hotwires and templates

the hotwire
i use a guitar tuning peg for tension
i find 6 amps DC pretty much at least what you need
which is a lab power supply or battery charger
use DC wire it carries more current
i use nichrome wire same piece all year
my wire is about .7mm but i would by thinner if i could
though this wire is strong
nichrome retains its tensile strength at high temperatures

my hotwire guides are made with 3mm mdf
i make them the same way i mnake my outline templates
by printing the proifiles from board cad
i make one and trace the outline on to more for the other
i tack them together and true them up together

templates

i make my templates as a finished template so i can use them for pu boards and visualize the finished board
i have a guage, after i draw the outline on the foam
i mark in 15 mm from the rail every 4 inches or so,with the guage
and use the template to redraw the line
the template needs to be moved to do the nose and tail

i print the outline in A4 sheets and their are orientation lines on the print out
i set the margins to 0 or the mallest margin posssible
i get 3mm mdf from home depot and they cut the sheets for me
i get the 8ft sheet cut into 4 stips
so 4 templates cost me 12$
i use a spray adhesive to glue the templates onto the mdf
and then cut the outline with a japanese saw
the fine kerf japanese pull saw will cut the template perfectly after a few goes
and you dont even need to plane or sand it
it will be good
the pull saw is faster then any other method and the same saw will cut perfect miters on your balsa
and you blank outlines perfectly
it can also be used to remove planks and skins on a finished board as the kerf is only .4 of a mm
and it will do a piercing cut

bagging film and amastic

the bag
the bagging film is about 8$ per meter
it is wide enough to fold on its side so you only seal one end and one side
you use yellow mastic to do this, yellow mastic is a permement mastic.
black mastic will peel off the plastic easily, this is good for the open end.
you need a clean floor and space and layout the plastic on the floor.
use the yellow mastic and carefully stick the strip around one end and up the side of the bag
leave the paper covering on the mastic
fold the bag back over in place and slowly peel back the paper as you slide you finger along and stick down the bag

the floor must be clean, look after the bag it will do many boards if you are careful with it and dont leave dry fiberglass bit on your rocker table and bagging surface. carefully fold thebag away into a safe place when finished

seal the end with black mastic so you can remove it and reseal for the next board.
if you get pinhole leaks mark them with a permenent marker so you can find them later.
when you seal the end down whilst bagging a board , make sure the surface is flat and extends past the width of the bag

bagging supplies can be obtained from boatbuilding suppliers that deal in composites
and they are pretty cheap if you look after them
a 40$ bag will do 20 or 30 boards if you are carefull

begginers guide to composite surfboards

moving some stuff form other forums ive posted over the time.
heres a revamp of my begginers guide with new build photos

the pump
heres mine
its a gast oiless rotary vane and move lots of air quick
i have riged up a guage and vac controller switch
the pumpisecond hand and guage was 90$NZ new guage about 35$
all up about 350$
it could do multi boards at once which is good
it sits at the end of my 3 meter long table
and the bag and rockertable sits on the table
i stick the breather into the bag and seal up the end with mastic
the hose runs across the strip of mastic with a bit more mastic over the top of the hose
and the bag seals down around the hose
very easy and quick
a 7 dollar roll of mastic will do about 20 boards

a domestic fridge pump will work
or an airbrush compressor
or and old piston typ belt driven fridge pump(these are cheap as shit 30$)
these three are slow to move air but will hold vac
it helpsto have a little vaccum cleaner just to empty the bag out quickly

the fridge pump can run continously but there is a risk the will burn out
and you need to top up the oil

airbrussh compressor will run continously but they get hot( i have one as a back up pump)

the old piston type was great it hooked up a guage and switch no problems
only drawback was low volume and noisy

new stick for stu dog. 7 footer yellow tint. probox and custom crayfish spray, gloss finish. feeback on this board has been better than expectation

new blog

hey cats, welcome to my new blog, no longer surfboard specific but more a showcase of all my work, teqniques and invention. will update regularly with photos and archived materials from my time on the forums. I am basically retired from internet forums other then posting the odd piece of work