Thread: My first attempt at fiberglassing

I've been wanting to do some fiberglass work for some time and thanks to this thread I decided to tackle my first project.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/fabr...lkthrough.html

I wanted to start small, work my way up to sub boxes. First an overhead console to house two 7" monitors. These were from a portable DVD player/headrest kit from Wal-Mart. The DVD player went out so someone gave me the monitors. I re-wired them to just use the S-Video and power. They had IR and sound but I have not need for that. The controller board, speakers and IR port were on the bottom of the case. I've taken all of that apart and will only be using the front of the case which the LCD mounts too. These tilt and I wanted to keep that feature. I cut off the bottom part that held the speakers, flipped them upside down and now the bottom is the top. I also did the same for the LCD's so the video wouldn't be upside down.

I did not want to build the bezels into the console but attach it to it. That way if and when these go out I could possibly replace them without having to build a new console.

Also included in this console will be the dome light and front map lights. Along with switches to turn off and on the monitor and all of the wiring.

Unfortunately I got to involved in this project before taking pictures so I have none of the before's, just the during and hopefully the end product.

I started by taking some poster board card board and making a template of the curve of the roof of my van. I transfered this to a piece of 1/2" MDF. I cut two of these "ribs" about 36" long and about 2" wide. I cut two pieces of solid wood that will act as mounting brackets. These screw to the roof, console screws to them. I used solid wood because MDF does not take screws terribly well.

I mounted this to the roof, sat in the back seat and decided where I wanted to mount the monitors. I cut two pieces of 1/2" MDF to match the size of the monitor cases and mounted them to the ribs.

I plan on wrapping this with fleece to either match or compliment the headliner of my van. This way there isn't going to be a lot of finish work involved to get it to paint grade.

Once I had the final shape that I wanted I stapled "Swimsuit Liner" to the form. I used swimsuit liner which is 90% polyester 10% spandex. This stretched very nicely and is a lot thinner then fleece. Therefor not needing as much resin. I think I heard on Unique Whips they were using speaker cloth. I bought about 1 1/2 yards. Only used about 1/4-1/2 of it.

This is the inside and will be mounted towards the roof. You can see the two mounts top and bottom. The bottom of this picture goes just about the windshield.


I mixed up 8oz of resin and brushed it on with a disposable 2" brush. I made way too much resin for this first coat. Also soaked it on too much and had it dripping on the inside. Hard to see, I'm using a cell phone for pictures, sorry for the quality.


I let this set for 30 mins or so then started to apply the mat. I precut the mat to about 2-3" squares. I should have made them smaller because of some tight curves the mat wouldn't lay down as nicely as I wanted and formed air bubbles underneath. Also learned not to mix up too much resin. I was mixing 8oz at a time and about 1/3-1/2 of it was getting hard before I could use it. On the second coat I went down to only 4oz and since it was a hot day I was only using 45 drops of hardener. Still had it getting hard before I could use all of it.

Pictures of what I've gotten done so far:

Bottom (visible side) after one coat of mat then sanded/grounded with the 18v DeWalt grinder in the second picture. I used a sanding disc that I got at Home depot a long time ago. I don't remember what grit it was but it's well used now so I'm not sure but I'd guess around 60-100. it really worked good except in tight corners. I think it's a 4 1/2" disk so getting in certain areas wasn't easy. Also the back of one of the LCD's.


here is another mistake I learned. I didn't completely think out how the swimsuit liner would fall. As you can see in this picture I should have added a piece of MDF across the top so I would have a nice straight line. I fixed this on the second layer of mat by taking a piece and lapping it over. You can also see a flat piece of 1/4' MDF. This is where the contoller boards will sit.


Controller boards in place. There are two of them back to back. I'm using motherboard standoffs to attach them to each other and to the piece of 1/4" MDF. Most of the wood in this picture is going to be removed and is only there as a form for the fiberglass. Silver square on top is where the S-Video/power cable goes.


Side shot.


Where the monitors will be mounted


I think I'm done with the fiberglassing now. Today I'm going to cut away what MDF I don't need, wrap it in fleece and hopefully mount the monitors. I'll post pics later.