Just got our first ski out and things seem to have gone pretty well.
Nothing shifted during the layup, the camber is good and we manged to get them out of the mold pretty easily.
The one thing that is concerning is that we clearly have a number of bubbles which will probably result in delamination at some point.
So...
How do people avoid this? We were pretty careful to smooth bubbles out from under each layer as we assembled the ski, but they are still there.
Higher pressure? (we only used 35psi)
Higher temp? (we used 100degC - 212F)
Other tips?
B.
Bubbles
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
Can you tell where the bubbles are in the layup? (between glass and core, core and topsheet, etc.)
If you're using a wood core the bubbles could be coming from air expanding within the core when you heat it. If you think this might be the case, try heating the core to a bit above the temp you'll press at before lay-up. This should stop the bubbles, if it's what caused them, and have the added benifits of allowing more resin to penetrate the core and softening the core to allow it to lay in the tip and tail areas better.
If you're using a wood core the bubbles could be coming from air expanding within the core when you heat it. If you think this might be the case, try heating the core to a bit above the temp you'll press at before lay-up. This should stop the bubbles, if it's what caused them, and have the added benifits of allowing more resin to penetrate the core and softening the core to allow it to lay in the tip and tail areas better.
Thanks Mark,
We'll try heating the core next time.
My suspicion is that the bubbles are from voids in the fibreglass. We had a hard time working our QCM 0049 resin into the cloth, and I think this is where we got most of the bubbles.
On the second ski we spent some time working resin into the fibreglass prior to laying it into the press - I'll see how that goes.
B.
We'll try heating the core next time.
My suspicion is that the bubbles are from voids in the fibreglass. We had a hard time working our QCM 0049 resin into the cloth, and I think this is where we got most of the bubbles.
On the second ski we spent some time working resin into the fibreglass prior to laying it into the press - I'll see how that goes.
B.
