Cut Laps

OK, so I mentioned some time ago, that I changed my technique when glassing and lapping the rails.

Having started with “free laps”, I found them messy and the results not so good 🙁

After some time away from glassing myself, I glassed the Forty One Two (winter version) and naturally went straight back to the cut lap technique. However, I made a few rookie mistakes and thought it best to log them so I can come back and remind myself before I glass the next board. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, some of the laps actually came out quite good, as this first picture shows:

The outcome / result of that section of rail and lap is this:

Pretty bloody good if I do say so myself!

Now, the ugly and not so good … First, let’s remember why this is so UGLY. This is a reminder for me!

1. It does help to make sure the tape sticks to the blank (i.e. clear off all dust and don’t lift and restick the tape too many times)

2. Make the tape line as smooth, flowing and uniform as possible

3. Do a good job of covering the rest of the blank with paper … leave no gaps or holes

3. Make sure the cloth that you are wrapping goes past the edge of the tape …

Now, wingnut2443, you idiot … read that last bit again … make sure you cut the cloth so it goes past the edge of the tape!

Otherwise, this is what you end up with:

And, once you cleared away all the tape and paper, completed your “good” sections, this bad stuff looks really bad:

Which means you have to try and sand down that raised ugly stuff so the next layer of cloth goes down as smooth as possible. AND, you know what that usually means when you try and sand the lap edges … yep, you get the foam, make a bigger mess and end up with an ugly lap line which does not “blend” when fully sanded later …

So, get it right from the start! Otherwise, this is what you end up with … a good section, followed by an ugly section: