fiberglass build help

[l1ukeRS]

right ive started my fiberglass build off, ive made false floor, sides and back, mounted my 2 rings for the subs now ive used a sheet for the covering material but its really hard to get it to cover well, whats the best material to use, ive heard about using like fleece stuff is that anygud?
cheers
luke

[reevesy_vtr]

stuff called mould fabric or fleece from a dress shop is the best as it stretches.

[l1ukeRS]

nice 1 mate

[mehmeh]

Yeh normal fleece material is commonly used although it eats fg resin so I try to stear clear, I always use a tshirt / similar material to get the shape and then build it up with fg matting once it's dried :)

[reevesy_vtr]

but isn't getting the mould fabric / fleece to soak as much resin the idea? also if you proper mould fabric it will not shrink when the resin goes off unlike other materials.

[mehmeh]

I think I'm right in saying it's more the glass-fibres that hold the strength rather than the resin so really you want to use as much of that as possible rather than other materials. For kick builds etc I've always found fleece to have plenty of strength but a subbox needs to be considerably stronger.

[mehmeh]

Oop; I've not had problems with it shrinking, using tshirt material although yeh I have seen thread about that problem however I'm not sure what they used.

[l1ukeRS]

the problem i found when i tryed it with a sheet is that it doesnt seem to be thick enough to give a decent covereage with no creases or sags, so im goinna use a heavier more forgiving material, and as for the fiberglassim gonna gert 100 sq feet of it off egay for like 15 quid so that aint a prob using loads

cheers again

[flee123]

my dad works with fibreglass everyday and he reckons that the fleece will be best as you need the strength fro it that you wont get from a t shirt or similar. the more resin that soaks in and the more glass you build on top of that the better. are you using a catalyst with your resin? oh and make sure you leave it for a good couple of weeks before fiddling with it too, to make sure it is absolutely solid fibreglass needs about a week to fully cure. hope that helps a bit and get some progress pics up too mate, sure it will look mint.

[Scott]

you can use anything, just compensate with the layers of fibreglass that you use. Some fleece soaked in resin will not be as strong as an extra few layers of glass

[l1ukeRS]

cheers guys, ive gotta double check it will all go back in the boot 1st as i cut and measured it all in teh boot then joined it outside the boot, looks like ive gotta take the back seats out to see if it will slide back in tho bit of a pain in the arse job as its 1 big thing
so hopefully if it all goes back in i will start the glassing over the weekend

[BBL]

its getting a bit cold to be doing fibreglassin? lol. get an old towel mate rather then forking out for fleece

[reevesy_vtr]

I got some fleece from a dress makers shop i cost fook all. I now use somthing called mould fabric it is even more stratchy but it is not cheap I used it when i made THESE.................. (http://public.fotki.com/reevesyvtr/saxo_ice_install/) you can see by the pictures the amount of resin they soked up and also how easy the mould fabric is to use. I know it is not that strong just with the mould fabric but as said b4 it was fine just for kick builds.

[mehmeh]

That's a good point about the weather, it's worth putting an extra amount of catalyst in otherwise it'll take a fair while to dry. When I used too little in the winter it took a week to dry where as a couple of hours with more.

[l1ukeRS]

cheers mate ill bear that in mind ill get sum pics up soon once my phone will connect to bastard pc :Y:

[flee123]

be careful if you decide to put lots of catalyst in mind to try and compensate for the weather. you could just leave it longer before working on smoothing and fitting equipment. too much catalyst leads to a 'hot mix' = smoke sometimes fire and dangerous fumes, so just be careful how much you use.

you gonna be putting pictures up mate, like a step by step progress thread? would be really good to see it all coming together.

[l1ukeRS]

yeah hopefully and cuz half is made with mdf and only the front piece will be fiberglass im hoping the fiberglass and mdf will bond together, if not ill have to glue it down or summat but at the moment im making it up as i go along, i have never even touched fiberglass matting or resin before but it cant be that hard liek spraying if you take your time and dont rush it should come out ok

alos i dont know if im gonna paint it or cover it yet

[mehmeh]

be careful if you decide to put lots of catalyst in mind to try and compensate for the weather. you could just leave it longer before working on smoothing and fitting equipment. too much catalyst leads to a 'hot mix' = smoke sometimes fire and dangerous fumes, so just be careful how much you use.

you gonna be putting pictures up mate, like a step by step progress thread? would be really good to see it all coming together.Haha yeh that's true, you would have to use a hell of a lot of it to get that effect though. I can't remember how much I used off hand but it was something like double the normal amount. If you use too little then it'll take days to dry and you'll be high everytime you go for a drive.