Finally I'm declaring the board finished. This final stage of finishing the surface took twice as long as the rest of the construction because I was trying to get the finish on the board as slick as possible and in the process took a couple of steps backwards.
Re-coating the board with epoxy and vac bagging it with the film directly on the board surface did make the surface very shinny ( got rid of the peel ply imprint) but it left the surface a bit wrinkly where the film wasn't tight enough to be pulled flat. I'm thinking next time I'll just leave the peel ply imprint on the board (which actually looks really good in its own right but in this case clouded up the view of the wood grain) or try the other kireforum.com idea of placing a piece of 3-4mm perspex over the top of the vac film when doing a second, finishing bagging. If this can make the surface look like the bottom which came off the table looking shop then it will be worth the expense. One adjustment to the design that this will require it to not have step downs from the top surface to the rails. The board will need to be fairly uniform thickness across the width so that the perspex can conform to it.
Anyhow, the final product is shit loads better than my first attempt and now I know more about what does and doesn't work so hopefully next board will be another step up.
So here's some pictures of the final product!!
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| Board #2 with all the hardware installed including the shit hot CrazyFly 2011 footpads. |
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| Out of focus but shows the quality of finish that was possible using the perspex rocker table surface. No work was needed on the bottom to make it look shop quality. |
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| Close up of the surface finish that resulted from placing vac film directly on board. Notice the wrinkles introduced! |
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| Me doing an ape impersonation to test the strength. A very nervous moment! However 75kg in mid section and a bit of flex but not as much as it looks cause 4.5cm of it was already there. | |
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Overall its been a big step forward compared to the first attempt but there is still a lot that can be improved. Next post I'm going to do a bit of a debrief of what worked what didn't and what I'm going to try next time.
Congrats! I like it! To test the strength like this takes a lot of courage:) Not sure about the fin bolts tho, are they a bit too big? And what's the board weight now when finished?
ReplyDeleteD.
thanks dean. it final weight wet is 2.9kg.
ReplyDeleteI see why you mean about the fin bolts looking large. they are tappered heads that sit in cups to spread the load around. the cup make it look big. I'll have athink about that for number 3
took it out in the surf yesterday. was v gusty cross offshore so a bit hard to guage performance but it went well. the extra rocker makes such a big difference. it road over walls of whitewash with almost no backfoot pressure and seemed to land softer. will need a couple of good sessions to really feel it out.
cheers
matt