Author Topic: Innegra question  (Read 14904 times)

Biggreen

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Innegra question
« on: February 14, 2017, 06:17:41 PM »
A buddy of mine brought back some Innegra when he went to Florida to visit his Mom. He wanted me to build him a board using the stuff. I did. Having no experience with it there were a couple of spots where I thought, "Oh...well I won't do it that way next time." He'd visited a few local builders while there and they were doing a glass/Innegra/glass layup. I'm shaping another board now and plan to use it again. For those of you who have thoughts or experience with this material, my question is...If I'm vacuum bagging to a resin/microballoon sealed blank can I go directly to foam without an under layer of glass? Since the stuff is a polypropylene and doesn't absorb resin I wasn't sure if it needed something more substantial to adhere to. Thanks.

Dwight (DW)

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2017, 03:12:14 AM »
You can put it direct to blank. I did a pull test and found it bonded better than glass to the blank.

Biggreen

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2017, 05:38:32 AM »
Hey, thanks DW! I figured you might have the answer I was looking for.

PonoBill

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2017, 09:08:15 AM »
So do you guys like the stuff for board building?  I bought some to play with, made a hand plane, and had a lot of problems. Mostly just getting it to lay down and stay put. I like to get things settled before I stick the vacuum to it, and couldn't get any smooth wrap with the tight radius of the hand plane. I had to just call it good and squish it, and it shifted.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

supuk

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2017, 10:50:59 AM »
Glass over the top of inegra and cut it above the apex of the rail it generally doesn't like compound curves all so you have a lot less chance of hitting it when sanding and getting a fluffy mess. Vac bagging is defiantly important with it to get it to sit nice and tight to the foam
« Last Edit: February 15, 2017, 10:53:02 AM by supuk »

Biggreen

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2017, 05:13:44 PM »
My first go round had a few hiccups. I did baste the rails and pre-wet the blank with resin before laying the Innegra even though I used the wet out table, and that helped a lot.  The stuff is deceptive when you're trying to wet it out, I discovered.  Since it doesn't actually absorb resin in the way glass does it's hard to tell when it's saturated.
And
I discovered the hard way that you need to be careful with relief cuts and make sure they don't overlap. And the free-lap I thought would disappear under several layers...didn't. The cut lap worked ok.

I'm gonna try a little different approach this time and see.

PB. I'll let DW and supuk tell you about the structural benefits of Innegra. Best I can figure is that it's bombproof when it comes to durability. And I bet if you baste your curves and let the resin sit a bit you'll have better luck. I know I sure did.
Thanks all!

Dwight (DW)

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2017, 04:54:32 AM »
Not all Innegra comes with the proper finish for surfboard building. The stuff from Solar Composites falls apart and you end up drowning in white hairs everywhere.

I bought a full roll of 3.5 oz Innegra from BGF. It has the right finish. Never sheds hairs or falls apart. The finish adds stiffness though. I use the glass capping layer, to aide in sticking the laps.

A cab o sil cheater coat helps blend the edge of the Innegra.

It reminds me of dyneema kite leader line. It laughs at a sharp razor blade.

I use electric scissors. It's an ideal kook proofing layer for any SUP.

PonoBill

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2017, 08:38:34 AM »
Do you baste just the curves?

I'm pleased to hear there's a way to make this work without some kind of magic. I have my Innegra stash stuffed in the pile with the overly stiff S glass I bought, waiting for a project with no curves.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Dwight (DW)

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2017, 09:02:10 AM »
Do you baste just the curves

No.  I just wait until I get the glass over it, then tuck the laps. The glass pulls it down.

PonoBill

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #9 on: February 16, 2017, 03:27:01 PM »
Tried that, it just lifted the glass. I had pretty tight curves though.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Biggreen

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2017, 03:59:04 PM »
I think I could pretty easily come to love this stuff. With that stiffness DW mentioned the Innegra rolls out and lays down smooth on a blank. No fighting and coaxing wrinkles. If you're patient with your cuts it tucks in nicely. And if you cut your laps while the stuff is green, it trims easily and smoothly. The peelply just rolls right off instead of leading you to chicken chokers paradise, and to top it off, when cured the stuff is ROCK hard.

Even though I knew it would cause more work and time I did cut laps for the deck and bottom without the glass layer to help pull everything in place just to see how it would go. The deck layer I took right to where the rail line meets the bottom and ran my tape. The bottom layer I planned to wrap up and around the rail onto the deck for the traditional pinline finish. I was curious at how much of a bitch it would be to get the curves to lay. Deck went on first. I did baste the rails and all grabbed the curves and stayed down nicely. I bagged and let it do its thing and then while green and out of the bag I just folded the tape back around to the rail and ran a razor knife along the bottom line. Worked far better than I expected. The Innegra really does cut easy while green. Then to the bottom. I ran my tape, basted the rails, and rolled out my wet cloth. The stuff really does lay easier than traditional glass. When it came time to tuck the curves, the nose section wanted to fuss. I could get it to lay and certain spots would pop loose (nothing new, right?). I'd dob on a bit more resin and I made relief cuts just down to my tape line where they'd be trimmed off and that definitely helped. Still I had some poppers that I just had to pull down with the peelply and then just kind of massaged everything smooth as the vacuum pulled. I can certainly see the benefit of the Jimmy Lewis poor man's vacuum technique for this stuff for the non vacuum crowd. It'd help get everything to lay. Once out of the bag it was an easy trim and done. Yeah, I think I'm a fan

mrbig

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2017, 07:49:11 AM »
Am jealous of you guys who can make them yourselves!

Had the pleasure of owning two King's glassed with innegra. Light and very very tough. Both in terms of resistance to impacts from paddle hits, rocks, sharks (a little joke) as well as pressure dings, softening over time etc. The only damage was a schnozz shipping ding which I repaired with sun cure - ugly as sin.

Between Matt and I the 7'11" CB3 King's has been ridden hard for over three years and is rock hard still. Rumor has it STC took it for a spin a while back..

Let it come to you..
SMIK 9'2" Hipster Mini Mal
SMIK 8'8" Short Mac Freo Rainbow Bridge
SMIK 8'4" Hipster Twin
King's 8'2" Accelerator SharkBoy

blackeye

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2017, 11:00:25 AM »
Clarification please... "basting" or to "baste" is just coating something with resin before applying cloth or hardware, right? I had never noticed that term until this thread.

PonoBill

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2017, 01:53:29 PM »
Basting means laying down some additional resin, usually with a brush instead of a squeegee or roller. Like basting a turkey. It's common to baste rails and/or laps to make sure the glass lays flat and stays there.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

blackeye

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Re: Innegra question
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2017, 01:41:54 PM »
Pono, thank you for that. Never knew there was a word. We still need a terminology wiki sticky for us non-surfers and latecomers. First entry should be "projection".

 


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