Under the pump - Pod pritiskom

As promised (to myself:), today I laminated my bamboo kite board with a few layers of fiberglass. Used bi-ax 200g glass with 45 degrees layer in the middle overlapping the foot pads, two layers under the foot pads and one orthogonally layer for the whole board length. Used 180g (3:1 by volume or 3.5 by weight ), epoxy with the 403 West S. filler.
I was expecting to use much less epoxy however using a filler makes it more complicated to wet out. Will see when I'll glass the bottom with no filler how much epoxy will use.

Decided to use my new vacuum table which is efficient way to get the rocker. The concave is here as well, made with two 1mm balsa veneers and placed underneath. I think it was possible to place 20-30 cm wide fiberglass under at the same time to keep that concave in place. Maybe I will do that next time.

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Kako obecah samome sebi, danas sam lijepio moju bambus dasku sa nekoliko slojeva fiberglasa. Koristio sam dvo-osni 200g fiberglas pod 45 stupnjeva u sredini preklapajuci mjesto za vezove, zatim dva sloja na mjestu za vezove i kompletan sloj po duzini. Utrosio 180g (3:1 epoksi volumno ili 3.5 po tezini), epoksija sa 403 West S. mikro granulama. Mislio sam da cu trebati znatno manje epoksija no koristeci mikro granule dosta je tesko navlaziti tkaninu. Vidjeti cu koliko ce trebati za dno daske bez tih granula.

Odlucih se za novi vakumski stol i efikasnu zakrivljenost. Konkava ispod daske je takodjer tu, na nacin da stavih dva slojeva balsa furnira od 1mm ispod daske. Mislim da sam mogao istovremeno staviti 20-30cm siroki fiberglas ispod daske tako da se zakrivljenost konkave zadrzi, mozda drugi puta i uradim tako.

It will take a few days to cure this super clear epoxy....

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Trebati ce nekoliko dana da se ovaj specijalni super proziran epoksi osusi...

Getting there to my new kite board - jos malo do nove daske

Thanks to Matt and his idea for a new board!

 All the details and the design are in the Board Design page on the right hand side at the bottom of the page, B8 - WakeUP:

http://www.boardbuilders.co/p/board-project-plans.html

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Hvala Matt na prijedlogu za novu dasku!

Detalje daske mozete pronaci na desnoj strani u dnu pod B8 - WakeUp:

http://www.boardbuilders.co/p/board-project-plans.html

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My gut feeling is that this will be quite beautiful board:)

Hope you'll share my view!

First things first.

This time I was using the router with the attachment I've got with it. This attachment enables me to do an offset by moving bottom part by 1-2cm.

That way I can make a smaller or a bigger board with one single template! However, the catch is the template should be below the routed surface, not on top. This is not really easy to do, at least for the first time.

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Duboko sam uvjeren da ce ovo biti prekrasna daska:)

Nadam se da cete dijeliti moje misljenje!

No, prvo najvaznije.

Ovaj sam puta koristio router uredjaj sa dodatkom koji je dosao sa uredjajem. Taj dodatak omogucava mi da pomicem router za 1-2 cm prem unutra ili van.

Tako da mogu napraviti manju ili vecu dasku samo sa jednom šablonom! No, postoji problem sa time i to je da šablona mora biti ispod povrsine koju radite, a ne iznad. To nije jednostavno, bar za prvi put.

The template is below my new board!
Tapered rails! Done with a belt sander in 10 minutes! After that drilled fin and footpad holes. Than poured epoxy into the rails. Used 60ml per side, 120ml all together. Epoxy 5:1, with red and orange pigment. Pigment ~5%.

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šablona je ispod nove daske koju radim.
Obratite paznju za kosinu zlijeba! To je vodena strana! Kosina izradjena sa rotacionom smirgl masinom u 10 minuta. Nakon toga izbusene rupe za perajice i vezove za dasku. Sledeci korak epoksi ljepilo u zlijeb. Utrosio 60 ml epoksija za svaku stranu, sve skupa 120ml, epoksi 1:5 sa crvenim i narandjastim pigmentom. Pigment oko 5% tj, dva puta na vrh skalpela:) Od okativna metoda.

