Fiberglassing Tips? - Page 2

corsamel · 07-16-2003, 10:12 AM

pcman: sounds interesting.. can u post the pics up and comment if possible.

pcman · 07-17-2003, 05:10 AM

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...threadid=15118

thats what im building
its ready to cover with carpet now but ive had to rebuild the head on my engine so its been put on hold till i have some spare cash

cheers
pcman

gork · 08-06-2003, 01:36 AM

Here is my dash woes. I don't know the best way to go about this:

My plan is to build a small part that will bolt into the factory dash's area for the radio and climate controls. It's quite a bit wider than double din and a little higher too. There is a factory bracket that I can remove and use as a base to build up from. I want to match the stock dash's contour and edges.

I am going to mount a 7" Xenarc in the middle, a slimline slot-load drive above that, and a row of buttons (robbed from a broken OEM part) below or beside.

My plan is to remove the plastic bezels from teh xenarc, optical drive, and button panel face and hot-glue them into position in the frame. Next, I have to fill in the gaps. What is the best way to go about this? Some of the gaps will be 3" wide or more and there are all kinds of sharp angles (some 90 degrees) that I'll have to create to match the OEM pieces. Should I attempt to put some fiberglass backing in with no form and then use some kind of filler to build it all up? I want it to be very strong and rigid when completed but still match the matte black plastic.

frodobaggins · 08-06-2003, 02:11 AM

use cardboard covered in fiberglass

nobdy · 08-28-2003, 07:43 PM

Anyone ever heard of a release agent? We've used it with molds when injecting resin. It basically provides the resing something to stick too, that wont stick to yor mold. For some types of resin, in a pinch you can use Pam cooking spray.

I'm accustomed to working with composites(aircraft work) which is basically fiberglass over some type of core, for homebuilt project it's often just foam. shape the foam, apply resin w/ a thickening agent(flox) to the foam, then apply the coth,and another coat of resin.

I've made several consoles, anda couple of complete dashboards this way. Using the foam you can get any shap you want.

If anybody has any questions I can help with, let me know.

Jeeve5 · 12-19-2003, 01:57 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by frodobaggins

use cardboard covered in fiberglass

Another idea might be to use this faom you can buy in a spray can. I don't know the English name for it, but it is used to fill the wholes between the wall and the door frame when buidling houses, for example.

Use this foam and let it dry. You can cut it to the right size later and add a few layers of fiberglass.

Just my 2 cents, especially since I haven't tried it myself yet :-p

Rob_Quads · 12-22-2003, 06:30 AM

I have used the wood frame + stretched cloth + resin + matting layers to great effect on my last few stereo installs. if anyone has any questions just send me a mail and i will try my best to answer them

Soon I will be looking at making up a hosing for my new touchscreen.

Here are a couple of examples of my work

Carbon:
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~rob.../interior4.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~rob.../interior6.jpg

Normal
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~rob.../interior2.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~rob...temp/206-1.jpg
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~rob...temp/206-2.jpg

frodobaggins · 01-01-2004, 01:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Rob_Quads

......

Nice

_dopehead_ · 01-13-2004, 05:20 AM

Just a little tip i learned while doing very oddly shaped fibreglass things. Try putting your subject into a plastic bag, tie the end around a pipe, prefrably with a valve that can be closed on it, then use a vacuum cleaner to make a vacuum in the bag, and the fibreglass will stick like crazy to the shape of the mold you are trying to use.

Jan

jermaine · 01-13-2004, 06:11 AM

I would like to make an nice frontbumper of fiberglass,

Does somebody have nice ideas,proyect or sites?

greetzzz

mp3z24 · 01-13-2004, 08:06 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by _dopehead_

Just a little tip i learned while doing very oddly shaped fibreglass things. Try putting your subject into a plastic bag, tie the end around a pipe, prefrably with a valve that can be closed on it, then use a vacuum cleaner to make a vacuum in the bag, and the fibreglass will stick like crazy to the shape of the mold you are trying to use.

Jan

just make sure that the vapors from the curing process are not flammable!!!! no one wants to hear about a guy blowing up his place b/c he was vacuuming up combustable gasses...

also, unless you take the bag off quickly, wont the bag stick to the surface...

~Mike

mp3z24 · 01-13-2004, 08:10 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jermaine

I would like to make an nice frontbumper of fiberglass,

Does somebody have nice ideas,proyect or sites?

greetzzz

you would probably be better off starting from a stock bumper, rather than starting from scratch. the big key here is going to be making both sides exactly identical.

i suspect, the best way to get a nice design is to negative mold one (read: expensive and time consuming). basically, you would form a mold that the bumper could fit into, and then carve out every last detail that you want to be in the finished product. but it would be a negative copy of the bumper.

then after a lot of mold preperation, i.e. sanding, smoothing, polishing... you would be able to lay the fiberglass into the mold. and after several layers... you will have a bumper. with this process you can also reuse the mold to make more of the same item... until the mold wears out.

like i said, that would give the best results... but it would be VERY expensive for a low production run.

~mike

zvi · 01-29-2004, 04:51 PM

I am trying to mold the Lilliput screen to my dash also, I am using the fiberglass polyester (?) and first time, have a look, not completely done yet, I have not much to fiberglass, only the frame:
http://zvi.home.ge/pics/?dir=vextra

masch · 03-10-2004, 12:27 AM

zvi,

case.jpg
case_fitting.jpg

How did you make that? By yourself? Or by market available parts?

Chairboy · 03-21-2004, 07:45 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jeeve5

Another idea might be to use this faom you can buy in a spray can.

I've been using that with my dash project, and I have a tip: Don't do too much at once. It needs air to cure, and if you use it to try and fill a big void, it will always have a juicy center that can't wait to turn into foam.

I did this last night with my project (where I'm building an additional 'hump' on my Regal dashboard to house a lilliput) and by this morning, it looked like I had a perfect foam filled mold. I pulled the fiberglass + foam piece off the taped & foiled off dash and brought it upstairs to work on it. While cutting into it, my knife stuck, and when I pulled it out I found it had goey, uncured foam stuff on it. Of course, that stuff, now exposed to air and humidity, began to harden. Since the piece was no longer attached to the dash, the expanding foam warped the fiberglass base, so it no longer fits.

As a result of this, I am now re-doing it with A: More then 1 layer of fiberglass and B: Adding foam one layer at a time and letting it cure. I already made the fiberglass base and have left it attached to the dash. It has a layer of foam in it curing right now.