STRESS

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:15 pm

Things I did wrong:
Didn't spotlessly clean the entire shop before layup.
Didn't have extra epoxy ready to mix up.
Cut my material too wide (better than too narrow, but a waste of material and a pain in the ass).
Didn't do a complete dry run of the press (including heat).

What went wrong:
Ran out of epoxy and had to hussle to get more out of the 5 gallon container. (kevlar mat soaks up epoxy like you wouldn't believe).
Got wood chips all over my epoxy bucket, which of course got in my layup.
Due to material being too wide I wasted money and epoxy, as well as having fiberglass doubled up between the skis (board halfs).
Turned on the heat to find out that one of my temp controllers wouldn't come on. Checked voltage and it had voltage, but wouldn't come on. Lame. Again had to hussle and rewire so that both blankets were off of the same output. Hopefully the temp differential isn't so much that it completely screws up my camber. Fingers crossed.

Edit to add:
Used WAY too much epoxy and now I have epoxy everywhere. Worst squeeze out ever. Looks like kevlar mat and carbon fiber look like they are absorbing a ton of epoxy, but they actually don't. Here's to using new materials.

Checked heat from top thermocouple and the top blanket is lagging behind the bottom blanket by a significant amount. Looks like this one's gonna have a lot of camber.

What went right:
Well, we'll know in an hour or so.
In the meantime, it's time to go get lunch.

Layup:

Black race base, .25oz kevlar mat, 9oz bias 45/-45 glass, 5oz uni carbon, poplar core/ maple sidewalls, 5oz uni carbon, 9oz bias glass, .25oz kevlar matt, fleece backed pbt with sbm sublimation.
166 convertible mono ski. Camber underfoot. Rockered tip and tail.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:34 pm

15 minutes and the epoxy isn't hard. It should be. I think I'm screwed. I so hope not.

Brazen · Post by **Brazen** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:10 pm

Hard yet? What temp are you at?

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:12 pm

hmmm. Can't say for sure yet, but it looks like my epoxy isn't curing properly. Now to figure out why.

Pretty cold in the workshop lately. Epoxy has been stored out there. Probably 40 degrees F, maybe a little colder overnight..

Dust in my mix? I used hardener that had been left out without a top on it. Obviously getting contaminated with dust. I didn't think this would be a problem. Maybe I'm wrong.

With the amount of work that went in to this board I'm pretty frustrated right now. Kind of sick of the whole thing really.

My guess is it all goes back to my shop being a mess.

Hopefully I'm just overreacting, and it hasn't kicked because it took a lot longer to come up to full heat with only one temp controller and one output. Also, I am looking at the squeeze out, obviously can't get to the epoxy that's in the board. Wishful thinking.

Brazen · Post by **Brazen** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:16 pm

Just leave it in the press...I've totally screwed up and added a fifth of the harder to the mix before. It just takes longer, monitor your squeeze-out on the warmer part of the press, drink a beer and relax ). Next time, try weighing your glass/carbon/kevlar and match that weight with your epoxy, that way there's no more guessing.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:40 pm

good advice! Some areas seem cured some don't. I wonder if my squeeze out mixed with the wax on the mold and that's why it's so rubbery. IDK. Gut tells me I'm screwed. Gonna leave it in there for a good long time, and see what happens.

skidesmond · Post by **skidesmond** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:40 pm

Sounds a like a bad day.... I agree w/ Brazen, have a beer (or 2

) and just wait it out. Can't do much else at this point. I know all about a messy shop. I usually spend a couple hrs the night before a build just cleaning and wiping work benches down, putting unnecessary tools away and leaving out ones I might need, etc, lay out my material in reverse order, blah-blah-blah... Good luck.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 6:59 pm

Well, I think there might be a slim chance that they come out okay. Squeeze out is definitely not curing but it seems that further in towards the heat blankets it's getting solid. I guess I might as well just leave them in there overnight and keep crossing my fingers.

Major lesson learned. Clean the damn shop before layup. I always have in the past. This time I just got lazy.

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:02 pm

Lame buddy

It can be such a panic when things start going wrong during layup, definitely been there (a few times, not just on skis).

Dust in the hardener shouldn't effect the cure unless it was a stupid amount. Hopefully its just from the cold, keep the board warm for a few days and it should cure completely if you mixed it well. I've had work off this whole week, but I've only been in the shop one day because its so damn cold out there (my shop is well insulated, but there is no heat source, so its been about 40 deg in there all week). If it's going to be this cold in Seattle it needs to snow, but I digress.

Fingers-crossed for you.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:22 pm

thanks twizz.

My guess is it very well may be temperature related. My shop is not insulated or heated. It prolly got below freezing in there over the last few days, and my epoxy was definitely sludge like. There wasn't a ridiculous amount of dust in the mix.

Positive thinking. It's going to cure. It's going to cure. It's going to cure.

I mix with a drill and paint mixer for at least a minute, so it should be mixed real well.

falls · Post by **falls** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:34 pm

I just chunked the last sidewall when routing the bevel if that makes you feel any better!

(It was minor and I have sanded it out so it's hardly visible, but I feel your pain!)

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:36 pm

falls wrote:I just chunked the last sidewall when routing the bevel if that makes you feel any better!

(It was minor and I have sanded it out so it's hardly visible, but I feel your pain!)

That is exactly why I will never use a router on a finished board ever again. That sinking feeling. Uhhhh. Sorry for your pain brotha.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:17 pm

95% sure it's gonna be okay. 5 hours later.

EricW · Post by **EricW** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:31 pm

If it makes you feel better, I spent the whole night making my cat track and it's 2 inches too narrow because after years of practice, I apparently still can't read numbers on a tape measure.

doughboyshredder · Post by **doughboyshredder** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:43 pm

uggh, that's harsh.

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