Remember my pre-made fin inserts? With 5 min epoxy and pre-made inserts all done in a jiffy...

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Ovde dolazimo do unaprijed izradjenih drzaca za perajuce, ako se sjecate? Jednostavno sa 5 minutnim epoxijem i drzacima, sve napravljeno u tren oka...

Now it comes to the vacuum table! Still thinking if I'll do my standard vacuum method or will go with this:

Sada dolazi odluka oko vakumskog stola. Jos razmisljam da li da koristim moj standardni vakum stol ili ovo:

The above method is easy but no concave. Will run some tests and see...

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Gornja metoda je jednostavna za dobiti zakrivljenost daske, no ne i konkavnost. Uraditi cu par proba pa odluciti...

Inserts test run - probni drzaci peraja

Fins inserts:

This is a second run. The middle insert was made first, didn't like the shape. This one is more what I'm after. But didn't like the color! It looks the same but it's not. Only middle one is a fluorescent orange, flash probably made it to look the same, see:

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Ovo je drugi probni uzorak. Uzorak na sredini je prva proba, no nije dobar oblik. Ostali uzorci su noviji i oblik je u redu. No ne i boja. Izgleda isto no nije. Trebala bi biti flurescentna boja kao sto je srednji uzorak. To se vidi najbolje ba doljnjoj slici:

Now a third run...

Let the kite boards begin - izrada novih kite board dasaka

I just sourced Paulownia 1500x600x15mm, Bamboo 3 pieces by 1800x420x5mm and Marine plywood 2 sheets by 1560x480x3mm.

Yeah, let the board games begin!!!

My plan is to build lightest board as possible and with initial calcs Marine ply is the lightest but Bamboo is not to far by 200 grams only.
Yeah, let the board games begin!!!

My plan is to build the lightest board as possible and with initial calcs Marine ply is the lightest but Bamboo is not to far by 200 grams only.

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Upravo nabavih nekoliko dasaka: Paulownia 1500x600x15mm, Bambus 3 komada 1800x420x5mm and Marine sperploca 2 komada 1560x480x3mm.

Dakle natjecanje za najlaksu dasku upravo pocinje!!!

Plan mi je sto laksu i cvrscu dasku te sa probnim racunom Marine sperploca je najlaksa, no bambus je tezi samo 200 grama. Paulownija drvo bi svakako bilo vrlo vrlo lagano da je recimo 5mm debljine. No nije, vec 15 mm i previse je posla da bih je napravio tanjom.

 To be continued...

Fins inserts - kite board peraje

Made a perspex mold for epoxy fins inserts. Filled with epoxy with some orange powder pigment.
Notice that orange inserts are smaller than a hole. This is after I drilled 3mm more into the perspex to achieve "step down" - basically a straight hole and than counter sink with 45degrees.
I think this will make better contact with the board since wood will be drilled on the same principle.

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Kako bih ugradio kite board peraje odlucio sam napraviti kalup za drzace peraja. Kalup izradjujem u pleksiglasu koji cu ispuniti epoksijem sa narandjastim pigmentom. Primjetite da su obojeni drzaci manji nego sto je rupa u pleksiglasu. To je nakon sto sam odlucio produbiti pleksi za 3mm tako da dobijem "prijelaz" - sa "obicne" rupe na konus pod kutem od 45 stupnjeva. Tesko je objasniti. No mislim da cu tako dobiti bolji kontakt sa drvetom posto ce i daska biti izbusena po istom principu. Nakon toga samo ubacim "drzace" za perajice uz malo ljepila i gotovo!

The perspex is drilled with counter sink on quite slow speed with this attachment for better positioning:

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Pleksiglas je busen sa "konusnim" svrdlom sa malom brzinim okretanja busilice i drzacem za precizno busenje:

It must be on a slow speed since will burn perspex easily on a higher speed. No way to use plunge router for this. At least not without speed control. So my idea of precured rails will not work:(

One thing, powder pigment and epoxy will not give good results when applying on board! I do not know why is that since I've mixed it for 5 or more minutes but pigment wasn't really dissolved leaving many visible marks on my test run. Will stick with other pigments, not powder based.

The idea of precured fins inserts is just to speed up the things!


P.S.
Precision tool. Wouldn't do it without one! 

