Good Thinkin KAOS

Fitzy Gold Coast OZ

WIll take some more snaps tomorrow and post them.

Are you coming back over here in summer again ?

Fitzy Gold Coast OZ

Yeah MALFI

Cabots Clear Floor is the one. Very durable and tough. Can be sprayed if you dilute it with 10% water and best of all it dries in a couple of hours so you can apply several coats in one day. I got mine from Bunnings.

All the other "turps" based paints are a bit of a pain as you have to leave them about 24 hours between coats.

I will also be trying to appy it with a paint pad on the next board I make. Will be interested to see what sort of finish that gives.

Light wet sanding with 800 wet and dry and soapy water gives a great base for the final coat.

Paulio remarked that the finish I have acieved was the best of any board he has seen.

Good Luck - Fitzy Gold Coast OZ

apart from they melt in some epoxies

MALFI

The edges of my boards are square and about 4mm thick. I just give an extremely light sand to the actual edge to give it a minute radius. This helps to prevent/discourage chipping.

I just paint the edges with a small brush and the freshly mixed epoxy. The epoxy will soak into the edge grain which is what you want. Light sand before the finish coats. Keeps it water tight and gives a little strength where needed.

Obviously ply boards require a little more TLC than production boards.

Avoid riding over sandbanks hard on the edge and avoid shelly, rocky, corally areas. It is timber after all. If you do give it a scrape every now and then it's simple to touch up with the water based urethane. Good as new again.

I just wash the board off with fresh water after each use and apply some MR SHEEN every now and then to keep it all looking good.

Actually I was reading a theory the other day that suggested that a matt finish on the board bottom may be quicker than a nice shiny smooth one.

The theory is that water slides over water faster. Apparently a matt finish holds a layer of water against the board and as the board moves through the water you have a wet surface in contact with the moving water. Instant lubrication. Interesting theory. May try it on a board to see if it makes it any faster.

Perhaps this is the theory behind the swim suits worn by Thorpy and Co in the swim competitions (sharkskin suits)

Let me know if you are down the coast at any time. Happy to give you a run on one of the lightweight ply's. You will be instantly addicted.

Fitzy Gold Coast OZ

EIGHTFOOT

Good tips on bag sealing

I only paid about $22 for my guage from Supercheap. They had a few different models. I just went for the cheapest.

The resevoir makes a big difference to the recycle time of the Vac Pump. Similar principle to the resevoir on a compressor. You are just dealing with vacuum not pressure.

Cheap and easy to make. Just make sure you use the thickwalled pipe not stormwater pipe.

Just buy two caps, glue one on each end and epoxy a fitting into the pipe for your inlet, hose outlet and a release valve if you want one.

Fitzy Gold Coast OZ

Thx Fitzy again. Yeah that way is a lot simpler.

I'll take you up on that offer one day to give your boards a go - whenever the wind decides to some back.


Mal

I picked up my vac guage off ebay for <$10. Just keep an eye on there for a while and one will come up.

To build the control system I bought a vacuum advance daiphragm from a wreckers. Its reaches its full movement on much less than 30"Hg though so I need to stiffen it up a little with a spring.

I used an old hand-held fire extinguisher as a reservoir - massively overbuilt but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It also meant I got to test fire it in the garden! (it was out of date anyway)

Fitzy - I saw the pics of your pump set-up in the pics section - nice work. You've got some nice hoses on there and it looks like a neat piece of kit.

For comparison, I've uploaded a shot of my (slightly dodgier) pumping set-up. I looks pretty rough but for an all up cost of about $35 it gets the job done well enough. I think I'll need to revise the control mechanism. At the moment I have a lever on the advance diaphragm which magnifies the movement to give more precision in setting vacuum levels but it isn't very elegant.

www.seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=2172

A metal base with threaded rods sounds like a good start. Most people use a piece of plastic for the surface of the rocker table as they inherently have good release properties, can be bent into compound curves and a generally about the right level of flex. I paid $60 for a sheet of 6mm polyethylene from my local plastics place. Make sure you get a sheet that is plenty wide enough (with an allowance for the rocker bolts and vac bag) otherwise things can get a little tight around the middle section.

