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turbothrush 02-02-2013 05:09 PM

Improve the bond - Fiberglass/Epoxy to Home Depot foam (extruded polystryene)
 
3 Attachment(s)
I did some testing on adhesion last winter and found rough sanding the foam was not the best solution for adhesion at least not with the materials that I used. Sanding may work fine on urathane foam, I don't know.

I should also say the test was only a peel test and I used the exact materials that I was using on my build. Foamular C-300 from Home Depot / U.S. Composites 3 to 1 thin epoxy 635 / 6 oz e glass fiberglass. I tested various grits of sandpaper from 220 down to 20 grit (had to glue the 20 grit to a block of wood and kind of twist it into the foam) as well as drilled holes and holes poked with a scratch awl also with and without 3m super 77 spray glue.

The only sample I saved was the one I found to give excellent results which was scoring the foam not rough sanding. I scored the surface of the foam with a stainless steel pet brush from the dollar store. This only seems to work well if you score lenghwise and what you are looking for is score lines like in the pic . If you use a plastic squeege to spead the epoxy it seems to "key" into the foam quite nicely and gives a really strong bond. So strong you can rip the cured skin of fiberglass (6oz.) before it will detach from the foam.

If you don't have a dog or cat then a gang of utility knife blades with some thin wood spacers between them works at least as well as the brush.

I realize that there is lots of other methods as well, like holes drilled or cut and wood dowels or blocks of wood inserted to join the two skins but the scoring method is nice if you have a large area to do like I did.
Just thought this might be of interest to someone since this bond is so critical to success.
Attachment 12402

Attachment 12403

Attachment 12404

nateshuntsvegas 03-11-2013 02:00 PM

This is great, this is exactly what I have been thinking of making for a long time. I have a 2000 Nissan frontier and its a 4 cylinder so not much power, also even so called light weight fiberglass campers are upwards of 2000lbs. Do you mind if I asked a few more details on the construction process? Did you use stringers or anything else to reinforce the foam or is it just fiberglass and foam? How many layers of fiberglass did you do inside and out? How much fiberglass and resin did this project take? Do you have any video of the process? Do you have more pictures of this project? I saw more on your other post but had more to do about aerodynamics than actual construction.
TIA
Nate

Christ 03-11-2013 02:57 PM

Neil's gonna have some scratching to look forward to methinks... lol

And after all that time spent nicely smoothing everything. ;)

turbothrush 03-11-2013 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nateshuntsvegas (Post 360741)
This is great, this is exactly what I have been thinking of making for a long time. I have a 2000 Nissan frontier and its a 4 cylinder so not much power, also even so called light weight fiberglass campers are upwards of 2000lbs. Do you mind if I asked a few more details on the construction process? Did you use stringers or anything else to reinforce the foam or is it just fiberglass and foam? How many layers of fiberglass did you do inside and out? How much fiberglass and resin did this project take? Do you have any video of the process? Do you have more pictures of this project? I saw more on your other post but had more to do about aerodynamics than actual construction.
TIA
Nate

I know what you mean about heavy campers.

Don't have a video but questions are no problem. Camper is still not done but I still work on it when I have time.

There is no stringers . I made all the panels on a large flat table made from used hollow core doors joined with biscuits(no glue). The table is important since all the panels index off the table if you want a camber in the panels or if you just want a flat panel. I used formular 300 foam from Home Depot which is 30lbs/sq inch crush strength.This seems to be enough with 2 layers of 6 oz cloth when weave is filled the microbaloons/cabisol on the outside. Inside just 2 layers of cloth.

I used duct tape for clamps and Gorilla Glue for gluing the panels together.
Attachment 12673

I let in hardwood blocks into the foam before glassing for attachments points for jacks , ladder , table ,tiedowns etc.

I will have used about 10 gal of epoxy and about 1600 sq. ft of fiberglass cloth(400 sq ft of panel area x 4 layers total ) and probably 3 or 4 gallons of microballons and 1 gal of cabosil for filler and gap filling glue.

Bare shell comes in at under 400 lbs. with windows
Fun project but big in more ways than one.

Xist 03-12-2013 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christ (Post 360759)
Neil's gonna have some scratching to look forward to methinks... lol

And after all that time spent nicely smoothing everything. ;)

Heh.

Hey, if I finally went out and ecomodded, would I earn disapproval if I shaped foam, but did not smooth it until after I laid fiberglass? Could you ever tell if it was as smooth as an android's bottom?

3-Wheeler 03-12-2013 01:45 PM

I wonder if it might be better to mix up a batch of micro-balloons and epoxy, and then work that mix down into the "grooves", then layup the glass and epoxy as usual? That way, the mix will weigh a little less than pure resin.

Thanks for the nice write-up !!