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Busilica mora biti na sporijem okretanju inace se pleksiglas moze rastopiti. Ideja mi je bila koristiti router, no prebrzo se okrece model koji ja imam.

Jedna stvar, pigment u prahu i epoksi ne daje dobar rezultat kada je upotrebljen na dasci. Naime, pigment se nije dobro rastopio iako sam mjesao vise od 5 min epoksi. Nakon primjene, vidljive su grudice pigmenta na probnom uzorku. Dakle, bolje je koristiti tekuci pigment.

Ideja izrade drzaca perajica u kalupu je samo da se stvari ubrzaju!

P.S.

Bez preciznog drzaca ne bih radio ovo!

Vacuum quick release - vakumski ventil

What to say after a while? :) Well, for a start, the kite surfing season just finished for me. Managed to learn some new tricks, not much though. It was an unusual season with only 20 or so sessions on the water:( Also managed to break my hand made board. Sort of. It didn't really break. It's just a tiny crack from a side to side under my foot and needs fixing. This happened after a Jump. And this Jump was not for heart fainted. At a middle of it, I was thinking that will flew over the trees. Not at, or trough, but over 15-20m tall trees:( In a split second decided to land before the trees, to avoid becoming a something like Christmas tree decoration:) Landed dead flat and the board snapped. Of course, it snapped because the bottom of the board was not fiber glassed. Didn't have a time to do so, holidays coming etc. Now we will concentrate how to, hopefully, fix it! But first, I need a better vacuum connector, or a quick release. Coz, I'll glue some Bamboo veneer to my board in a vacuum bag.

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 Sto da se kaze nakon toliko vremena? :) Za pocetak, kite surfing sezona je zavrsila za mene. Protekle sezone naucio sam par trikova, nista posebno. Sezona je bila losa, uspio sam biti svega 20-tak puta na vodi:( No, uspio sam slomiti moju dasku. Ne skroz. Nije slomljena do kraja. Nekako je samo lagano napukla sa jedne strane na drugu tocno ispod vezova i potrebno ju je popraviti. Desilo se to nakon sto sam skocio. No, to je bio skok za pamcenje. Usred skoka, mislio sam da cu jednostavno preletjeti obliznja stabla. Ne zabiti se u njih ili sletjeti na iste, nego preletjeti preko 15-20m visokih stabala. U djelicu sekunde odlucio sam sletjeti prije nego postadoh Bozicna dekoracija:) Sletih sa totalno rvnom daskom i u tom je trenu napukla. Naravno, napukla je jer nisam stavio fiberglass na doljnju povrsinu daske. Nije jednostavno bilo vremena, problizavali se praznici i to je to. Sada cu se koncentrirati na popravak, nadam se uspjesno! No prvo, potreban mi je bolji vakumski ventil za vakumsku vrecu. Jer cemo lijepiti bambus furnir na dasku u vakumskoj vreci.

The above are the parts from my "enhanced" vacuum connector. The main part is Check valve! Last but not the least some Perspex with a hole to connect Check valve and some channels at the bottom for air evacuation. How does it work? I always try things before "production" usage:)

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 Na gornjoj slici su svi porebni dijelovi za moj "redizajniran" vakumski ventil ili konektor. Najvazniji dio je "jednosmjeran" ventil, ne znam Hrvatski naziv, sorry. Drugi isto tako vazan dio je komad plexiglasa sa rupom za ventil i par kanala na dnu plastike za evakuiranje zraka. I kako to sve radi? Uvijek probam stvari prije "pravog" koristenja:)

The above photo says everything! After 2 hr, vacuum was still holding. The slightly raised  area around stainless steel nut is Blue Tak to keep everything air tight!
All of the above for this:

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Gornja slika sve govori! Dva sata nakon sto je vrecica vakumirana, vakum jos drzi. Malo uzdignuta povrsina oko matice od nehrdj. zeljeza je "plastelin" tj. ljepljiva masa koja drzi sve "zabrtvljeno"!
A sve to da bih dobio ovo:

On the side left with a piece of lace is the vacuum connector, vacuum holding for 10 hours! Stay tuned...

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Na slici lijevo je vakumski konektor spojen sa spagom, vakum drzi 10 sati! Nastavljamo...

