Always check your cant angle and hold them there until the resin kicks. Its cheap insurance against them moving on you.
Think you completly misunderstood my question. In your defense i didn't word it well. Obviously your going to check your cant. That's a no brainer. But let's break it down. The cut is a perfect fit. Cant is built in. So what would cause your cant to be off? All i can think of is a really deep concave or possibly if you'r jig wasn't laying flush for whatever reason. So let's say that happens and your cant isn't right. Now what? Like i said the cut is a perfect fit, if you try to adjust the box in the hole then the box will be sitting high on one side which would cause issues in the glassing stage. Throw the blank out and start fresh or filling the hole and recutting as an attempt to salvage it... That was what i was getting at with the what's the point of the dummy fin question. Obviously you check cant, but if it's off i don't see a practical way of adjusting it without essentially starting over. At least with the FCSII system. Keeping everything in place makes sense ofcourse. By the way i got the plugs in today. Everything is looking good. Really enjoy ther FCSII system as far as shaping goes. Im a futures guy but looks like anything i shape will be FCSII. Really simple and easy install. Very user friendly. Im a fan.
Sounding awesome Bud! Hey just a side note - I surfed the snot out of the Roberts yesterday... coming with us for the maiden voyage of this work of art your putting together now.
You can get a little bit of movement with the boxes. They feel like a really tight fit especially when you dry fit them but with resin in the boxes you can get a bit of movement out of them. Not a lot but enough that if you're not careful they could be off. As for the cut being off, you can shim the jig before cutting the hole to make up for any concaves.
Ahhhhh see this is why i ask these questions. Good stuff. Like i said this install went smoothly but this is valuable information that im sure will come in handy in the future. Thanks for the input!
When you dry fit FCSII they can actually be hard to get back out. The foam is like sand paper against sand paper. Another reason that you need fins to put in there. I have sets of plastic "shaper's set" fins that I've sacrificed for this purpose.
Yeah i noticed this. Very tight fit. This is what lead to me wondering about the whole adjusting cant thing. I was actually afraid to pop them in all the way. I ended up using an old pair of fins that don't get used anyway. Worked for its purpose without having to buy the dummy fins.
That was my plan originally, but i was able to tape them in place no problem without it. So i didn't bother
Good advice being given here... One more thing - after you rout the hole, check the rim (or edge) of the hole. Usually there's a little lip you need to take down with sandpaper. Even if you round the edge slightly it's ok... better than having that little overhang. A little resin bead around the box edge is not a bad thing. You're gonna glass over it anyway. With all fin boxes and plugs, the box should "just fit"... it shouldn't be so tight you can't get it in and out dry fitting before setting... which I always do. For single fin boxes, I always line the box with cloth as well.
I used to do that too but just be careful as you will be taping the fin in such a manner that the force of the tape is in essence making your fin box pop a wheelie.......that's the best way I can describe it. By having a notch for your tape the pressure of the tape will be more downward and precisely in the center of the box. It also makes them much more easy to tape. Just passing on things I've learned a many boards ago. Hope it helps you get the best results.
That actually makes a ton of sense. So when i popped them in i didn't use the tape as a downward pressure type of thing as much as i did it as a stabilizing type of thing. Basically i didn't pull the tape as tight as i could. They weren't popping any wheelies and were pushed down tight. But i think after this insight I'll just notch them out. Somthing i didn't think of. You guys are a wealth of information. Really appreciate it.
Boards glassed. Yellow. A few rice paper graphics. One being my logo. Only thing new here was the rice paper graphics. But it was easy and straight forward. Two other things i did diffrent was..... 1) coveralls! Man i always get epoxy stuck in my arm hair. Even though i take every precaution to not get it on me. Outs inevitable. Coveralls cured that problem. 2) used the new glassing stand Mr. B made me. In fact that's my payment for this board. The original stand he gifted me when he first came down here is great and works really well for shaping. Only problem i had with it was it was too wide for glassing. Can't tuck the rails without the stand getting in the way. I was rigging it up threaded rod and a bracket. Which also made the board sit high. It worked but this new "attachment" he made is awesome. Narrower and flat (opposed to having ther cut outs so you can lay the board on its rail) specifically for glassing and not shaping. Worked libe a dream and made my life much easier. He posted it on here before but the guy makes a incredible rack. It comes apart easy and gets stored easily without taking up alot of space. Interchangeable uprights for shaping or glassing. Looks nice. Padded. Grade A stuff
Boards all hotcoated. In the home stretch here. Got another question for you vets. What kind of tape are you guys using when taping during the hotcoat? Here's why i ask. My first board i used masking tape i believe. I forget honestly. But the lip created after the hot coat was sizable. It was thick tape, so i assumed it allowed excess resin to pool a bit more. Second board i used blue painter's tape. The lip was so slight. Perfect. Used it on this board too. Issue im having is even though i make sure it's stuck firmly to the board, it always seems to pop in a spot or allowing a bead of resin to drip to the other side. It just dosent stick well. Obviously i clean the board first before hotcoating. Just wondering if im using crap tape or what
When you say lip, do you mean along the rail apex, or in the rear of the board where you use tape to build up a hard edge? Either way, i like using 3m blue painters tape...about 1 1/2" wide. If a bit of resin sneaks under the tape i find its usually more because i didnt really go around the board with my thumb bonding the tape to the rail, rather than what kind of tape i'm using for hotcoating. Airbrushing the shaped blank is where worry a lot more about tape bond, especially if i'm doing one color over top of the other. too little bond and the paint can sneak under the tape, too much bond and the tape can pull up bits of paint underneath from the first color.
For epoxy I use cheap masking tape... that crepe "paper tape," I call it. It's thin and cheap and works well with epoxy because it doesn't get hot. Poly, however, can get hot depending upon how hot you make the batch. For poly, I use the green 3M high temperature tape. Tip: Use a razor blade to scrape the tape bead.
Rail apex. Its just weird because i do go around and really make sure the tape is on there. It must be coming loose for a reason. Maybe i tape it up too quickly after cleaning with the DA? Anyway, i wasn't blaming the tape. Just merely asking a question trying to rule out possible causes. So thanks for the reply.
As mentioned, with epoxy the tape is not as critical. I use 3m tapes for all my board work. If it says 3m on it I know I've got a good product that isn't going to give me tears down the road. I recently tried a roll from Indasa and was happy with it but that is also another premium tape. For poly, nothing but 233+.
Mr. Bs daughters board is done. It came out pretty nice. Like always, it's not perfect. But as far as the glassing/sanding goes i think it is my best job so far. Learned a bit on this one and sort of had the light bulb go off towards the end. Had a bit of an epiphany and am excited for the next one to try and pull it all together and improve. Not jumping into the next one right away but when i do i think I'm going to do a twin for myself, 5'4 x 19.5 x 2.5, either copied or 100% inspired by this outline... As a twin it would have a purpose in my quiver which is pretty well rounded. Got to really think it over as im not familiar with twin fins, or quads really except for on wide tailed boards. Who knows, just taking out loud
You can't go wrong with this classic design... a true "twin fin" as opposed to a fish. https://markrichardssurfboards.com/blog/2015/07/a-custom-mr-concave-retro-twin-fin/
