i have a 13" x 4" setrab cooler in the front of my car... its been up and running with no ducting so far. id like to make a fiberglass shroud to duct the air out the bottom......

so - reading east coaster's fg cooler shroud thread i think this is a great idea....
BUT
i know nearly nothing about fiberglassing....

i have no problem shaping a nice foam "plug" (what kind of foam should i use?) et.....

so if someone could give me a run down on procedure such as...

Plug / release agent/ fg cloth/ resin / cloth / resin

they have a fiberglassing kit at FLAPS, 32 oz resin, 8 sqft fg cloth, hardener and maybe some matt was in there also - dont remember...

so any help you could give me would be much appreciated

AA

Fiberglass & Composite Materials by Forbes Aird, HPBooks

A good reference for all thing fiberglass, esp. wrt use on cars.

I have been interested in doing my diffuser out of composites as well. I went last week to a shop that makes composite parts and talked with the owner for a bit. He reccomended I look at the information pages/tutorials at FiberGlast as a way to get started. He says they are pretty decent for starting out.

-Tony

Make a form (GENUINE Styrofoam. ), lay a piece of mat on the form, slather it with resin till it's soaked, lay another piece on, slather it up, repeat until everything is covered and it's thick enough.

QUOTE (McMark @ Feb 28 2006, 11:04 AM)

Make a form (GENUINE Styrofoam. ), lay a piece of mat on the form, slather it with resin till it's soaked, lay another piece on, slather it up, repeat until everything is covered and it's thick enough.

matt or cloth? how thick should i make it?

If you use styrofoam (which is styrene) to make the plug, you can't use commonly available polyester resin, as the resin will attack the foam, since the solvent in polyester resin is also styrene solvent. You'll need to use epoxy resin, which is more expensive and trickier to use, but stronger. You can, after the resin is cured, dissolve the styrofoam by pouring in styrene solvent.

Another way is to use polyurethane foam (surfboard foam), which will hold up to polyester resin. However, you'll need to cover it in mold release, or you won't be able to remove the foam afterwards, unless you chip it away. There's basically no solvent for polyurethane, so you can't dissolve it.

For what you want to do, one layer of woven cloth should be plenty. Anymore and it will be heavier than necessary.

PM sent

We made these...
very easy technique great results.

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Feb 28 2006, 02:25 PM)

If you use styrofoam (which is styrene) to make the plug, you can't use commonly available polyester resin, as the resin will attack the foam.....

A cheat around this is to cover the foam plug with a thinned out white glue and water mix, cover with paper, paint a few more times with the glue mix, let dry and then glass. The paper is stuck in there, but if it's on the inside no one will notice.

QUOTE (Aaron Cox @ Feb 28 2006, 10:05 AM)

matt or cloth?

its mat

If you use polyester resin (which is what you got at FLAPS), wear a mask. You will have a nasty headache. I would also suggest some latex gloves. You can use Pam or WD-40 for a release agent. When you are done, you can use bondo to smooth out your work and make it look purty.

Search car audio sites, those guys do a ton of fiberglass work. Its fun stuff to work with. You don't really need to know anything.

Good audio site for fiberglass products.
https://selectproducts.com/

Here is a couple of good tutorials from JL Audio site
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.ph...php?page_id=140

Work outside, wear old clothes and gloves, know temp and humidy and calculate correct catalyst, use disposable containers for mixing/storing, avoid plastic cups and spreaders, and use spare scissors that you don't mind ruining.

For curves and corners, make cuts in the cloth and test fit BEFORE adding catatalyst to resin. Use wood spreaders (popsicle stick or free paint stir sticks) to get ALL bubbles out of corners and in between mold - push them out the edges. Don't be afraid of pouring on too much resin, try to catch it in your bucket before it gets on drop cloth - re-use. With thick cloth you might want to do a sanding coat of resin once main form is dry to cover all exposed grainy texture of the cloth- Adding pigment to this final coat makes for a nice finish (Pigment weakens resing a little, so good for final coat but not on entire project).

I've made 2 skimboards out of my broken longboards - fun!

QUOTE (ChrisNPDrider @ Feb 28 2006, 11:11 AM)

use disposable containers for mixing/storing,

I used Beer/Soda cans for this. Cut the top off and they make great containers for mixing resin. Don't mix more than you think you will use at any time. I have 2 pairs of scissors that still have fiberglass strands stuck to them. So definitely use old scissors.

Also use smaller pieces and pre-cut them as much as possible. Otherwise you will find yourself stuck to the mat, whatever you are mixing with, your scissors, and whatever you making all at the same time. You will avoid weird creases with smaller pieces too. You can always add more mat to cured fiberblass.

One more thing......(sorry I just keep thinking of stuff), I use cheap paint brushes to apply the resin. Buy a bunch of them at Home D.

Basically, the stronger the weave, the stronger the result. So loose fiberglass strands (kitty hair, etc) is the weakest, but the easiest to work with. It goes into corners much easier. A random weave mat would be the next step up, stronger, and a little bit harder to get into tight corners. A regular, square weave mat would be even stronger and harder to get into tight corners. Get a few various widths of mat. Use the big stuff for big flat areas, but it's nice to have some thinner stuff for tighter areas. I would make it 5 or 6 layers deep. 1 layer will be very very flexy if you're using the square weave mat.

