Re: materials and fiberglass basics

Members of another forum at pinoyboats.org are the expert in fiberglass. The materials are not available at Ace or Handyman. Fiberglass cloth is readily available at Polymer products.

To bind the cloth together, you have a choice between polyester or epoxy resin. Polyester is what the bumper makers use, although the boatbuilders use epoxy. Polyester is a lot cheaper than epoxy. These are two part resins, meaning you mix a resin with a curative agent.

To make the battery case, you need to make some kind of mold. A plywood male mold that is collapsible from the inside will be sufficient. Then coat the plywood male mold with a release layer so that the polyester will not stick to the mold. You can use cling wrap. Then apply the glass cloth followed by brush coats of polyester. Since polyester resin is foul smelling, a chemical mask can be used. After the first coat of glass, more coats of fiberglass can be used until you have a thick enough layer.

If I were you, I'll make a composite box. I will make the plywood as the inner layer, followed by one or two layers of fiberglass in the inside and outside of the box. But for this to work, you need to use epoxy as polyester doesn't adhere too well to plywood.

These is a brief outline of the steps to make the box. A post to the pinoyboats forum may give a more detailed account.

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

What you need are the following
1) Fiber mat (ito yung pinaka fiber glass parang banig) but sold in per kilo. Meron din iba ibang thickness to. Go for the thinest one. Kung wala pde rin naman yung makapal. Pede naman himayin fiber mat into thinner layers

2) Resin (eto yung liquid na tumitigas at tumutunaw sa fiber mat para maging fiber glass)

3) Hardener (ito yung papatigas ng resin) mga 1(part hardener) is to 20(Resin) ang mixing ratio na ginagamit ko. It hardened the resin fast so you need to mix what you can finish applying.

4) A lot of Laquer thinner (this will serve as your washer for your paint brush ) Pag di nyo kasi niliniss every after application yung brush titigas din yon parang bato.

5) Basahan pang punas ng brush

6)Paint Brush(at least 2pcs) yung isa pang apply ng resin yung isa pang brush off ng fibers na dumidikit sa skin nyo makati kasi yon. Kung pupunasan mo lang ng basahan baka lalo dumikit sa balat nyo.

7) Wax - when it dries this serves as your separating film between your mold and fiber glass finish product. Thicker the better. Apply at least three layers with at least 3mins time interval.

8) Scissors/cutter- good enought to cut thru hardened excess fibers

9) 2 Mixing contanainer (plastic bottle of coke litro hatiin mo na lang pede na)
yun isa half fill mo ng laquer thinner pang babad ng paint brush.

Sa pag gawa ng fiber glass different condition calls for different approach kanya kanya ng diskarte. For example sa fairing na kokopyahin mo. Since ang kailangan mo makopya eh yung outer surface nya. Kailanagn mo lag yan ng wax yung outer surface then you can start laying fiber galss and apply resin one area at a time until you cover all. manipis lang muna para madali matuyo. When it dries out pede mo na tanggalin pero di pa yan ang finish product mo that will serve as your actual mold. Pde din na din yan lalo kung isa lang gagawin mo kaso yung smooth surface na kailangan mo eh nasa loob at lalaki ka ng konti sa actual size plus mas maghahabol ka sa masilya para kuminis yung outer surface. So ang gawin mo apply mo wax dun sa inner surface ng actual mold mo lay ka uli ng another layer of fiber glass. Pag tumigas na yun yung na yung finish product mo. This time makinis na yung outer surface mo at pede mo sya kapalan applying extra layer of fiber glass sa sa loob.

Ingat lang bro sa Hardener (cobalt kasi yun) higly dangerous. It tiny droplet can penetrate layers of your skin. Tsaka maedyo matapang you should do this in an open and well ventelated area (layo mo rin sa mga bata).

😉 😉 😉

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

+1 for you Pawl!

thank you very much for your very informative and helpful post!

:applaud:

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

wow! thanks 🙂

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

panalo! 🙂 salamat sa tips pawl & hot daddiy!
any leads to where i can buy fiberglass mats, resin & hardener? (aside from Polymer, as mentioned in another forum)

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

POLYMER PRODUCT INC. lang ata mura, I think may office pa sila along edsa near pasay taft, yun resin R10-103 tawag nila , for the mat CM-450 tawag nila, yun hardener PP-MERK

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

Polymer products also has a website click http://www.polymerprod.com/we_aim.htm to know where their branches are.

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

Wow, I can start modifying my car bumper, thanks to all... Materials were available in Cebu pala...

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

the following link is the video i uploaded on fiberglass of polymer products inc:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TvYrCgtf54

then a similar video on how make a fiberglass mold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEa5_WHQZo0

maganda dun sa second video is the use of a liquid plastic (PVA apparently) coat before putting the gelcoat. mas napapadali ang pagkakalas ng product from the mold.

there are also other video links you might want too see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSfftRVKwYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s80aYo3esQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5hgStrvaOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62AGalE5P6g

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

^nice find dude!! keep it up 😉

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

Polymer Prodts is conducting a hands-on seminar every month (usually a thu-sat session)....a basic and an advance seminar (2 different schedules every month).

I have attended the basic seminar already and found that it is indeed very useful (even for a hobbyist) for business.

They also provide a "how-to" manual (although it was partially discussed in the video) for these (there are many other topics related to polyester resin and fiberglass uses). I'll try to scan them next time and post it also here.

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

nice video. but is it just me or the guys from PPP really didn't have any PPE with them while they were handling the materials? I wonder if this would be the same case too during their basic and advance training courses. I'm planning to take the course for the month of August, once they've sent me their schedule for said month...

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

i don't remember them mentioning any PPE ... what do you mean by PPE?

is it Polymer Polyester Epoxy?

if you meant epoxy... well they did mention that the use of epoxy is needed mostly (or only) on repairs of fiberglass finished products.

if you mold the thing properly, you would hardly need any of these expoxies at all.

Re: materials and fiberglass basics

personal protective equipment - e.g. hand gloves, mask, etc. for handling the chemicals and protecting one's self from the fumes.