FS17 Build Planning

[OrangeQuest]

Sometimes when I am using neat epoxy and have some left over I add a little wood flour to make a filler mix and use up the epoxy mix to fill gaps and holes and things that just need a little bit more. I go around my build with a black marker and put arrows or circles to know where I need a little added so it is quicker to find when I have epoxy trying to set up.

[Ak99999]

Finally had a chance to start playing with fiberglass and epoxy resin. Made a couple practice pieces to learn. Not sure if you can see the detail, but can you guys give some feedback on how it looks?

I mixed up some ez fillet to join the pieces together, made the fillet and glassed.

[narfi]

Looks good to me, you have a nicely radiused fillet and the glass work looks clean and even.

Once it is cured you can practice sanding and fairing it. Sanding off the cotton strings without damaging the glass and getting the whole thing smooth enough to paint

[Ak99999]

What grit sand paper do you usually start with?

[narfi]

60 or 80 is what I do most of my sanding with, 100-120 for prep for paint.....
Coarser than 60-80 I seem to cause more accidental damage and go through disks a lot faster(but its great for rough shaping and removing lots of material fast), 120 made a glassy smooth surface once painted on my canoe so I don't see any need to go finer than that either.

[Fuzz]

If you are like the rest of us at some point you will be asking yourself if that is tough enough, should I add more glass? So if that is just scrap then cut off a piece and then try to break it. Nothing like a little first hand knowledge.

[Ak99999]

I held it down and kicked it as hard as I could and it didn’t give. Seems pretty strong.

Is there a good sanding tutorial out there you guys can recommend?

[Fuzz]

The best I can tell you is to do some sanding. The tape you used has threads that stick up after curing. That is what you feel if you run your hand over it now. Sand it down until the threads are gone and the glass weave is just starting to show. Sand it some and post a picture. The guys will tell you how you did.

[narfi]

Advil, an Audible subscription and 3M bluetooth worktunes earmuffs.

Oh and sandpaper and an electric sander.

[Ak99999]

The best I can tell you is to do some sanding. The tape you used has threads that stick up after curing. That is what you feel if you run your hand over it now. Sand it down until the threads are gone and the glass weave is just starting to show. Sand it some and post a picture. The guys will tell you how you did.

So i did some sanding. Not sure if I took too much off or too little. See picture below. Can someone send me picture to a good example? What should it feel like? smooth and no ridges? Does this look adequate such that I can apply another layer of fiberglass resin?