Screen Install is FINISHED

**mp3z24** · 07-11-2002, 09:04 AM

fiber-tek

this page has a bit of info on making fiberglass parts. they detail how to make molds and plugs, among other brief tutorials. i recommend reading up on as much as possible before diving into fiberglassing... also, there are some good books (so im told) on the subject, available at places like amazon.com.

~mike

**Arby** · 07-11-2002, 09:53 AM

I made a positive mold becuase it's much easier.

The mold was actually slightly smaller than it needed to be, so once the extra 1/16" of fiberglass was there it was right.

**mikeinsanmarcos** · 07-11-2002, 10:27 AM

Holy Crap, the fiber tech method would take many weeks and specialized waxes & solvents to perform.. I think this would only be worth doing if you were wanting to make multiple pieces of the same part... For one time stuff, arby's method is much more realistic! I did some fiberglass work a while back and for my project, i made a frame and streched a t-shirt over the frame and simply painted the streched t-shirt with resin to create the outer shell and it came out great!

**C4M** · 07-11-2002, 10:50 AM

Originally posted by mikeinsanmarcos
I did some fiberglass work a while back and for my project, i made a frame and streched a t-shirt over the frame and simply painted the streched t-shirt with resin to create the outer shell and it came out great!

Which is how this work is most easily performed when making one off custom pieces, although for Arby's job, the stretched lycra method would be a little more difficult given the skinny nature of the bits he's made.

The only suggestion that I can add to the process that Arby (or Mike) are suggesting is to have some litle pressure packs of paint handy - a couple of different colours. Do your sanding, lay a light coat of paint, and then sand again. It's a handy indicator as to where you're at with the sanding, rather than just scrubbing away at the whole thing.

C!

**Arby** · 07-11-2002, 11:01 AM

Yeah. When you're sanding, it looks good until you put the paint on it. Once it's a solid color, you can see the imperfections. Then you go back to sanding.

**novalis** · 07-11-2002, 11:15 AM

Hey Arby... Where did you get the touch screen for your display? I ask because I'm starting with a Datalux box, and I've discovered that the touch screen is glued, or in some other "sneaky way" attached to the case. I'm wondering if you, or anyone else, has removed the touch screen from a Datalux display?

**mp3z24** · 07-11-2002, 11:16 AM

yeah the fibertek method is definately based on multiple production copies of the same piece...

but it doed give some good info on using tooling gels. if you remember back to ashley's 300zx fiberglass components... he used a foam (i think) plug which was coated with tooling gel. then he made his custom gauge pod using the tooling gel coated plug... it came out rather nice.

one other idea i liked was to use a clay or similar material to make an impression mold of the area... then you can sculpt the area to fit your needs. coat it with a tooling gel, lay your fiberglass cloth and then you have a near perfect surface, with close to perfect edges, all you hvae to do is paint and sand...which should be mimimal sice you started with a nice smooth surface for the mold....

oh well... i guess i will have to wait and see how well my "ideas" pan out when i finally get around to making my dash...

~mike

**Hella** · 07-11-2002, 11:46 AM

I saw the link at the [H] today looks very nice

**jzgt** · 07-11-2002, 02:53 PM

Yes, it's best to lay down a light 'guide coat' when final sanding a custom fiberglass piece. Use a contrasting color to best see the low spots.

- Jeff