firewire repair

I believe just standard epoxy resin. That's all I used on mine.

 

A tube of suncure repair resin with the chopped strand in it will make a quick and easy repair. Remove any loose material, and sand the area of the ding and bit of area around the ding. Fill the ding with goop, spreading it out over the sanded area around the ding as well. Don't leave much excess, just fill and cover the ding completely. Set it in the sun to cure rock hard, then sand it smooth.

Fixing it "right" is not as quick or easy, but will look a lot better. Depending on the ding, it may require a few steps, and you'll need laminating resin, cloth, maybe some filler material, and surface agent. If you can't get laminating resin and surface agent, you can do it with sanding resin instead.

 

Also, remember that Firwewires will not absorb water as they use EPS foam not polyurethane. I would still fix it as water can get inbetween the glass and the foam but the the foam will not absorb water.

 

I'm not sure i agree with that. I've built boards from both EPS foam and Polyurethane foam. You have to seal the EPS foam so the resin doesn't soak right in, so i find it hard to believe that EPS wouldnt also be prone to taking on water.

 

Just to clarify...

Only XPS, XTR, or other EXTRUDED polystyrene foams absorb no water. Quality expanded polystyrene foams (EPS) in 2lb density or higher, particularly the pressure molded and "superfused" varieties, absorb some water, but no more than PU.... maybe even less, depending on density. However, lower density foams, like the cores used in Sunovas, Surftechs, and other composite sandwich boards that are vented, use EPS of very low density, and will literally suck water like crazy, especially if you take a hot board out of your car, and jump into cool water. The gasses in between the foam beads will shrink, and create a negative pressure inside the core. This causes the blank to suck water in an effort to equalize pressure inside and outside the board. We're talking about LITERS of water potentially being sucked into your board.

I'm not sure what density foam was used in this guy,s Firewire, but chances are it's 1lb foam... that's what their standard core material is. So if I was this guy, I'd fix that thing pronto. That's one expensive piece of equipment not to address even a minor ding.

 

Dont put a firewire in the water without it being water tight, asking for trouble.

 

Depends on which technology firewire you have too. The eps foam they use in the RapidFires does not absorb water. The future shapes use 1lb and the Rapidfires use 2lb depends if you have rapid-fire or Future shapes etc. I did not and would never suggest that you don't fix it. I highly recommend that you do but the foam itself in a Rapidfire will not absorb water. In the rapid-fire it is like a foam coffee cup type material. I also recommend getting it repaired by a pro who knows what they are doing.

Regards,
Dean

 

Firewire garbage

Firewires are high priced pop out garbage. Throw it away and get a real board - like an FCD Mako, Octo or DM3. Seriously. -

 

Wow, now there's a well thought out, rational response ::shakes head::

 

the worst board i ever owned was a Fletcher Choinard piece of junk. Just sayin...

 

well for a piece of **** pop out board that I ride i sure enjoy out paddling some longboarders and turning on a dime I should def throw my dominator away.....

 

Firewires are actually .75 lb EPS foam. Cheap Chinese beaded foam. Very soft and flexible. A lot of room between beads for air pockets to suck water.
No matter what the type of board, fix dings immediately and do it right.

~Brian

www.greenlightsurfsupply.com

 

Check technology here:

http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/technology.php?techid=tech

Not .75lb EPS foam. I agree that no matter what board you need to fix the dings you have....

 

Well... there's a bit of a name game played with foam densities. Rarely are actual measured densities what the blanks are labeled. Typical "2 lb foam" is actually less than 2lbs per square foot. You can actually measure the density of foams yourself with accurately measured blocks of foam and a digital scale. So if Firewire calls their blanks "1 lb foam", the foam manufacturer is calling it "1 lb foam." But I'd bet good money that the foam is actually less than that. Most manufacturers' foam is. For example, Marko 2 lb foam actually weighs in at about 1.9 lbs/sq foot. So it wouldn't surprise me if Firewire's "1 lb foam" really is closer to .75 lbs/sq foot. I'd also bet Brian at Greenlight has done the tests. He's a materials geek like that. Ha!

(who love's ya, Brian!?)

 

maybe kind of like the lumber industry calling wood thats 1.5" x 3.5" a "2 X 4" ?

either way wouldnt EPS of any of these densities soak up water? i dont know anything about cell structure but shaping them it just seems like they have a porous bead structure once pierced.

Actually i just decided to do a test on a chunk of EPS foam i have left over in my shed. Cut fake "ding" poured one ounce of water into the hole...lets see how long before it soaks in.

 

That's the spirit!

A better test would be to seal the entire chunk except for the "ding." As the temperature of the air around the chunk changes, the block may breath from all exposed surfaces, and the ding might not suck in as much of the water. If you seal the chunk on all sides, it only has one place to breathe from... the ding. That's where the sucking action will happen.

It's all about creating a pressure differential. Without that, most of the water will likely just sit there, or just evaporate.

 

i use gorilla glue epoxy for my firewire. this stuff:
http://www.gorillaglue.com/GorillaGlueGorillaGlue/GorillaEpoxyParent/ProductDetail/tabid/263/Default.aspx

Its not advertised as waterproof but does the job for me...

"Water Resistant – withstands moderate exposure to water."

 

I am no shaping techie, nor do I ride firewire boards, but in Firewire's defense, I watched an hour long documentary on the owner of Firewire. And through working with Taj and other pro surfers, he has gotten the Epoxy systems down to a science. He is the closest and only person I know to date to actually get Pro ASP guys to ride an epoxy board, in COMPETITION...

So, although you all may categorize the end product as "pop out" garbage. I thought that what made his designs and mass produced boards different, was that they were all designer, shaped and produced by the most accurate, intest all automated shaping/design system. So he encorporates a lot of old school design ideas, but he uses high tech MACHINES to mass produce the end product so that he is SURE that every model is EXACTLY to the specs he intended.

This may be a shapers way of coppnig out and making excuses for not doing things by hand... But firewire, to this date is the ONLY company who has ever produced real high performance epoxy sticks... Everyone else fell short. Merrick and the whole surftech crew.

Firewire is what I think of when I think of cutting edge in performance surfing... With that being said, I dont want to spend $700 bucks on a board when my shaper customizes my shortboard for 300 out the door with art on both sides.... Keep it local =)

But im just saying, I think firewire is legit. Firewires from 2001-2005 are not that good, but all the new designs are tweeked by tons of pros, and if Taj likes it, I love it.

 

Well said, Zach...

And if you like Firewire... try a Sunova. The mastermind behind Firewire (Bert Berger, who I believe is featured in one of the recent Surfing/er mags) left the company and started Sunova, which takes the whole epoxy/parabolic stringer/veneer tech another notch up. Incredible performance and durability. If you can get your hands on one for a test ride, do it. Blows Firewire away. But again, you're talking about boards that are about twice the cost of an off-the-rack major brand.

And by the way, $300 for a custom out the door, with art? Dude...