Fiberglassing my own bed cover

[junocdx 10+ year member]

This isn't really concerning audio... other than that I need the bed cover for it. But anyway...

I want to make my own bed cover. I had originally planned to go with just a big piece of MDF and treat it with some sealant and paint it or something. But now I'm thinking that.. since I've been wanting to experiment with glassing, that I want to make my own out of fiberglass. Now my question is.... how would I make just a big, perfectly flat sheet of fiberglass? Like I keep trying to apply what i know about making enclosures to it and I cant figure it out. If someone could give me some ideas, please do so ASAP.

Thanks lots guys

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[kobra15 10+ year member]

I don't really have a definitive answer for ya, but i'm just starting in fiberglass myself, and it's not as easy and glamourous as it looks, the resin is a pain, and to make something as large as you are talking might be quite a bit of work.......just my two cents worth //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[Slaymon 10+ year member]

You might try measuring out the dimensions of your bed. Then if you have a garage(willing to keep empty for a week or however long it take), you could kinda do like they do for cement. Build kind of like a lil wall support. Lay big piece of plastic with some sort of Nonstick stuff to the plastic. Pull the plastic tight then set the walls for the edges up. Then get lots of resin and fiberglass mat.

When I made a fiberglass box I found it easier to rip apart the fiberglass mat into small pieces then mix it into the resin. Then pour it into a mold. Then you could just get a spreader and smooth it out after its poured.

Just an idea.

 

[Gauntlet 5,000+ posts]

Also, remember that fiberglass is it's strongest in curved shapes....so making a perfectly flat surface out of it sort of defeats the purpose.

 

[the_flatlander 10+ year member]

think outside the box

 

[jbl_marshall21 10+ year member]

think outside the box

nice

do i hear a rhino lining calling?

 

[junocdx 10+ year member]

I'm thinking that I'll just get a sheet of like 1/2 inch MDF or something, and fiberglass OVER it. Just get a huge piece of cotton fleece and pull it over the entire piece of wood.

I've read a lot of stuff on fiberglassing lately.. and I probably have NO idea what I'm really getting in to, but I dont think it is really that hard. Not from what I've heard so far. The only reason I would be fiberglassing OVER the wood, is to be able to give it a really smooth surface that I can paint and make look really good. That way it wont look like wood. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

If anyone else has any ideas for me... let me hear them. The main thing I'm looking for is a very slick and smooth surface on the bed cover that I can paint and make look really good. If glassing isn't the way to go or there is something better.. please tell me.

Thanks for all the replies guys!! OH! About how long does it usually take glass to harden? I was told only a couple of hours.

 

[Q45guy 10+ year member]

I don't mean to sound like an *** or anything, but why don't you just buy a fiberglass bed cover? If you don't get one with all the gizmos they aren't really all that expensive. If your dead set on building one yourself...I suggest you goto a truck accessory store and look at a manufactures bed cover's construction. They have aluminum beams under the fiberglass to hold it up. A big sheet of fiberglass wide enough to make a bed cover is gonna sink in the middle. You need bracing or its literally just gonna self destruct the first time you drive down the freeway. It'll ripple and wobble...then eventually fly to pieces. Here is a picture of a bed cover with underlying frame...

 

[the_flatlander 10+ year member]

If you glass it and then you paint it when you put stuff in your gonna scratch the paint

 

[junocdx 10+ year member]

I don't mean to sound like an *** or anything, but why don't you just buy a fiberglass bed cover? If you don't get one with all the gizmos they aren't really all that expensive. If your dead set on building one yourself...I suggest you goto a truck accessory store and look at a manufactures bed cover's construction. They have aluminum beams under the fiberglass to hold it up. A big sheet of fiberglass wide enough to make a bed cover is gonna sink in the middle. You need bracing or its literally just gonna self destruct the first time you drive down the freeway. It'll ripple and wobble...then eventually fly to pieces. Here is a picture of a bed cover with underlying frame...

Ok.. well define inexpensive. The cheapest ones I've seen that were really good were like $500+ I can get a sheet of MDF for $10. The stuff to glass it for maybe $50 at the most. The rest of the lumber or anything else I'll need would probably come to $40-50 also.. because I'd have to get the hydrolic lifts for it. That would only be $110. Heck... $150 or $200 would be better than buying one for $500. Atleast then I can look at it and think about how dang good I am all the time. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif And I didn't say anything about JUST a big piece of glass. I said glass over the wood.