truck design needs a machine-shop to move forward)

i know how to use marine fiberglass & epoxy well enough, so i'm thinking a thin deck that i make strong and camber-flexy with glass, or maybe a dropped all-around board akin to the landy drop-carve or a carving board akin to the lush bahari. (all this of course after some trial decks for figuring out the flex i want.)



i like the looks of toothlesses press much, but he didn't laminate his own ply so his method will make less durable boards. i also need to know some pros and cons of vacuum-bagging and conventional clamping.

if i were to use a vac-bag, how would i make the bag?

what does everyone out there prefer? vac or clamp? foam or wood mold? it would be great to see pics of other people's presses too.

what are you pros doing? (wefunk, tikimau, feralarts, et cetera)

and is the idea of a balsa core reinforced near the trucks pure foolishness or a good idea?

[brainfartalerts]

well executed one-off press in the pics.

use both a vacuum press and a press like that one.

always reinforce your truck mount points. balsa will work well if you have a hard surface on top (the bottom surface load is distributed by the baseplate) to help prevent the screws from pulling through. Alternatives to balsa are ply sections and fiber reinforced resin hard points (punch a 1" hole where the truck bolts will pass through the deck in the foam, fill with scrap glass/composite/whatever and fill with resin)

[longboardbuddha]

I used to mess around with vac bags and bolt jigs a lot, theres a few problems ie you never get enough pressure to actually put hella bend or complex bends in the blank. For bagging up fibreglass and carbon specials, small jobs vac bags are great. I personally couldnt comfortably groove along to the power they need in creating a vacuum as i like to use nil power if i can. What i've done now is built concrete jigs for all my shapes and it cost me really next to nothing to build, a cheap and easy way to experiment with shapes especially as you get a day to carve the male mold with a rasp to get good shape (the female you just shutter and pour in new crete) The concrete molds go under a steel frame and a three ton hydraulic trolley jack and you can press up four blanks at a time just press and forget for a few hours. I'll post some pics later so you can have a look see.

[shapeshifter]

[Momona Boe]

I don't think normal rules apply to you in general, Al

[frank]

welcome sidlo. You hitting athens?

[shapeshifter]

hey, i'm normal...

...just twisted.


big cloud looming over my plans to get down to athens because a coworker went off to take up another position last wednesday. best i could do is get down there saturday and leave on sunday which is cool 'cause i'm only there for the party anyway.

it was getting lonely over on the otherside so i thought i'd contribute to this conversation. the echo is really deafening.

[frank]

Party and the new grindline park... What else happens in Athens?










66 says: The sword is half full

[Momona Boe]

Hey, if either of you makes it to Athens, check with Iacovelli and see how our new deck is. Lemme know what you think, we value your opinions!

[frank]

Hey, if either of you makes it to Athens, check with Iacovelli and see how our new deck is. Lemme know what you think, we value your opinions!

I'm at athens fo sho. Checking with joe is a different story

For sale:
1 red clay cup shirt complete with vintage Joe I urine.

[Momona Boe]

hatred due to bladder dysfunction?

[frank]

hatred due to bladder dysfunction?

not hat more of a healty fear of other peoples bladder dysfunction

[Momona Boe]

well, I can't vouch for Joe's bladder - but he IS a helluva nice guy
I've spent several hours with him, unscathed by urine

Now if you want to comment on erectile dysfunction - that's all you!

[frank]

not going to touch that

[shapeshifter]

actually franks not jesting about joe's propensity to piss into the proverbial fan. last athens he was quite literal and let loose onto the living room size exhaust ducts of the hotel complex. got a little misty eyed as i took a gander over the balcony to investigate what joe was up to. all i could see was his sh!t eatin' grin before my lenses turned yellow.

boe... tomorrow i'll see about sending iacovelli a bamboo/carbon/foam proto type (stiff as hell) for you big guys to sample maybe take it down to athens so that a few others could see what i mean when i talk about shape. the decks i make now look exactly the same only the insides have been change to make it look innocent.

looks like akary's got a pretty good start in the deck making arena. like the use of uptrucks too. light and lively! but a bitch to put on.