Jim.

nateshuntsvegas 03-12-2013 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbothrush (Post 360841)
I know what you mean about heavy campers.

Don't have a video but questions are no problem. Camper is still not done but I still work on it when I have time.

There is no stringers . I made all the panels on a large flat table made from used hollow core doors joined with biscuits(no glue). The table is important since all the panels index off the table if you want a camber in the panels or if you just want a flat panel. I used formular 300 foam from Home Depot which is 30lbs/sq inch crush strength.This seems to be enough with 2 layers of 6 oz cloth when weave is filled the microbaloons on the outside. Inside just 2 layers of cloth.

I used duct tape for clamps and Gorilla Glue for gluing the panels together.
Attachment 12673

I let in hardwood blocks into the foam before glassing for attachments points for jacks , ladder , table ,tiedowns etc.

I will have used about 10 gal of epoxy and about 1600 sq. ft of fiberglass cloth(400 sq ft of panel area x 4 layers total ) and probably 3 or 4 gallons of microballons and 1 gal of cabosil for filler and gap filling glue.

Bare shell comes in at under 400 lbs. with windows
Fun project but big in more ways than one.

Do you think it will be strong enough to have a walk-on roof?
What are your material cost so far?
How many hours do you think you have into the project so far?
Thanks for all the answers.
Nate

Varn 03-12-2013 08:35 PM

If you put a peel ply on any layer that you want to add reinforcement to it makes an excellent bonding surface for the secondary layup. It also adsorbs some of the epoxy which adds minimal strength. The strength is the fiberglass.

turbothrush 03-12-2013 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-Wheeler (Post 361018)
I wonder if it might be better to mix up a batch of micro-balloons and epoxy, and then work that mix down into the "grooves", then layup the glass and epoxy as usual? That way, the mix will weigh a little less than pure resin.

Thanks for the nice write-up !!

Jim.

Hi 3-Wheeler, Thanks for responding . I have done exactly what you suggest but only where I scored the foam on the tablesaw for bending. And I must say it creates the ultimate bond. Kind of like micro dovetails.
To be honest I never tried micro mix in the pet brush grooves but I will.

I'm trying to say away from polyester fillers entirely. After a sanded micro layer I am thinking maybe System Three epoxy primer then System Three lpu top coat. Manufacturer says it can be wet sanded and buffed which is something that I am already familiar with . I don't really need to go automotive topcoats since I don't need to do any color matching....Any thoughts or comments ?

3-Wheeler 03-12-2013 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbothrush (Post 361106)
....I'm trying to say away from polyester fillers entirely. After a sanded micro layer I am thinking maybe System Three epoxy primer then System Three lpu top coat. Manufacturer says it can be wet sanded and buffed which is something that I am already familiar with . I don't really need to go automotive topcoats since I don't need to do any color matching....Any thoughts or comments ?

Yes.

I use either West System Epoxy or U.S. Composites Epoxy.

I do NOT use any type of polyester resin. It smells, hard to mix because of having to count multiple drops, and eats the Foamular foam on contact.

The epoxy I use is mixed 3:1, and I use pumps, so it's super easy and pretty fool-proof too, works great with micro-balloons, and is very predictable in it's operation. Oh, and it does not eat the foam!

Jim.

turbothrush 03-13-2013 10:28 AM

Nate,
All the fiberglass suppliers have prices on their websites. I buy mostly from U.S. Composites and recommend them.

As far standing on the roof goes, I don't know I never tried it but should be possible if you put a camber in it during lay-up and maybe more layers of glass

Hours so far ... Not sure so I can't give you an answer. But it does not go fast and takes a lot of room in the garage. I took the project on to learn about lightweight construction and because what I wanted did not exist. Not even close as you have found (sub 1000 lb self-contained hardside truck camper ) Building a heavy camper would be a lot easier because the methods are more familiar to most people including me.


Varn,
Thanks for posting. I am familiar with peel-ply and its advantages you mention.



Just to clarify .. My original post was about improving the primary bond ,the glass to foam bond. It seems to me that the scoring gives extra insurance against delamination of the fiberglass skin from the foam itself as compared to sanding the foam without the scoring. It certainly made a difference in the materials I used for the test.
The only downside to this extra step (scoring) that I can see is what 3 wheeler has mentioned reguarding the extra epoxy used and its extra weight.

skyking 03-18-2013 12:29 AM

Thanks for all that. It has been one of my top concerns for my design.

jjackstone 03-18-2013 01:28 PM

Quote:

Just to clarify .. My original post was about improving the primary bond ,the glass to foam bond....
Maybe a giant vacuum bag to pull out some of the excess resin while still allowing for the good bond? Would probably have to regulate the vacuum at lower than maximum pull. A good shop vac could probably give enough vacuum. Finding/building a bag that big might be another story.
JJ


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