Let's see....where did I leave off?
Uhmmm, oh, OK, when last I posted any progress, I had finished the epoxy fillets and attached the phenolic tips.
Since then, I have sanded all of the blades' top surfaces and blended the shaft/blade interfaces.
I ordered and received some 2 oz E-glass from Sweet Composites, and purchased and received more RAKA epoxy resin.
And I decided to try to wrap the 2 oz cloth around the edges, rather than attempt to cleanly add any other sort of edge protection.
I chose to glass the pair of longest paddles first, the 52" OAL ones. Here's a look at one, freshly wet out and with the glass wrapped around the edges.
It may be difficult to see from the photo, but the glass conformed easily to the full radius on the blade edges. I trimmed the cloth pre-wet out to allow about 1/2" overlap onto the power face. No doubt this helped keep the glass tightly wrapped around the edges.
After the epoxy cured, I blended the wrapped cloth to the power face.
Then I laminated the power face, allowing the glass to overhang all edges.
Here they are, anxiously awaiting some more resin. Yes, that resin is mixed and the clock is ticking. 3 oz total mixed, 2 oz left after wetting out both blades and soaking a 1" brush.
And here's the second side (power face) after wet out.
And here's a pic showing the trimmed edges...the camera angle distorts the blade shape. These blades have a very mild taper, wider at the tip, but looks straight edged in the pic.
Lastly, here's a close up view of the blade edge. It's hard to tell, but the 2 oz cloth is tightly adhered to the blade edges.
So these first 2 paddles are essentially done, all that's left is to finish sand the shafts and grips and then varnish everything.
Both 52" paddles currently weigh 17 oz...hopefully the weight I remove while final sanding with be about the same as the weight I add in varnish.
Uhmmm, oh, OK, when last I posted any progress, I had finished the epoxy fillets and attached the phenolic tips.
Since then, I have sanded all of the blades' top surfaces and blended the shaft/blade interfaces.
I ordered and received some 2 oz E-glass from Sweet Composites, and purchased and received more RAKA epoxy resin.
And I decided to try to wrap the 2 oz cloth around the edges, rather than attempt to cleanly add any other sort of edge protection.
I chose to glass the pair of longest paddles first, the 52" OAL ones. Here's a look at one, freshly wet out and with the glass wrapped around the edges.
It may be difficult to see from the photo, but the glass conformed easily to the full radius on the blade edges. I trimmed the cloth pre-wet out to allow about 1/2" overlap onto the power face. No doubt this helped keep the glass tightly wrapped around the edges.
After the epoxy cured, I blended the wrapped cloth to the power face.
Then I laminated the power face, allowing the glass to overhang all edges.
Here they are, anxiously awaiting some more resin. Yes, that resin is mixed and the clock is ticking. 3 oz total mixed, 2 oz left after wetting out both blades and soaking a 1" brush.
And here's the second side (power face) after wet out.
And here's a pic showing the trimmed edges...the camera angle distorts the blade shape. These blades have a very mild taper, wider at the tip, but looks straight edged in the pic.
Lastly, here's a close up view of the blade edge. It's hard to tell, but the 2 oz cloth is tightly adhered to the blade edges.
So these first 2 paddles are essentially done, all that's left is to finish sand the shafts and grips and then varnish everything.
Both 52" paddles currently weigh 17 oz...hopefully the weight I remove while final sanding with be about the same as the weight I add in varnish.
