gonna start fiberglassing

[Hilikus Funkin]

I bought a bunch of stuff today to begin experimenting with fiberglass. I got 10 50cent brushes, can of resin, big fiberglass chop mat, dremel tool with adjustable speeds up to 35k rpm with extra bits, 1 yard of fleece, tack cloth, sandpaper, wooden rods, and paint primer and clearcoat. Anything else i would need? I have a question about the fleece though. This is really fuzzy stuff and it was $4 a yard. How can it be used if its so fuzzy? I was looking at felt but everyone used fleece from what i saw on here, so i got that. And also what should i practice on, i was thinking maybe just taking my dads old door panels from the t-bird and trying to make fiberglass pieces to replace the cloth that fell off.

[TheSilentChamber]

what are you wanting to do?

[Hilikus Funkin]

i just wanna make like speaker pods and maybe my center console. And from there I wanna do alot and just have fun with it while makin my car more custom at the same time. Maybe some day Ill make a custom dash but i want to keep it simple for now.

[TheSilentChamber]

blah I hit the wrong button... rest of the post...

Fleece is used because it stretces in all directions, it wont be that fuzzy when you soak it in resin, and besides fiberglass is going on top of it. if your wanting a smooth final surface your going to want some fiberglass cloth insted of mat, or your going to need an electric sander. Your going to need a big box of rubber gloves also. Go and visit someone at the hospital and steel the box off the wall, thats what I do. Dremels use abrasive bits that dont work well with fiberglass, it leaves the edges fuzzy, but it can be used. I would recomend a jigsaw with a find tooth metal cutting blade though. Your probly going to need some body filler, I recomend Bondo Ultimate, its a polyester filler thats lightweight and sands easy. If your wanting to use molds and bucks your going to need more stuff.

[Hilikus Funkin]

oh i got gloves, mixing cups, and my dad has an electric sander that i can use, and i think he has a jigsaw. I have some bondo hair left over from when i shaved my emblems, but that shit is a pain in the ass to use, but would probably be good with this stuff, just not as a filler. And i can get fiberglass cloth for like $4 for a big sheet. Courtesy of Walmart.

[TheSilentChamber]

pods are fun, that was one of the first things I'v ever made, now i'm pretty much a composits guru (hoping to make an entire kevlar bodyed ford escort this winter, money allowing).

Your going to need some MDF and Foil.

Take the foil and place it your floor and along the kick panel and such were you want the pods to be, making sure to cover everything and tape it down with masking tape, may want to do two layers sence its your first time. Now cover the general area you want your pod to cover with resin and then start layering up the fiberglass till its around 1/4" thick, do both sides and let it harden till its no longer tacky. Now take them out and shape them for the base. Now if you want an organic (rounded free flowing shape) take and make an MFD ring cut to fit your speaker and take your wood rods and position it the way you want it and use hotglue to hold the rods to the base and to the ring. Now stretch the fleese over it and staple to the ring and glue to the base (you can glue to the ring but it usually makes the mounting surface uneven.Take a box cutter and cut the fleese out from the inside of the ring. Now soak the cloth in resin and start layering up your fiberglass till its about 1/4" thick. Once it hardens sand it smooth and paint.

If you want the front to be flat, simply cut a piece of MDF the shape of the base and screw it to it and seal around the edges, then sand and paint.

[Hilikus Funkin]

oh yeah whats a good place to get MDF? And about how much will it cost?

[TheSilentChamber]

lowes/home depot. Its around $20 a sheet. that was a few weeks ago, due to the hurricanes it may have gone up a few dollors. A few years ago when there was a bunch of hurricanes it got up to like $28 a sheet. This is for 3/4", for pods you could use thinner. I allways buy 3/4 so I can make boxes out of it. They may let you buy half or quarter sheets insted of a full 4x8 sheet, they will with plywood but I dont know about mdf.

[Hilikus Funkin]

thanks alot man, oh yeah how would I put lettering into the fiberglass. Like how on the CRX door panels it says CRX, or like in custom upholstery (sp) they put designs like flames or lettering.

[TheSilentChamber]

We did flames on a buddy of mines door panels long time ago. Used masonite (thin, like 1/4" thick wood) and cut out the flames and glued them to the doorpanel then went over it with thin layer of fiberglass. Its easer to do if your covering it in vinyl or some sort of cloth, then you cut it out and glue it to the design and then attach the design to the panel.

[ci5ic]

I use lycra, it's much stretchier than fleece, and allows you to work with more complex shapes. It's not as sturdy as the fleece after you coat it with the resin, but it's still pretty strong, especially after a few layers of glass are applied...

[TheSilentChamber]

For really odd complex shapes I use wire mesh, you can make any shapes you want to and it doesnt distort when you start layering up the fiberglass.

[Hilikus Funkin]

i was thinking about wire mesh bc i used it to make a model of a church tower type of thing out of clay for school. Turned out pretty good but the clay was brittle. But with fiberglass it would be alot stronger.

[TheSilentChamber]

I used wire mesh on the outside of a console I made for an s10. Sprayed it with mold release before putting it on then after the resin had cured I went back with needle nose plyer and peeled the wire mesh out so it left a diamond pattern over the whole thing, looked like fish scales... kinda sweet looking.

[Hilikus Funkin]

oh yeah i had a question, since alot of interior parts snap into place how would the fiberglass pieces stay on? Screws?