The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[Ned B]

Brad, Sudoku and crossword puzzles are how I keep my mind busy when I'm trying to relax while sitting in front of the boob tube. I have so little patience for the commercials that I pick up a puzzle, then end up only half paying attention to the tube.

I have so little patience for the commercials ...

That's both of us. I just hate it when the commercial breaks are longer than the movie breaks. Or seem that way.

http://sudoku.com.au/ is my morning coffee thing. Netflix, YouTube & Amazon video for watching stuff. And Youtube is pushing the the limits lately.

.

I'm so glad I sprang for my TiVo a couple of years back, they did a software update recently and it is now a one button skip for most commercials makes watching so easy! Almost Netflix binge watching simple.

I too am a YouTube maker watcher with the morning coffee. Diresta, iliketomakestuff , makesomething , a couple of turners, all wind up on the playlist in the mornings.

KC I bet you'd like seeing Clickspring, he's an Aussie who makes great vids about making a clock, along with the specialized tools he makes & uses.

[GPW]

Quote : “ and would have most likely found a way to complicate a canvas job if I had gone that way, too. “

Truth be known , we don’t really think it’s an intent to make it more complicated, just an intense effort to make it BETTER !!! .... and we highly respect that ....

[KCStudly]

Thanks! I'll definitely check that out.

[KCStudly]

That's one way to shut me up. Just link me to some really cool stuff and I can get lost for days! (cycle carts, Clickspring and mrpete222)

Last evening (Friday) I started by doing some spot filling on the hatch. As I’m going over everything (over and over) and find these little spots, I circle them with the sharpie so that I can find them again later when I have the epoxy flowing. Here’s an example.


Most of what I’m dealing with here is spots where epoxy has dripped or flung off of the bristles of the brush in small drops or blobs, or stray strands that cured along the edges of the wall layups where I have plucked them off and it took a little foam with it. If I had tried to sand these, because they are so small it would push down and start sanding foam before becoming fair; then spring back latter and still be proud. If I just try to glass over them it could tent the cloth up and leave air pockets.

Then I mixed up some 403 thickened epoxy and squeegeed it along the edges of the wall over wraps on both sides all along the roof and both front walls. This wasn’t necessary on the wall seams where I butted the first ply and only overlapped the second ply; but here on the roof where the first plies are going to overlap the side wall wraps it helps avoid an air bubble where the first ply climbs over the cured edge of the previous cure. Here’s the street side from the hatch hinge looking forward.


Same thing on the curb side.


Looking down the curb side front wall, the filler turns and runs across the top of the lower front layup at the rock guard sparette.


Same thing on the street side.


I think I'm finally getting a feel for how much filler not to add to keep the mix workable. For the top I left the mix a little wetter and it flowed out nicely. On the front walls I had to go a little thicker, but the smaller spoon made it easier to control my filler additions and I was able to creep up on a good consistency.

I had some thick left over so I smeared it around some areas that needed a little attention, like the seam laps around the doors, a spot on the license plate recess and at the patches on the hatch. This is just a little detail fairing work.

Today I amine washed those areas and sanded it all out, which took a while. Sanding, sanding, sanding. Here is the street side looking back after sanding.


It’s time to clean off everything using the shop vac and fox tail brush, then start dry fitting the bias cloth on the hatch. I decided I had better fit the cloth first, dry on dry, rather than fussing with it wet. In hindsight I should have used my cutting dimensions and used a spline to trace a reference line along the diagonal seam, but at the time the cloth seemed to lie down thru that area fine. The thing is with bias cloth it skews even easier than non-bias. Once I had it at this position the sides ran a little wide at the bottom. The weave seemed pretty straight and it all laid okay so I trimmed the excess back to the lines and taped it down.




With the cloth on the bias it looks like it will lay into the license plate recess just fine. That’s the plate light wire wrapped in blue tape sticking out.


Placing the upper triangular piece I could see I had a problem.


Hmm, maybe I should have drawn a reference line and not been so quick to trim anything before getting the remaining pieces lined up. DOH!

So I have a couple of options. I could cut another larger piece of cloth for the upper piece, wasting two more somewhat large triangles to get just one piece, making the first ply in two sections (instead of the original 3); or cut some smaller strip pieces to overlap the gap and deal with more fairing later.

I cut two strips from scraps; a narrower one for the upper portion of the gap and a wider strip for the lower section, shown here lying on the roof with the smaller No. 3 triangle piece from the sketch that fills the top.


I still haven’t decided. It is looking more and more like I will do the main portion of the roof in two separate layups so coming up short on glass is less of a concern. If I do come up short I will only have to buy a smaller amount of cloth to complete. Whereas if I wanted to do the whole roof in one go and come up short I would need several more yards of cloth.

I suppose I could reel off what’s left of the roll and see how many yards I have left. As I write this I figure I will just go for it with the patch pieces and suffer the sanding consequences later. At that moment I briefly wished that I had not bothered with the bias layer, but I think it will work out fine in the end.

