board foam

i want to make a surfboard, and i figured id make this on our of foam. any ideas on where to get it? any types better then others?

i can sell you blanks i have at
www.lakewakes.com , that is if you are to make a wakesurf board and not a surfboard, i can also cut and supply fin boxes .

ya i mean wake surfboards, i thought it was a given. haha. i was looking for just a a piece of foam rather then already shaped. do you sell those? if so, how much. i wanto to shape it and glass it myself

Do you want a traditional surfboard blank to start from?

Take a look at sued steve's web site here:

http://www.surfersteve.com/

There are surfboard material source links within the tutorial.

Also take a look at Swalocks forum here: http://www.swaylocks.com/

sorry only shaped cores , but your design is always welcome

David,

If you are looking for a surfboard blank, you can get one from
www.greenlightsurfsupply.com
or www.foamez.com

As Show mentioned -- Surfersteve is a great place to get started. He sells a DVD that walks through the steps. Greenlight also sells some CDs that are a little more up to date than SurferSteve.

If you are going to be shaping and glassing at home, I'd recommend Resin Research Epoxies.

has anyone tried greenroom epoxy besides me??

RR is an awful final coat for me. Next time I'm going to try something else.

Why????????? What happened

too many fish eyes , Show how long are you waiting before you hot coat , i found to get the best finish you need to get the hotcoat on within 24 hours of lamcoat. I have now started to complete a board in one day , lamcoat one side in the bag with epoxy mixed 50slow/50fast on the hardener with 45 min of work time while in the bag i put a heating blanket and several blankets over the whole mess and in about 3 hours i take it out and lam the other side and after the same 3 hours i am ready to lam coat one side and i also tape the rails because of the access runoff on the rails that i do not like to sand and epoxy mix is 100 fast, after 3 hours i will flip and hot coat last side and let it sit till next day were i finish the hotcoat on the rails. i also vacchamber the epoxy in a glass jar to get the bubbles out . i also found that if you let the mixed epoxy sit in the hotpot for 5 min. after you mix it up the bubbles rise to the top and pop. now this is with GREENROOM EPOXY ONLY. After 3 hours from hotcoat if i have any popped holes in the epoxy i just hotcoat again with a real thin coat .then sand the next day or two for final finish, I'M done with R/R too many problems.. My Lakewakes 2009 boards will be cnc cut in a week or so , to be ready to test in march

That's it fish eyes and zits. Usually a day or longer between lam and hot.

I've had a few problems with RR but nothing major.

I put the resin in the micro for about 5 seconds then mix in the hardener. Minimizes bubbles.

One thing I've noticed on the hotcoat is not to skimp on the resin - you want it somewhat thick otherwise you get issues with fisheyes. Also as Mark said you want to try to get the hotcoat done fairly soon - 2-4hrs after the lam - otherwise you have to sand it all down and wipe with DNA which of course introduces more possibility for contamination.

In the end, you are not going to get a showroom finish without sanding, sanding, sanding and polishing.

Hey Matt hope you enjoyed some snow while you were out here. micro as microwave oven ?

yes , on the microwave or place jug of epoxy in warm to hot water to warm up

Yes Kona -- so sorry we missed you. Got three really good powder days. Christmas afternoon was the best. After the kids opened their presents and then went down for a nap, my in-laws and I had Sundance almost to ourselves. Super dry snow coming down, and powder shots to the face on every turn.

Microwave yes as Mark said. In winter, I warm up Add F as well - very important. DO NOT put AddF in the microwave though. Use the warm jug or bucket as Mark mentioned.

I think that Epoxy, in general, is a PITA, especially gloss coats. I do believe that fisheyes are most often caused by one of two things: surface contamination such as oil on the board or incompatible paint or the surface tension caused by inadequate amount of resin - as Matt and Mark point out.

Zits are bubbles. Those are so often caused by temperature and humidity issues, especially with the 1 pound EPS which is mostly air to begin with. Heating 1 # EPS will cause off gassing, the exotherm in epoxy is enough to cause it.

My personal routine is to DNA the board before hotcoat and gloss coats. I also season the blank (toast it ) before lamination, hot and gloss coats. Then I always hot and gloss on falling temperatures - that seems to actually draw the air and epoxy in.

I know that a 2 pac in lieu of an epoxy gloss is done for that show room shine and I've seen a polished polyester gloss over epoxy - I can only imagine what the longevity of that is.

If you go to any surfboard shop, most of the "off the shelf" stock/standard boards are sanded finish (whether poly or epoxy) at least that was my experience living in CA. The pros that are doing hand lamination jobs don't try to do epoxy "gloss coats." For epoxy they either spray with 2pac (as Jeff mentioned) or some variation of a UV protective light spray coat to get a glossy finish if requested, but it is usually extra.

Jeff,
My personal experience has been that DNA is a PITA. Almost every time I've used it I've regretted it. Unless you are using microfiber cloth to wipe, it seems inevitably, you get some "microfibers" trapped in the sanded finish that make problems for your next coat. I've found that a good sanded finish is generally a clean finish -- I have a bristle brush that I use to brush off most of any sanded epoxy dust, but then I just lay the next coat over that.

I get the blue tack from the medical supply store...but yeah, EVERYTHING about Epoxy is a PITA

So when you sand, you just brush that off? I've been thinking about getting an air compressor, think using compressed air would achieve the same thing as the bristle brush?

As long as you have a good water and oil separator Jeff. If your air is not clean look out.

OK the production shop cant wait on weather that is going to drop so they can hot or gloss coat, I will ask Jimmy at greenroom what he does , i know they built a hot room a few months ago to help with finishes, I have started to use compressed air to remove dust that is clogged in pits and holes , i use a decedent filter on the end of my blower then i dna the board before any other coats. All my boards will have a standard surfboard finish (NO GLOSS) just a final sand of 1k/2k wet/dry then a polish with compound to get a velvet gloss

Jeff - yeah, i just brush it off. Works fine. I've tried tack cloths as well, but doesn't seem to make a difference. I suppose tack cloth would be good prep if you are doing a 2pac finish though.

will post pics of new cores (5)that i will pick up next week.