[brainfartalerts]

nice presentation as well. attractive garden in the background.

funny how oftentimes many peoples aesthetics carry over into the way they do their work.

good looking work often ='s good product

not so good looking mostly ='s not so good

[shapeshifter]

...and if i had a granite ledge like that on the premises i probably would've been shaping on that. killer workbench but that probably would put the missus in a snit.

[Momona Boe]

actually franks not jesting about joe's propensity to piss into the proverbial fan. last athens he was quite literal and let loose onto the living room size exhaust ducts of the hotel complex. got a little misty eyed as i took a gander over the balcony to investigate what joe was up to. all i could see was his sh!t eatin' grin before my lenses turned yellow.

boe... tomorrow i'll see about sending iacovelli a bamboo/carbon/foam proto type (stiff as hell) for you big guys to sample maybe take it down to athens so that a few others could see what i mean when i talk about shape. the decks i make now look exactly the same only the insides have been change to make it look innocent.

looks like akary's got a pretty good start in the deck making arena. like the use of uptrucks too. light and lively! but a bitch to put on.

Well Joe has a proto of our new vertlam bamboo deck that he's putting through the paces, and I guess from what I'm hearing from you - coating it with urine! Well, that'll give the poly finish a good test I suppose.

[shapeshifter]

Well Joe has a proto of our new vertlam bamboo deck that he's putting through the paces, and I guess from what I'm hearing from you - coating it with urine! Well, that'll give the poly finish a good test I suppose.

"i suppose it does matter whatever shape urine..."

if i were to use a vac-bag, how would i make the bag?

guess i could lay out how we do this for ourselves, i'll discribe it but you'd have to fill in the specific dimensions for yourselves. somebody out there probably has a better system for doing this so here goes anyway:

materials
bag material... cut to length about 2' longer than the item to be contained
plastic pipe or tubing... same size as your "t's" and elbows
3 - "t" type pipe connectors
1 - elbow pipe connector (it's good to have a surplus of both items)
sealant tape... like sticky putty, very handy to have around
a few scraps of release cloth and batting... soaker blanket stuff

(optional items but this is key to the system's simplicity)
spiral cut plastic pipe or tubing... same size as your "t's" and elbows
1' of smaller plastic pipe or tubing... cut this up into 4 short pieces (approx 2") so that they fit into the spiral tubing so that both would fit snugly in the pipe connectors (the option won't work without this)

if you have no idea of what i've mentioned above, most of it is basic vacuum nomenclature so read up or give up.

assembly
it would help to lay the piping assembly all out before you place it into the bag. basically you'll want a "u" shape with one side longer than the other. the short end of the "u" stays in the bag and gets the elbow. the long end of the tube sticks out the bag but cut it and place a "t" connection right in line with the elbow of the other end. the "t's" are positioned to allow the pipe to continue on and also open up a section for intake. the other two "t's" should be place somewhere about three quarters down and somewhat aligned with each other. the simple method would be to stick some short tubing at the base of the "t's" and wrap some batting and release cloth to soak up any stray resin.

and now for the option
measure and cut out a length of spiral tubing so that it can connect between the "t's" on one side of the bag or the other. remember you only want a connect between the "t's" on either side and not across. place a short piece of smaller tubing in the ends of the spiral tubing in order to allow it to snug up in the "t" connector and wrap the spiral cut in batting and release cloth for added measure.

another idea
i suppose that you could easily set it up so you connect from a solid tube just after the seal line at the top with a spiral cut tube that forms the rest of the "u" shape for simplicity. for me this type of setup doesn't give me any stabilizing support (no rigidity) in the bag and who wants to have a floppy bag... but this should work too.

the bag
place the whole assembly into the tube shaped plastic bag and seal it up with one end of the pipe sticking out. a cool trick is to put a small dose of sealant tape at the top of the "t" sections to secure them strategically in the bag. anything you put in this contraption should fit with the bend of the tubing so that the pipes/"t's"/and spiral cut does not overlap the target at any time. take one more huff of the fumes and seal it all up.

[brainfartalerts]

......

"i suppose it does matter whatever shape urine..."

...... take one more huff of the fumes and seal it all up.

I know a guy who did that, bout rectum.