how do i mold stuff into fiberglass? like do a light weight trunk or something. i searched but couldnt find much. thanks

 

there are many ways to do fiberglass molding, a few years ago it was common to drape form fiberglass, meaning you dip it in resin and lay it on a prefabricated mold, the resin releases somewhat harmful gasses if exposed to it for years ie a fiberglassing molding facility worker, a way that they have cut down on the fumes is by a process called vaccum infusing, this is also the way that carbon fiber is molded, you create a vaccum mold of the part or shape you want, lay down your disred amount of fiberglass (layers) and cover it with a plastic sheeting, this sheeting has to be tightly sealed, there are many sealers out there, usually in tape form, the best i have found is called Tacky Tape, its pink in color and i believe if you search tacky tape you can find it, anyway, you seal the plastic sheet over the mold that has you fiberglass layed on top of it, and using a vaccum pump you vaccum the from the top of your mold, keep in mind you need to have put in a line at the bottom of the mold where your resevoir of resin will replace the air in the vaccum, you will proceed to pump out the air until the fiberglass apears to be drenched in the resin, now youll want to seal the resin intake line, and allow it to cure at a constant 14psi vaccum for the specified time marked on your resin container, also keep in mind that you will need to filter the vaccum line so that resin hjas no way to get to your vaccum pump, this will cause resin to solidify in your pump thus ruining it, after your part has cured release the vaccum and take off the sheeting, seperate your part from the mold if you have made a disposable mold, or if you have covered your mold with a nonstick substance, you can simply pull the part off, this is just an extremely basic run down of whats involved in vaccum infusion, there are many more things you need to learn, keep in mind it takes time to learn the ins and outs of working fiberglass and carbon fiber, you should start by simply laying out fiberglass on simply shaped objects to get a feel for what your working with, you can get a gallon of fiberglass resin right at autozone or advancedautoparts, not to mention any hardwarestore, or tractor supply, pick up some fiberglass cloth and read the directions on the back of the packaging, thats a good place to start, there are lots of books on fiberglassing, and vaccum infusion, or grow some ***** and give your local fiberglass company a call, search wikipedia, its really not a hard concept you just to be willing to search and read and make mistakes, so get crackin.

 

I have a lot of info on my composites forum if you're interested in learning.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondalover91crx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">there are many ways to do fiberglass molding, a few years ago it was common to drape form fiberglass, meaning you dip it in resin and lay it on a prefabricated mold, the resin releases somewhat harmful gasses if exposed to it for years ie a fiberglassing molding facility worker, a way that they have cut down on the fumes is by a process called vaccum infusing, this is also the way that carbon fiber is molded, you create a vaccum mold of the part or shape you want, lay down your disred amount of fiberglass (layers) and cover it with a plastic sheeting, this sheeting has to be tightly sealed, there are many sealers out there, usually in tape form, the best i have found is called Tacky Tape, its pink in color and i believe if you search tacky tape you can find it, anyway, you seal the plastic sheet over the mold that has you fiberglass layed on top of it, and using a vaccum pump you vaccum the from the top of your mold, keep in mind you need to have put in a line at the bottom of the mold where your resevoir of resin will replace the air in the vaccum, you will proceed to pump out the air until the fiberglass apears to be drenched in the resin, now youll want to seal the resin intake line, and allow it to cure at a constant 14psi vaccum for the specified time marked on your resin container, also keep in mind that you will need to filter the vaccum line so that resin hjas no way to get to your vaccum pump, this will cause resin to solidify in your pump thus ruining it, after your part has cured release the vaccum and take off the sheeting, seperate your part from the mold if you have made a disposable mold, or if you have covered your mold with a nonstick substance, you can simply pull the part off, this is just an extremely basic run down of whats involved in vaccum infusion, there are many more things you need to learn, keep in mind it takes time to learn the ins and outs of working fiberglass and carbon fiber, you should start by simply laying out fiberglass on simply shaped objects to get a feel for what your working with, you can get a gallon of fiberglass resin right at autozone or advancedautoparts, not to mention any hardwarestore, or tractor supply, pick up some fiberglass cloth and read the directions on the back of the packaging, thats a good place to start, there are lots of books on fiberglassing, and vaccum infusion, or grow some ***** and give your local fiberglass company a call, search wikipedia, its really not a hard concept you just to be willing to search and read and make mistakes, so get crackin.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

good info! only thing different is most companies that are in this market do not vacuum infuse because of how much more it costs and the training involved. 99% off all the carbon stuff coming from China are just overlayed carbon

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by carbonall &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

good info! only thing different is most companies that are in this market do not vacuum infuse because of how much more it costs and the training involved. 99% off all the carbon stuff coming from China are just overlayed carbon</TD></TR></TABLE>

thank you, and yes most companies could careless about the toxins, actually my father is the senior design engineer for taylor made marine, and in the gloversville NY plant they do alot of fiberglass work, from what my dad told me they actually have to pay per volume of gasses they put into the atmosphere, which is funny, but supposably true, and i did know this about the chinease carbon products, thats why it has a tendancy to have problem arears (bubbles, exposed fiber, divets) the reason being of course that the carbon was carelessly laid and the highspots were then in turn carelessly sanded, you just cant beat vacuum infusion when it comes to quality carbon parts, i have actaully started a little fiberglass project myself, i was reading i believe an inporttuner a few months back that had a guy that widebodied his FD3S RX7 for like 150$, this got me thinking for about 5 months and i decided to do it, so i stripped down the quarters and sprayed down some single stage urethane foam (storebrand GREATSTUFF ), shaped it to look like the crx (NOT THE REDICULOUS BLACKWIDOW ****), feathers the edges to stock to meet the bumper,taillights, sideskirts, and door, and fiber glassed over it, unfortunately i used some shitt fiberglass, so im getting my hands on 500sq/ft of a higher quality weave, not sure the count, but i can thank my dad for umm "borrowing" it from work. ill be starting a thread soon, i just dont want to embarass myself to much before i actually have something that resembles a crx again. thought i would just share it.