Fiberglassing without a bag 101

[nikko3188]

So no vacuum bag was used...? Cool. That would mean your epoxy was pretty thin in consistency in order to impregnate the glass.
Which resin did your use?
Did you heat cure?

I don't have access to a vac bag. So I opted to follow this tutorial. I used poly resin and woven cloth. nope, I didn't heat cure.

[geolemon]

You should always wear a respirator - and keep it in it's supplied zip-loc container, because the cartriges don't expire "with use", they expire with oxygen exposure! You can find respirators cheap at any hardware store - even ones that aren't disposable. Keep it around for spray painting and other stuff - it's just a good thing to have, especially for those of us banished from our garages into the basement workshop in the wintertime...

Weight is a concern that I haven't see mentioned here.
The main advantage of vacuum bagging is that it draws excess resin through the peel-ply, leaving your laminate maximally dry - the resin that remains is what is needed to make the product stiff.
To oversimplify - the resin that saturates the fabric/mat provides rigidity. Resin that is just stuck to other resin basically just adds weight (if not surface spidering/crackling).
So if you do it this way, you might have twice the fiberglass weight than if you did vacuum bag it.

Structurally there's no penalty - I've never done a skateboard using 'glass, but in most of the fiberglass fabrication work that I've done (save for a carbon/kevlar rotary vane that had a serious weight concern), 'bagging wasn't necessary, and the end product wasn't compromised from a structural standpoint...

...but it seems a skateboard might be something where weight would be a concern.
At least it certainly is for a shortboard... and race boards are lightweight I know.

[jspats40]

anyone, help me please?

i glassed my board using this method. while cutting out the excess, some of the edges delaminated. then i rode it a couple of times. the edges delaminated more and i decided to pull out the whole layer of glass to redo it again. apparently, the whole thing didnt stick to the wood >.<

i used poly resin and woven cloth. what could be the reason for this? not enough sanding? maybe the cold weather?(it was raining when i did this)

this could answer your question

[jspats40]

can you glass in roarockit bags?

[nikko3188]

can you glass in roarockit bags?

sadly, roarockit is not an option for me because i live in the philippines. i'll try glassing it again and see if anything improves. thanks for the help though.

[jspats40]

that sucks. talk to ted from roarockit. hes a cool dude and will probably hook you up.

[boby]

sadly, roarockit is not an option for me because i live in the philippines. i'll try glassing it again and see if anything improves. thanks for the help though.

I got mine shipped to me, here in New Zealand. Well worth it.

[silospen]

Hey Nikko,

Sorry to hear the fibreglassing turned out badly, I'm surprised that the resin didn't stick to the wood at all. Did you have some kind of paint/stain underneath it? Is it a particularly waxy or moist wood? These are the only things I can think of, otherwise the resin should go straight into the wood. The only experience I've had with resin not going on well is when putting a protective layer over a gloss paint. It ended up the same as when you pour water over wax. However, it still stuck to it. I wonder if your resin has started to go past it's best? This is another possibility.

[jspats40]

someone add this to tips and resources thread please! there is soooo mannny stickies!

[brainfartalerts]

someone add this to tips and resources thread please! there is soooo mannny stickies!

Go for it.
Clean it up and post it - you have as much access as anyone else.

[Rich Nelson]

i was wondering if anyone had any tips for applying epoxy on a board with lots of concave and a kicktail, because i recently did this and on the top some of the epoxy kinda puddled in the middle, and on the bottom some dripped off the sides.

the only thing i could think of was maybe letting the epoxy sit for a little while before applying so that it wouldnt run as much. or after waiting a bit heat it up so that its thin and goes on evenly but wont run since it will soon go back to room temerature.

[jspats40]

i was wondering if anyone had any tips for applying epoxy on a board with lots of concave and a kicktail, because i recently did this and on the top some of the epoxy kinda puddled in the middle, and on the bottom some dripped off the sides.

the only thing i could think of was maybe letting the epoxy sit for a little while before applying so that it wouldnt run as much. or after waiting a bit heat it up so that its thin and goes on evenly but wont run since it will soon go back to room temerature.

thats a good question. what are you trying to do? put on grip?

[Rich Nelson]

thats a good question. what are you trying to do? put on grip?

yea on top i put on grip. it turned out ok but theres like a 2in stripe down the middle where the epoxy pretty much covered the tread tex. i also put epoxy on the bottom to protect the board to protect it. the board can be seen here

[jspats40]

yea on top i put on grip. it turned out ok but theres like a 2in stripe down the middle where the epoxy pretty much covered the tread tex. i also put epoxy on the bottom to protect the board to protect it. the board can be seen here

when i clear grip i use polycrylic and tread tex. it works really good if you do a lot of coats. like coats with tread tex being sprinkled on and one on top for sexiness. it has good grip. plus it doesn't puddle.

[nikko3188]

silospen,

Nope, I didn't paint or stain it before glassing. Thinking back, I may have made a mistake in sanding. I think my sandpaper was not coarse enough that the surface of the board turned smooth. another reason may be I didn't wipe the dust enough after sanding. the last one is the least possible cause; i bought my resin just recently.

I haven't tried again though, I'm still waiting for the weather to improve. I hate tropical storms! haha. Thanks for the help!

[Dkofnrc]

said this before. But I have glass and carbon if any one wants to buy some pm me. I'm also a laminator so I have a lot of experience with glassing. Shoot me an email if you wan to ask a question. I don't get on the fish much any more.
Dkofnrc@gmail.com
DK

[hometowner]

1.should i put the lass and wood on, pressing it, then cutting it or what?

2.is it ok to sand the edges?

3. should i apply a clear coat?

4. if i took a thin piece of birch and put fiberglass on either side would it work?

5. sorry, first time not pure wood, but this forum helps alot, o and this DK do u work at like a factory or company or something?u sound professional

[Shiyuchi]

when doing the optional thing of putting plastic over it, can I use like normal plasic wrap? or do I need something else?

[spnsrps2701]

where can i buy fiberglass mat?
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[jackel3415]

where can i buy fiberglass mat?

Lowes or Home Depot. I paid 15$ for a tub of resin and 6$ for fiberglass cloth. I haven't tried it yet but I heard you can lay wax paper or parchment paper on top to get a smoother surface. I also recommend buying a 97 cent plastic putty knife instead of a credit card, if you're doing a large surface.