[GPW]

JMHO, the bias layer is a great idea , distributed the stress on the fibers in another direction , not just one direction of threads bearing all the longitudinal load ...

[KCStudly]

Yeah, I agree and am committed to the bias ply. The decision to make is whether to cut another piece for the top left section, making the bias ply into just two sections with one overlapping seam; or to patch in some overlapping strips to fill the gap in the dry fit.

I think I'm just going to add the strips and deal with the fairing issues later.

[KCStudly]

We had snow squalls this morning and throughout the early afternoon with moments of sun. While it was a little over 40 deg F at midday at home, by the time I got to Mecca outside it was only 34 deg F and was overcast gray; and the forecast had no immediate changes predicted.

That meant that it was unlikely to warm up enough to allow me to wet out the hatch. This was actually a good thing. It slowed things down and gave me an opportunity to see how much glass cloth I have left, rather than pushing to get a layup in.

I took the time to roll the big roll of glass cloth onto the spare cardboard tube reel-to-reel style, counting the yards as I went. I didn’t have to fully unroll it to see that I have more than enough to do the roof, the locker bump out, and probably both doors, so it seemed like a better idea to redo the upper bias piece on the hatch.

I figured I could almost get what I needed for the diagonal of Piece 2 (on the sketch) width wise on the cloth, meaning that I would only use an additional yard; and the small triangular Piece 3 would be even smaller. At only 8 or 9 dollars a yard this seemed to be worth it for the cleaner job, slightly greater strength, and much less fairing work. The doors can actually come out of narrower stock, so if I end up having to buy more for them it will actually cost less than that. Plus, any that I have left over would just be waste anyway, at least until the next project comes along, so why not use it?

I’m happy I made this decision. The end result will be much better and easier to layup, too.




The very small triangle at the top is now only as big as the area where the blue tape pieces cross, so less weakness there, too. Both of the larger pieces now end fully on the cured glass that I did under the hinge previously.


I have been aiming for a 1-1/2 inch std. seam overlap as a minimum because the minimum recommended by Rutan is 1 inch, so I figure that gives me a little margin. Along the diagonal seam it varied a little here and there, but is still at least an inch everywhere.


At the bottom middle the cloth is hanging straight down a little baggy, but when brushed with the palms feels like it will gather up fine. In the previous pic, this one, and the next you can see the bias pattern of the weave.



With the cold it was a good time to call it a short day, but with the spare cardboard tube now available I unfolded the hatch 2nd ply and rolled it onto the tube. This should make it easier to deploy during the wet out; even if it is just to unroll it onto the roof and then drag it over the hatch. If Karl is around I will probably enlist his help, but if not I might just try to roll it directly onto the hatch… even if it does get wet epoxy onto the tube. The roll on the left is the hatch 2nd ply; the middle roll is the locker bump out pre-prep; and, of course, the roll on the right is the remaining stock (I hadn’t bothered to trim the pointy “ears” off after cutting the new triangle piece out).


Having learned my lesson about trying to do layups in the evening after a work day, the next opportunity I will have to do the hatch will be next weekend. However, I can still do little details (like sealing all of the wire recesses, going over the door jamb inside corners with pure wet again, etc.), and may even tackle the locker bump out on Wednesday, since it is small enough and only one ply.

[S. Heisley]

I still "stop in" and look around your build thread, KC, even if I don't comment.
You're doing good and getting closer to the end!

[KCStudly]

Thanks Sharon. It does feel like I'm making progress. Every step is one step closer to being done (95/ct anyway).

[Wolffarmer]

Thanks Sharon. It does feel like I'm making progress. Every step is one step closer to being done (95/ct anyway).

I read that and this jumped to mind. Not sure why but I have some ideas.

Steps

[KCStudly]

Cute.

Well the weather has remained cold. It snowed most of the day today w/ only sparse accumulation on the vehicles and colder areas. Then it turned to rain and frozen rain for the commute. Then back to snow again at dusk. Overnight lows as low as 25 deg F are predicted, so no epoxy work tonight.

In fact no work at all. Looks like the rest of the week into the weekend will be marginal, so I will be keeping an eye on the forecast.

[wagondude]

Winter just keeps trying to hang on. I was in NYC and DC last week. Had great weather there (it snowed here for Easter). I saw the forecast for the snow up that way and could only think of how lucky we were to be up that way the week we were.

[Ned B]

Now with the 'bad' weather I won't feel guilty reminding you that there's a new Clickspring video out.

http://youtu.be/8OViP9AR2HE

[KCStudly]

WD, we have had some really nice weather this spring, so it is not all doom and gloom; but it was well down below freezing last night again, so I guess I am playing a waiting game at the moment.

Ned, yes, a good time to check out Clickspring! I think I am all caught up now. His methods do seem to become repetitive at times, but the production quality is high... both in the videos and in his work! Interesting to see different techniques, and a lot of useful stuff to be learned there.

[TheOtherSean]

This thread is now over half the size of the "Big Thread"!