Well to start, those kits will work. Might not get too far with it.
You need to remember, fiberglass gets its strength from, you might this, FIBERS. The resin itself is brittle and cracks. But adding in the fibers greatly improves strength and flexibility. Using too much resin just results in a mess!
Personally I prefer the fiberglass "hair" as opposed to "woven mat". I fullly prep the surface before hand(wipe clear of dust) and check the surround area. You don't want items around you value. lol You also don't want kids, animals, etc around either. You can't fiberglass inside, and you don't want to fiberglass over a worktable or garage floor. COVER UP!
This also includes yourself. You need to invest in disposable gloves, "charcoal" breath mask (at minimum), and a face shield. You could use goggles, but you only get fiberglass on your face once. And if you're me, you'll place your own skull cave into it. :-(
Best Personal Protection equipment I recommend are the following: Tyvex Suit, charcoal breath mask, face shield, Paint stripper/chemical gloves, over top the chemical gloves use latex gloves. It sounds excessive, but its well worth it. Latex gloves over top the chemical gloves for two reasons. Chemical gloves cost 100 times more than latex. So throw away the latex and your chemical gloves stay clean! Second, chemical gloves cover your forearms. You really don't want fiberglass on your body. Trust me!!!
If you don't want to buy a tyvex suit, an old set of shoes, jeans (full leg, NOT shorts), long sleeve sweatshirt (or hoodie), and an old beanie (skull cap, etc). I like the Tyvex suit because it can be used for lots of stuff and you can just keep it in the garage. Cloths always seem to find them way back into the house/laundry. (doh)
Okay with that out of the way, two more things:
Ensure where you work will be above 60-65F. Make sure its not inside your home, make sure it has good ventilation. Make sure other people know that this terrible odd smell is fiberglass. People kinda freak if they smell weird odors. The last thing you'll need is a neighbor calling fire police because of an "odd odor".
And now:
Cover surface in a way which make it removable. Aluminum foil + aluminum tape are great! Tape is more expensive ( alot more) but its stronger, sticky backed, and will adhere to surfaces (useful for molds in Styrofoam)
To mix the fiberglass I like to use small dishes like cream cheese dishes. You do not want to mix alot at a time. Small quantities are better! If you can't use what you mix, it goes to waste.
When it comes to ratios, I've always found it better to use extra MEK (hardener). Too little will leave you with jelly, jelly which never dries. Don't get trigger happy as well. Too much MEK and the resin will turn into a brick in less than a minute. Always look on the labels to get proper, or close to proper ratios.
So whats the easiest mixer? I count my drops of MEK on a plastic spoon, thus preventing the hardening process till i am ready. Then dunk the spoon into your cream cheese dish of resin and stir for good 30-60 seconds. Again, if you don't mix well enough you'll have hard spots and jelly spots. (Age will worsen this result. Never try to store fiberglass resin/MEK for more than one year.) And the spoon is a throw away for each mix. You could reuse the spoon, but usually it ends up stuck to whatever you set it down on!
Now the easy-ish part. Using a regular bristle brush (1", 2", etc). Dip your brush in the resin, wipe excess off into the dish (don't drip all over the place). "dampen" the surface of your work in small spot. Stick a small piece of hair onto the spot. Don't press your fingers in, avoid getting sticky. The hair should stick to the dampened fiberglass. Now tap the brush into the hair. You will visibly see the fiberglass hair get coated by resin. Re-dip your brush if you need to. The trick is not to use too much resin. Just enough to hold the hair in place, while there is a coating on both the top and bottom of the hair.
continue onto the adjacent spot (up,down, left, or right). Dampen the surface, place the hair while giving adequate overlap. Tap the brush on the top to coat the entire piece.
Repeat this process to you cover your work, or your resin is starting to harden up. You will know when this occurs! Stop working the fiberglass when it does. Its time to clean your brush!
I use a "double dip" acetone clean when I fiberglass. I have two small tubs of acetone. The first I dunk the brush to swish it around and let it sit. This will remove most of the fiberglass. This brush usually soaks until i finish the next round of fiberglass. at which point, the second brush hits the first tub. I tap out the first brush, wipe it clean with a paper towel, and dunk it into the second acetone tub. This will give you a very clean brush! Then the third round of fiberglass gets the third brush into first tub, the second brush goes into the second tub, and the first brush should be clean enough to reuse.
So if you got one layer, and you got your brushes clean, you can either continue onto the 2nd layer or let this layer dry. You may have imperfections. It happens. I usually let my layers dry, then hit them with the sand drum on the dremel. The spot will be flat again and you can patch up the badness on the 2nd layer.
The # of layers depends on what the part is, where it will be used, etc. If you going for bumper,skirts, etc, a minimum of three layers. Don't forget the piece may need webbing for support. A large sheet of fiberglass will have flex, so you may need to make a ridge on the back of the piece. Its part the design process.
Hopefully this is enough to get you on your way. Look on youtube as well. There are a FEW good fiberglass videos on there.
Today
Other popular topics in this forum...