Just give it a try. The materials are cheap.

Anyone have a good source for large sections of polystyrene foam?

QUOTE (McMark @ Feb 28 2006, 05:35 PM)

Anyone have a good source for large sections of polystyrene foam?

Don't you mean GENUINE styrofoam

A couple fo things.......

1) All of the aforementioned advice is good.

2) Simplistically, I see two options for a foam/fiberglass project. One option is using expensive foam (Urethane)and cheap resin (polyester), the second is using cheap foam (styro) and expensive resin (epoxy). From a buget standpoint, it's basically a wash.

3) I lied, there's a third option. You can use cheap foam and protect it from the polyester resin using various methods (metal tape, clear packing tape, plaster, bondo, modeling clay, joint compound, boogers, etc..) This gives the foam a protective layer and also provides for a better interior finish to your end product if you're able to successfully remove whatever substance you use????

4) I lied again, there's a fourth option. Test the resin on the foam you choose and see if the attack rate is tollerable. This is what I did on the oil cooler project that got you into this mess to start with I did a test lay up on a small scrap and decided I could tolerate the small amount of attack. This was for a "one off" sacrificial plug and it netted the part I wanted. Some of this has to do with using the appropriate mix and avoiding a "hot batch" when you do your lay up. Remember more isn't better when it comes to harder (mek).

5) I would recommend not using more resin than necessary to properly saturate the cloth. Any extra resin really does nothing to strengthen your part, only makes it heavier and help attack the foam.

6) Cloth.......Mat is the easiest for you to work with and will be plenty strong for what your trying to make. I usually just tear it with my hands rather than using scissors ( see gloves recommendation above...). This allows you to feather the edges where peices meet and avoids hard edges. It also lays down better. Bi-directional is stronger and looks better, but be prepared to fight contours, turns and bubbles. Not really a problem if your familiar with glass, but for your first project it'll just make it tougher on ya'.

7) I purchased the foam for my plenum project at a craft store (A.C. Moore) and found it in the section for flower arrangements (yeah, I felt kinda gay ). They had 4" thick, 14" x 36" pieces for 12 bucks! I used the pink insulation foam from Homer Depot before, but it really hates the polyester and needs to be protected somehow. I've also used part A/part B expandable urethane foam (great stuff). The aircraft cowling in the pic below was created using this type of foam and coating it with joint compound prior to lay up.

8) Good luck...........and post pics!!

Oooh, a booger form. I'm going to have to start saving!

Step 1. Go to Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. The book somebody already listed is usually in the (always unsorted) automotive section. It's a great read, and the chairs are comfy. Anyway, the book definitely makes me wanna do some fiber reinforced polymer work. (You do know, of course, that "Fiberglass" is a trademark of Owens Corning ?). Anyway, the book describes all the materials and techniquers for doing really nice work. For a duct or whatever, you can be a bit more of a slob. Adding on to what was said above, if you use styrofoam, I believe the book says that plain old latex paint makes a nice protective layer. Also, you can shape the foam roughly the way you want, then go over it with Bondo or plaster and make it as smooth and perfect as you want.

Oh, and the resin is basically a two part epoxy, and has all of the nastiness that goes with that. Gloves mask, fresh air, and check ebay for a spare kidney or two.

Anybody else that's this kind of stuff, post some pics....

sounds like foam, clear packing tape (to protect the foam), a few layers of cloth, poly resin... and go have some fun.

ill go see that book on fiberglassing...

keith - ill call ya tonight.

thanks for the help guys. sounds like a fun project - even if it sucks, ill learn something

Another good source of materials is Aircraft Spruce and Specialty, located in Corona,California- Aircraftspruce.com. They have a good free catalogue with info on glass reinforced construction. I also think they have a good website. The floral foam someone mentioned earlier is the easiest to use for a mold. It is very soft, and can be contoured very easy with just a knife and sandpaper. In fact, the final sanding of a piece can be done with another piece of foam. Pieces of this foam can be glued together with bondo, or quick set epoxy, etc. Just keep the glue away from the final surface, so there will not be a hard glue spot to make the final shaping more difficult. The floral foam is also soft enough to fairly easily remove after the glass layup has hardened. It can be coated with plaster of paris after sanding the foam to shape (and then final sanded smooth) to give a smooth surface that will in-turn be transferred to your molded "fiberglass" structure after the mold is removed. the floral foam can be used with either epoxy or polyester resin (the kind you can buy at the local car parts store). Polyester resin is usually easier to use, as you can have it so that it hardens in a matter of 1 hour or less, whereas most of the epoxy lay up resins usually need to cure over night. Some epoxy resins can cause allergic skin reactions, and protective gloves should be used. Odors on epoxies are usually very minor. Polyester resins usually do not cause the allergic reactions on skin, but have more of a styrenic smell. For making relatively small layups, only moderate ventillation is required, but I would not do any inside your house. The fiberglass mat material is easier to use, but is not as strong, and does not look as nice. An open weave glass cloth can be very easily laid up by someone new to this, and get a pretty good looking part. Kevlar and carbon fiber cloths are much harder to work with. Good Luck, Joe