Finished kite board

Finally second fiberglass layer goes on top! I've decided to finish glassing with the proper breather and bleader fabric and what a difference!
This fabric is really cheap, just a few bucks for couple of meters. Now, vacuum bag is a different matter! Since I'm using a tick vinyl for my vacuum bag, it is possible that the fabric won't bridge the gap between two layers, marine ply and bamboo. But than, the proper thin vacuum bag fabric is so difficult to work with that I've put everything in my vinyl bag. This means the proper vacuum fabric bag inserted in my bag and applied vacuum.
The reason for this is that I just couldn't apply the vacuum on a new 'proper' bag:(
And since the time is important while doing it the only option was to quickly use my proven solution for vac bagging.

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Konacno stavljen zadnji sloj fibergalsa na gornju povrsinu daske! Odlucio sam zavrsiti taj proces sa profesionalnom 'breather' i 'bleader' tkaninom i to zaista vrijedi!

Tkanina je jeftina, nekoliko dolara za par metara. No, vreca za vakum je druga prica. Kako sam koristio dosta debeli vinil kao materijal za vrecu, vinil se vjerovatno ne bi dovoljno savinuo izmedju dva slojeva sperploce sto cine dasku. No, vrlo tanak materijal za 'pravu' vakumsku vrecu se pokazao kao tazak za raditi, pa sam na kraju sve zajedno stavio u 'moju' vinil vrecu. Sto znaci 'prava' vreca u vinil vrecu i tad pod vakumski pritisak. Razlog tome je sto jednostavno nisam mogao dobiti vakum na novoj 'pravoj' vreci od vrlo tankog ali cvrstog materijala.

I kako je vrijeme jako vazno dok se to sve radi , zadnja je opcija bila da brzo vakumiram sa dokazanim postupkom.

I'm using a special super clear epoxy as final fiberglass resin. Around 52 grams.

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Koristim poseban bezbojni epoxy kao zavrsni sloj uz fiberglass. Utroseno oko 52 grama.

Proven vacuum quick release  clamp:) A bit of Blu Tack around. Need to make this better for next time. Also notice VERY important thing which is a perspex leftover with a small hole in the middle and channels like X under. Without this the 60 cents vacuum plug can't stick on vinyl vacuum bag!
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Dokazan nacin spajanja vakumske pumpe. No, moram sistem jos doraditi. Primjetite znacajnu stvar sto je komad pleksiglasa sa malom rupom u sredini i kanalom kao slovo X ispod. Bez toga par kuna vrijedan vakumski priljepak se ne moze priljepiti za vakumsku vrecu!

Vinyl vacuum bag sealed this time with Blu Tac. Quite faster than using a tape. And reusable too!
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Kompletna vakumska vreca zatvorena je 'plastelinom' tj. slicnim materijalom. Puno brze za raditi nego selotejpom i mogu ponovno koristiti!

Too much of epoxy resin going out through perforated breather fabric. This is exactly what we want! Note, applied vacuum of around only 15 mm of mercury. You can see the vac pump under the bag and a white breather fabric...
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 Visak epoxya izlazi van kroz perforiranu foliju i to je upravo sto zelimo! Ovaj puta koristio sam 'samo' pritisak od 15 mm zivine vage. BIjela tkanina je 'breather' - za disanje.

Vacuum applied. Didn't have a time to remove my plaster mold from it...Roller used for pushing epoxy into the fiberglass.

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Vakumska vreca. Nisam imao vremena ni da izvadim gipsani otisak iz vrece...Valjak je koristen da se epoxi dobro upije u fiberglass.

 

Final kite board after black paint and varnish on top and bottom. Mirror shine!

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Zavrsena daska nakon farbanja crnom bojom i zavrsnog zastitnog sloja vodootpornog laka. Sjaj kao zrcalo!

Board in action on river mouth ( 25 Dec 2011, Denmark, Australia )

Board details: 

• 135.5/41.5 cm
• Rocker 4.2 cm
• Concave 5 mm 2/3 of length, tips no concave
• Weight 2.8 kg no accessories
• Bamboo top 6 mm
• Marine ply bottom 6 mm
• Flex comparable to Xride 2009 133/39cm