So I should lay up more resin in between the layer and clamp it down for a bit?
@Sololongboards or @treenutter might be the ones to ask about this? I wager starting again might be the sure fire way to be able to rely on it?
I was hoping that wasn’t the case…I’d have to recarve a new mold and buy more wood! But if its completely ruined, I guess thats what I will do!
I’m no expert at pressing decks. One of those two should hopefully give you a point in the right direction.
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@Itsmedant it looks to me like your fiberglass layer didn’t make sufficient contact with the wood layers during the press. Or - it might have made contact but there was a dry spot so the resin didn’t adhere to the wood and composite. Or the resin had some inconsistency at the failure location and didn’t harden. I don’t use Bondo so I don’t know about it’s working time or other properties. Another potential failure point is the pressure that the vacuum bag can create… if you have more extreme bends to the wood you might not get perfect contact with every layer. Simplifying your mold would be the solution in that case.
Unfortunately you can’t know how far into the deck this gap is without cutting the deck in half. If there is a failed contact point between the layers a little but of use will weaken that area and the deck will likely crack.
If you managed to get additional resin to fill the gap all the way inside the deck, and the wood could still “move” with your clamping to make contact with the composite layer, then maybe you could salvage the workpiece you’ve got. My opinion is that this is unlikely to work though.
My advice is to take what you’ve learned and start over with a new workpiece.
You should be proud man, designing and constructing a deck is difficult. I practiced and refined my process for a long time before I had a good result.
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Thanks for the reply, you telling me that I should be proud of this deck is some amazing feedback coming from the master himself!!
So here are my thoughts…I’m going to finish cutting out the deck to see if the delamination happened throughout the entire deck or just in that one spot. I clamped and glued that spot over night and it looks like it held really well.
If it did happen over the entire deck, the sample piece came apart really clean so maybe I can remove that entire section from the deck. If I can get it all off cleanly, I can throw it back into the vacuum bag with a new “support mold” and put 2 more layers on. I did this board 1 layer at a time (8 hours in the bag each) so I got pretty good at keeping everything true and getting an additional layer on each time.
For my next deck build, I just went to the store and got 3 8 ton hydraulic bottle jacks and I’m going to start cutting a mold out of wood so I can build a press similar to the one @longhairedboy documents in his blog.
In other news, the piece that I cut out, even with just the 7 layers, that thing is rock solid!! I just don’t know if the deck at 7 layers will be strong enough to make into and esk8!
Thanks again for your reply and advice @treenutter, it really means alot to me for you to take the time to give me the advice!
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I’m on my third press. Don’t build the first or second one. The last one is the one that’s been working for three years almost, but the frame is starting to bend and crack so i’ll probably build another one soon after i buy a planer so i can properly laminate the timbers. The one i have now is just carriage bolted and screwed and glued, but i didn’t bother to plane it, which was a mistake.
The next one will probably last longer, but it will also be wooden if i don’t just give in to my dreams and spend the money on c channel and the time to drill all of it so i can bolt together a steel one. IF i was to do that the fasteners alone would ikely cost as much as my entire wooden press, but it could take like 40 tons.
Is this the 3rd one?
I have some ideas on how to build one with some stuff I have laying around. I won’t be pressing as many decks as you to begin with! Maybe 4-5 a year depending on my friends and how good the decks actually turn out. I have a few more designs I’m working on so I want to keep going with this stuff…the vacuum bag is just hard to do more complex curves on.
yeah that’s the one. that’s the good press frame. It hasn’t exploded. yet.
As far as my mold goes, i paid a guy to help me design it and then he machined it and mailed it to me. Cost me about $500 total for the mold because it was heavy and cad work/machining can be expensive, but i feel its been worth it.
At the moment i’m using a pair of 6 ton jacks from Autozone. I was using a pair of 2 ton jacks, but i’ve seen improvement in consistency of lamination after stepping up to 12 total. If i go with steel for my next one i can use any kind of jack basically, even a fancy air/hydraulic one but i’ll most likely stick with simple automotive bottle jacks for simplicity.
I’ve also thoguht about vertical lamination but i really don’t see the point in it. And i’ve thought about adding heating elements to my press mold to warm the mold and press the veneer using thermally activated glues so i can pop out blanks in an hour instead of a day… but what’s the point really. And i don’t like the smell of cat piss when i’m machining, sooo…
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Dang, thanks for all the advice! I’m going to try and make one, maybe over this weekend if I have time.
So do you think the deck this post about is completely screwed? Or theres a possibility to add 2 more layers on to it and save it?
if you can line it up perfectly and use an epoxy you may be able to just re-press it and get it to laminate properly this time.
Luckily its not completely cut out so i can get it super close and try again. Going to check out the rest and leave an extra inch on each side when I cut it out so i can redo it.
Since its the layer with fiberglass, I need to use the epoxy and not wood glue right?
that’s what i would do.
It looks like the one side is secure but the other half looks like it is delaming. I would use epoxy resin it is what should be used with fiberglass. I would also lightly sand each piece of wood so that it creates a nice surface for the glue to bond to and for the epoxy to get into and adhere the wood to the epoxy. Did you squeegee the resin on the fiberglass?
Yep! I used a combo of a roller and a plastic squeegee to spread the epoxy equally.
My question is that is if the resin/epoxy is already hardened and dried, will adding another layer and pressing it again actually adhere to whats there already?
Here’s the scrap piece that I pulled apart, wood on one side and fiberglass on the other.
I’m assuming the whole deck is like this
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I would say sand it with 220 grit just to rough up both sides then wipe off the dust and that will give it the best chance of holding together. I would actually pour on the epoxy resin down the center of the board and go the entire length of the board and then use the plastic squeegee to make sure every part is covered. Make sure you wear a mask when sanding the fiberglass or you can wet sand it to keep the dust down
So I cut the entire deck out and the entire fiberglass layer delamed!!!
I found 2 more pieces of 1/16th maple, one cross grain and one vertical grain.
I sanded all the left over epoxy and glued up those last 2 layers. The whole thing is in the vacuum bag now…i got my fingers crossed!!
I’ll post the results tomorrow!
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Fingers crossed for you, I hope you get something useable.
It might be easier to press the wood and laminate the fiberglass afterwards. The fiberglass will contribute to stiffness the most if you put it on an outer layer anyway. If you are hesitant to do that because of anesthetics, it’s really not so visible esp if you apply a thicker clear coat, or you can put it on the top and grip tape it. Im not sure, but I think the glass is as strong in compression as it is in tension