I set the table up with the right rocker and concave (you can only really get a single concave using a table I believe) and then laminate straight onto the table. The surface finish is quite good and it releases pretty easily. So far I've always used a one-shot process with 3 layers of glass on each side of a 10mm klegecell core. I tape a sheet of plastic over the laminate stack and suck it down to the table. It works reasonably well though I'd like to use proper tacky tape to help seal the bag.

Guys I finally put the vac pump together, the fridge compressor pulls about 20HG, with all my leaks I get about 10, so I am working on the leaks.

My real problem is the compressor wont restart under load. What is the go here, have I scabbed a dud compressor, the fridge looked like a good one in the throw out, or is there some sort of safety?

Fitz

to decrease the sensitivity use the following setup, (I HAVE ONLY THOUGHT OF THIS THIS WEEK, IT IS UNTESTED but should work). Use your setup with these components on the electrical side. I have tried to upload an sketch but it wont go for some reason.

You use two micro switches one normally open, one normally closed, and a relay. The switches dont power the pump directly they power a relay. This way you also dont need high current switches.

1) Wire the Relay up so its contacts close the circuit between the Active and the compressor
2) Wire the normaly open switch S1 up so that one side is active and the other side goes to the Relay's coil Active terminal. This switch sets the low vacuum compressor cut in point and should be physically offset from S2. This is the switch that starts the compressor.
3) Wire the Normally closed switch S2, so it is between the Relay' Coil active terminal and the compressor side of the relay's contactors. This is actually your normal microswitch which stops the compressor.

It works like this.

A) At low vac, the spring loaded leaver connected to the vac advance, pushes S1 and so it is closed and it then energises the Relays coil, closing the relay and starting the compressor.
B) as vac increases the leaver moves and S1 opens, but as power is already flowing through the relay and through the switch S2, normally closed, which acts to shunt the power back to the relay's coil active terminal, thus the relay stays closed and the power still goes to the the compressor.
c) As the vac increases the leaver pushes S2 and it opens, this cuts the power to the Relay's coil, hence the relay opens and the compressor stops.
d) as the vac falls S2 closes again but as the relay is open there is no power on the compressor side of the relay and so no power through S2 so the compressor stays off. S1 is also open at this point so there is no power to the relay's coil at all and it remains open.
e) when the vac falls to the point where the leaver pushes S1 again, it closes, remember its normally open, and the power is returned to the relay's coil and it closes teh relay starting the compressor.

By setting the switches slightly physically appart and using a suitable spring you should be able to control the start and stop pressures of the compressor.


regards

8ft+

not sure which way to go westinghouse, whirlpoolsamsumg to much choice .
CHOOSE LIFE . RELAX a vacuum pump by any other name is still a vac pump

alot more than a fridge motor . there is no reason to get one , if you are that keen to get rid of your cash go sit in front of a poker machine for a few hours . other wise get a fridge pump . they dont have to be a complicated as fitzys and they still work great . i have used the same pump for at least 5 years and have made alot of boards and have never had a problem

ha ha you guys, well a simple little thing like sucking down a laminate is:
compressor $99.00 supercheap auto (also use it to spray your boards with a spray gun kit also cheap these days, not to mention blowing down the finished product after sanding prior to painting, also scares the sh1t out of the dog and cat at the right moment.priceless

vacuum inducer from a specialist marine laminate wholesaler who also sells the vacuum bag film and blu tac sealant. around $150.00 and a one way valve that attaches to the bag for $30 or $40ish bucks.

but wait for it.....once you have sucked down the laminate. (takes 5 mins) you disconnect the bag, turn off the compressor have a beer* and go to sleep. wake up in the morning, cut open bag and voila.

but i hear you all say "i love the sound of fridge motors, the gentle continuous hum sends me to sleep"

and i have loved this thread, can anyone help me with home brew?

*fitzy normally has tea and chocolate wheatens at this stage!