Fiberglass

[Shankenstein]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

Lol that video makes it look so easy...

I know... it's a bit unfair to show only the fun parts.

They don't include the scenes where you're itching for the next week, how it destroys your clothes, how it dribbles everywhere, how everything smells, how much resin you've wasted by catalyzing it wrong, how some areas take WAY too long to cure, and how to handle the "oh poop" moments when the weave starts to open up.

@hypercarfanatic - I'd start with flat panels. 2-5 layers of e-glass cloth on a plexiglass, sheet metal, or anything else flat. Then move up to conforming shapes (like overlays) using chopped strand mat. Convex first, then concave. Once you can do concave surfaces and still maintain a good fiber fraction... move up to molds. This is where it becomes an art form. You can build in some features like ejector pins, draft angles, and safe zones for yanking.

It's easy to get excited and forget about safety, but remember that alot of these chemicals are fumy, exothermic, and itchy. Resin will stick to you, burn you, then rip off your arm hair. Sounds like one of my ex's...

[hypercarfanatic]

Originally Posted by Shankenstein

I know... it's a bit unfair to show only the fun parts.

They don't include the scenes where you're itching for the next week, how it destroys your clothes, how it dribbles everywhere, how everything smells, how much resin you've wasted by catalyzing it wrong, how some areas take WAY too long to cure, and how to handle the "oh poop" moments when the weave starts to open up.

@hypercarfanatic - I'd start with flat panels. 2-5 layers of e-glass cloth on a plexiglass, sheet metal, or anything else flat. Then move up to conforming shapes (like overlays) using chopped strand mat. Convex first, then concave. Once you can do concave surfaces and still maintain a good fiber fraction... move up to molds. This is where it becomes an art form. You can build in some features like ejector pins, draft angles, and safe zones for yanking.

It's easy to get excited and forget about safety, but remember that alot of these chemicals are fumy, exothermic, and itchy. Resin will stick to you, burn you, then rip off your arm hair. Sounds like one of my ex's...

Thank you for the safety info! Ya, that doesn't sound to fun. I am actually quite allergic to fiberglass (learned this the hard way when I went to a family reunion and found a pile of cutoffs. Jumped in it, wearing shorts and a tee, because it looked fluffy. A couple hours in the ER and a week later, I vowed to never touch it again. Oh well :P).

I know I should (an am going to) start slow, BUT you know what would be really cool? Building some kind of organic shape that connects the rear front seat bolts to some kind of lifted platform over the center console. I could finally mount all of the stupid electronics that I want to.....dammit this stuff is cool.

[wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by hypercarfanatic

Thank you for the safety info! Ya, that doesn't sound to fun. I am actually quite allergic to fiberglass (learned this the hard way when I went to a family reunion and found a pile of cutoffs. Jumped in it, wearing shorts and a tee, because it looked fluffy. A couple hours in the ER and a week later, I vowed to never touch it again. Oh well :P).

Damn, I didn't know it was an allergen, I thought it was just an irritant... It's literally melted and micro-extruded glass strands, it might be the coatings on some fiberglass that caused a reaction... What kind of reaction did you have? The fiber particles (essentially tiny, tiny splinters that look like dust) get into your skin and physically cause rashing and itching, and getting the fiber dust in your lungs can wreak havoc and create scar tissue because they embed and shred the lining in your lungs over time.

Originally Posted by hypercarfanatic

I know I should (an am going to) start slow, BUT you know what would be really cool? Building some kind of organic shape that connects the rear front seat bolts to some kind of lifted platform over the center console. I could finally mount all of the stupid electronics that I want to.....dammit this stuff is cool.

That's the best thing about composites, the possibilities are literally endless.

[hypercarfanatic]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

Damn, I didn't know it was an allergen, I thought it was just an irritant... It's literally melted and micro-extruded glass strands, it might be the coatings on some fiberglass that caused a reaction... What kind of reaction did you have? The fiber particles (essentially tiny, tiny splinters that look like dust) get into your skin and physically cause rashing and itching, and getting the fiber dust in your lungs can wreak havoc and create scar tissue because they embed and shred the lining in your lungs over time.


That's the best thing about composites, the possibilities are literally endless.

It could of been - we didn't spend much time analyzing the fiberglass in the ambulance :P as for reaction, I can't remember very much because it was such a long time ago, but more than moderately painful, and (because I got it essentially all over me) I looked like I had a really bad, red sunburn everywhere. As far as I know, I don't have any inside me, that just sounds awful