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My first Alaia

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zob
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby zob » Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:58 am

I see your concern is board strength across width. So focus reinforcing it cross grain. If you go for 2 sheets like RalfsB suggested, try using a uni-directional piece cross grain and normal weave over it. FG cloths are ussually 1m wide, so this can be the length of your UD patch. But don't go for strict center, because the foot position is offset toward the tail.

p.s.: I also use hardener, which is slightly bluish-greenish (very similar as UV blocker additives) but the mix is perfectly clear. Cheap epoxy yellow does not look good. Anyhow in reality UV will discolor and/or enhance some colors, so it wont look entirely the same after a while.

Nice looking board BTW! I like your tail cut ;)

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Olivier D
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:26 pm

What do you mean by "cross grain" (sorry English is not my first language :wink: )?

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zob
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby zob » Thu Oct 20, 2016 1:29 pm

Mine neither, so I might be writing crap :D
If you look at the woodgrain, it is seen as a bunch of lines going in the direction from nose to tail of the board.
If you look at Unidirectional FG, it is a bunch of FG stripes all oriented in one direction (braided with thin FG thread).
So if you orient the FG fibres to run from side to side of the board (at 90° to woodgrain), I would call this cross-grain.

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Olivier D
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Thu Oct 20, 2016 1:52 pm

You mean crossing the FG's fibers with the wood's fibers? If I understand, this would balance the different strains. Nice idea.

About the layers, do you think I should fully cover the board with FG or only focus on the center of the board where there's more strains? (like RalfsB suggested).

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zob
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby zob » Thu Oct 20, 2016 3:20 pm

The thing is, if you only do a piece in the middle, you will most probably mess up the edges of the FG fabric when applying epoxy (and the edge on the cloth is far from perfect), leaving a lot of mess and sanding work for you. And although just around 0,3mm thick, it leaves an edge on the surface with some hard sharp fibres sticking out.
It is easier if you wet out the middle sheet without touching the cloth on the edges (just pour some epoxy on along the edge and spread it without touching the cloth) than you throw on another full size sheet of FG (I would go with 100-120 g/m2, like guys suggested) soak it with epoxy, scrape of most of the excess, deal with bubbles, maybe repeat a layer of epoxy after a while, and you get a perfect surface.

Can you describe a bit more in detail how your test looked like? Did you have all your weight in the middle? What was your lifting force (like lifting a can of beer, 6pac, 24pack, 0,3 or 0,5l? :D)? How much do you estimate it lifted?

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby RalfsB » Fri Oct 21, 2016 7:49 am

zob wrote:... if you only do a piece in the middle, you will most probably mess up the edges of the FG fabric when applying epoxy (and the edge on the cloth is far from perfect), leaving a lot of mess and sanding work for you. And although just around 0,3mm thick, it leaves an edge on the surface with some hard sharp fibres sticking out. ...
There is an easy way to avoid mess at the edges: put a wide tape (e.g. 5cm wide electric or similar tape that does not soak up epoxy) around the board, just where you want the glassed surface to end. For sanding it is the easiest if the edge of the tape is on a surface that has a slight curve.

The fiberglass cloth for reinforced areas should be put on the board first. Then follow with the big cloth that covers all the board, cut the edges so that they overlap with the tape a bit. When sanding, sand along the edge of the tape. The messy area with all those sharp fibers comes off easily with the tape.

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zob
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby zob » Fri Oct 21, 2016 10:05 am

I totaly agree. In fact I was explaining the mess on the board if you only do a reinforcement patch what Oliver was asking about, so on the boarder of FG cloth patch and unglassed part of the board, and the explanation why I would use a full sheet on top.
I was coming to the topic of masking the edge, but you were faster. :D Do you mask just the edge and sand the excess off along the top and bottom corner (it helps to have a sharp edge), or do you also mask a narrow area of the bottom and top surface?

p.s.: I use a packing knife to cut excess FG and epoxy, basically draging the edge of the knife on the board's edge as tight as epoxy spills allow. But since the board's edge is taped a lot of epoxy comes off with FG and tape. After this, almost no sanding is needed except to make a chamfer. Much cleaner process.

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Re: My first Alaia

Postby RalfsB » Fri Oct 21, 2016 12:43 pm

zob wrote:Do you mask just the edge and sand the excess off along the top and bottom corner (it helps to have a sharp edge), or do you also mask a narrow area of the bottom and top surface?
For an alaia I would mask right on the edge (or a sharp curve, whatever happens to be there) so that glassing and sanding is the easiest. I did not get the idea of leaving that narrow area (but that would make sense if you are cutting off the unnecessary parts by knife, as you describe).

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zob
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby zob » Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:06 am

Oh no, I tought you are using some special technique since you mentioned to use a 5cm tape (on a 15 mm thick board).

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Olivier D
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Re: My first Alaia

Postby Olivier D » Sat Nov 05, 2016 6:48 pm

Well... I've done a really awful work today!

110g FG and Epoxy resin.

The FG don't seem to absorb the resin and the FG seems very tight (see the edges how the FG stands).

Any ideas?
IMG_2668.JPG


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