epoxy kneeboards?

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[Tony B]

Hi Bud, when we were in Hawaii you were shaping a soft surflight board - did that project workout?

[Bud]

The soft board is nearly completed. www.surflight.com
Just waiting on the special paint they use to finish it off with.

The process is VERY labor intensive.
I'd say about 3 times as much effort and time to shape them.
The foam takes ages to shape since 80 grit paper is all it'll handle after rough shaping with a planer outfitted with an abrasive drum.

The end result is very slick. They look just like a regular board but are slightly squishy to touch.
Any sort of flex pattern can be built into the epoxy & high density foam core.

I'll do a few more after I test the first one.
Stay tuned!

[doc]

The soft board is nearly completed. www.surflight.com
Just waiting on the special paint they use to finish it off with.

The process is VERY labor intensive.
I'd say about 3 times as much effort and time to shape them.
The foam takes ages to shape since 80 grit paper is all it'll handle after rough shaping with a planer outfitted with an abrasive drum.

The end result is very slick. They look just like a regular board but are slightly squishy to touch.
Any sort of flex pattern can be built into the epoxy & high density foam core.

I'll do a few more after I test the first one.
Stay tuned!

Very interesting, Bud. If it's not letting any proprietary information out, is that an open-cell polystyrene foam?

The stuff is a bear to work with, as you describe. Indeed, I glued up a blank of the stuff once and pretty much got fed up with shaping it with a disc sander and the coarsest discs I could find after rough-cutting with a hot wire setup ( Nichrome wire and a doorbell transformer mounted in a plywood C-shaped frame ) . So, it langushes in the cellar and may wind up as a male mold for a flex kneeboard bottom.

It might lend itself to machine pre-shaping with an appropriate cutterhead but that wouldn't be a lot of fun either.

best regards

doc

[Bud]

It's a closed cell foam that looks like a cross between cheap boggie foam and styro foam.

I shape it pretty close to finish with the planer. You have to go slow with this as well.
But the abrasive drum melts it some and every few passes you have to unclog the machine.

Anything rougher than 80 grit tears it too much, pulls clumps and individual cells out.

The 80 grit fluffs it up kinda fuzzy like, and very gradually wears it away.
After 80 we use 120 grit to polish it out.

It's a hassel for sure. You go over and over it for hours with seemingly little effect.

In the end it comes out pretty nice though.
Should be fun trying the board out.
The boards are very durable but they can break if abused. If they ding they don't suck water, which is nice.

If it goes well, I'll send it over to the Nov. comp, so folks can try it out.
Stay tuned!

[doc]

It's a closed cell foam that looks like a cross between cheap boggie foam and styro foam.

I shape it pretty close to finish with the planer. You have to go slow with this as well.
But the abrasive drum melts it some and every few passes you have to unclog the machine.

Anything rougher than 80 grit tears it too much, pulls clumps and individual cells out.

The 80 grit fluffs it up kinda fuzzy like, and very gradually wears it away.
After 80 we use 120 grit to polish it out.

It's a hassel for sure. You go over and over it for hours with seemingly little effect.

In the end it comes out pretty nice though.
Should be fun trying the board out.
The boards are very durable but they can break if abused. If they ding they don't suck water, which is nice.

If it goes well, I'll send it over to the Nov. comp, so folks can try it out.
Stay tuned!

Ah, this stuff is new to me then, though it behaves just like the open cell stuff I have been working with. I'll be very interested to see what you think of the material and method once you have ridden one.

Oh, and if you happen to have some regular Clark-type foam, it might be amusing to see what happens when some of the urethane finish used on these boards is applied to it. My guess is instant goo, kinda like what happens if you put standard polyester resin on a styrene foam.

Best regards

Doc

[red]

Contact sean Noone on this site about epoxy boards - he has been riding them for years.

Epoxy boards are almost undingable, but you have to fix any holes immediately, because the polystyrene foam sucks up water like a sponge.

They are also really bouyant, so thinkness has to be adjusted to allow for this.

I personally thing that their inflexibility makes them feel dead - rather like a really old board that has gone all stiff

[a harris]

have been kneeboarding here in cocoa bch. since 70s and have ridden both poly and epoxy boards( epoxy resin ). Both have performed equally well. I have never noticed the epoxy boards being any stiffer riding than the poly boards. All my boards are shaped by local shapers, none of whom are kneeboarders. The key is to get them to understand and listen. My next board will be an epoxy quad shaped by Dave Dedricks ( Davo Surfboards ).