Author Topic: Ding Repairs  (Read 6922 times)

SlatchJim

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Ding Repairs
« on: July 05, 2017, 11:35:27 AM »
First of all, I'd like to thank Clinto and The Kernel for their recent threads and pictures describing repair work done by the common man (read: not pros, figuring things out on their own). Those threads provided the courage and momentum to try to up my ding repair game beyond inserting epoxy plugs in holes, and running willy nilly to the local repair shop every time the laws of physics pulled me over to give me a ticket.  Secondly thanks to Pono for helping me not worry about the outcome and enjoy the process; TallDude for consistent great advice; and eDUBz for setting a ridiculously high bar to shoot for.

The backstory: Lent board to family friend for two days of SUP surf learning and fun.  We had a blast, he got the hang of it and probably caught 20 waves, riding faces at the end of the sessions.  My mistake was not explaining the fragility of the boards and some good techniques to exit the water at Dogpatch.  Dings were limited to two penetrations of the glass on the bottom and a snapped screw tab on the center fin.  Fin box wasn't damaged.

Purchased supplies including Entropy resin, 2 yards of S-Glass (might as well make the repair strong), Q-cell filler, and mixing buckets from Foam E-Z.  More than enough to do this job (and the next 10).



« Last Edit: July 05, 2017, 11:41:14 AM by SlatchJim »

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2017, 11:37:02 AM »

Cleaning out the larger ding

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2017, 11:37:44 AM »

Cleaning out the smaller ding

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2017, 11:39:10 AM »

Filled cleaned out holes with Entropy Resin/Q-Cell Mixture.
Now it's ready to sand and prep for glass.

Bulky

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2017, 12:44:46 PM »
Looking good, Slatch. I would only recommend a degree of caution as those are getting close to the size where you could have an exothermic melt-down.  I've gone more the direction of cutting/routing things out clean and then putting in a foam plug with gorilla glue instead of playing around with goop.
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starman

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2017, 01:21:08 PM »
Doing what Bulky suggested or taking the minimalist approach. Leave it as is, lift up the glass at the dig and squirt some Gorilla Glue in there. Just make sure you give it spritz of water so it foams up. Then lay some tape over it and some weight to contain the glue expansion. Then try to get to the foam before it stets hard to remove the excess. Sand down the area enough to allow you to sand the glass or carbon patch so that it's almost flush and tapers out on the edges to not leave an edge. But not so much that you don't have any material over the ding.

If you are in a hurry just do the Gorilla Glue step first and sand it flat. The stuff is waterproof so you can do the glass work later.

I'm not convinced that you need to hog out that much material for the dings in the photos.

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2017, 02:06:30 PM »
Bulky: I kept an eye on the heat, and while it did generate a little over ambient, It never really warmed up beyond that. I started at 6:00 am and was done by 7:30 (72F) and yea, we hit about 100F yesterday.

Starman: you're most certainly right about hogging out more than I needed, but I wanted to get all the broken glass out and that seemed to be what it required.  The 3 small punctures went down into the foam about a half inch, while the larger crunch did the same over a wider area.  Since this is the first time working with all of the materials, I wanted to start with a good clean area.  I'm hoping I can use some restraint and not end up adding 5 lbs of glass to the board in my usual "More is better" approach  :D 

I think I used a total of around 10 cc's or less of resin and it was spread pretty flat in the holes.
« Last Edit: July 05, 2017, 02:10:42 PM by SlatchJim »

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2017, 09:05:43 AM »

Bigger ding: In my haste to get-er-done, I neglected to tape off the areas for post glass sanding.  I also probably put way more overlap than I needed, or at least that's how it appears to me.  I spent the time making sure I saturated the glass, avoiding pushing the fiberglass into folds or wrinkles, and not using too much epoxy, which I may have in the end.  Forgive my clunky technique and forgetfulness, until now, I was a fiberglassing virgin.

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2017, 09:06:38 AM »

Smaller Ding
« Last Edit: July 07, 2017, 09:12:19 AM by SlatchJim »

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2017, 04:47:37 PM »
This was the video I decided to use as my general guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lkge7reEaw
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TallDude

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2017, 08:51:16 PM »
Bulky: I kept an eye on the heat, and while it did generate a little over ambient, It never really warmed up beyond that. I started at 6:00 am and was done by 7:30 (72F) and yea, we hit about 100F yesterday.


That was actually perfect. As the epoxy kicks, you want to do a cook off. I have a 3 of electric radiant heaters that I heat my shop up to about a 100 degrees, and let them go all night. The epoxy is nice and crispy cured the next day. If I don't, it'll be kinda soft to sand. It may even take a few days before it feels totally cured. It makes a big difference on the sanding.
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

SlatchJim

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2017, 09:39:17 AM »
TD, thanks for the knowledge. As dumb luck would have it, I let the patches cure for a couple days and each day they got harder, and easier to sand (and all before I read your post). I've really benefited from your commentary in other threads, and thanks for the help on this one.

I did go about a half inch too wide all the way around the cleanout/patch with the fiberglass.  Probably just extra work sanding and feathering it in, but the patch is silly strong and easily the least cheese-ball job I've ever done on any board.  Just this one effort and I feel a bit empowered, and it's a good feeling.

Bulky

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2017, 09:49:17 AM »
Good for you, Jim!  I'm at the point where I don't really care about appearances--I just want a solid repair.  Depending on the board, I sometimes hit the final job with some epoxy appliance spray paint.  I tape things off to make a more interesting geometric shape since I'm not bothering to make the color match (because I just get the white).  My thinking is that this will also give me a good chance to see if things aren't holding up (but they always do so maybe I'm overdoing things).

Since I can't finish things out like eDubz, I've come to view dings as battle scars.
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clinto

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2017, 10:06:46 AM »
Thanks for the shout out SlatchJim. Getting in there and going for it is the best approach for sure. Your repairs look great and battle scars they are. The first ding on every board is an anticipated lead up that makes me worried every time i knock a board. Now that all of my boards have these scars i charge it harder and figure i can just fix it if i screw up. I did learn about the melt down as Bulky mentioned on one of my last repairs. My ding was almost identical to what you repaired but it was a bit longer. Melted the crap out of the foam and smoked like crazy. The gorilla glue and vinegar mix is an awesome thing and i should have done that for the initial fill. One other important thing i have learned is put a good buffer of tape around the outside of the repair area so when you sand it you dont chew up the surrounding glass. I used a tan tape as a bottom layer when i did my fin box and put blue over the top. that way when i went through the blue i could tell if i was getting close to the board with my belt sander. Keep up the good repairs.

Bulky

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Re: Ding Repairs
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2017, 10:13:12 AM »
Clinto--I like the idea of using different colors of tape to gauge depth, but are you actually using a belt sander for finish sanding?  Unless it's a different tool than I'm picturing that sounds very risky.
Santa Barbara, CA

SIC RS 14x24.5
Infinity Blackfish 14'
Naish Glide 14' (2012)
SupSports Hammer 8'11
Starboard WidePoint 10'5
Ke Nalu Mana, Konihi, Maliko

 


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