Fiberglassing Nightmare

[Dallas_Guy13]

I decided to fiberglass a box for my 2005 Dodge Ram Quad Cad. I went with a small MDF frame to lift the subwoofers out of the storage area under the back seat and put a an MDF top on the to put the subs in. The entire bottom will be fiberglassed to maximize space. I was planning and am still planning on posting pics when I was finished to show how it all turned out. I thought i woudl share one bump in the road first.

Resin and Hardener. What a nightmare. I used what was listed on the label to mix the 2. As I was applying the resin it started hardening as I was finishing the first application. Round 2 - I used less. Still the same problem. I made about 5 or 6 applications to finish off the first layer. The final app I used a little more than half of the suggested amount. It hardened faster than the first. I beleive it has to do with the fact that it is almost 100 degrees outside. So for anyone trying to do fiberglass be aware you might have a problem wit hthe hardener, possibly because of hot weather.

I will post pics when the nightmare is finished.

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[Dustin07 10+ year member]

that doesn't sound to bad. I was expecting to hear you say that you forgot to put down tape/foil or something and accidentally glued your new box to your floor with resin! (or something else bad...lol)

 

[fo0manchu 10+ year member]

yah, resin will harden ever so fast if its 100 degrees outside. But for a rule of thumb, for every quart of resin use about 5cc of hardener. This is at about 70 degrees and will take about 30 minutes or so to kick. I believe for every 10 degrees over it reduces the gel time in half. Something you can do to slow down the gel time is to put the container that you used to mix the resin in a bucket of ice to cool it down a bit. Good luck!

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

odd, my US composites Resin took maybe 30 minutes to harden. Too much MEKP... ...like WAY too much?

 

[ruckus]

heh I put too little my first time and it took 2 days for it to dry LMAO.

 

[HowLowd 10+ year member]

heat can be applied to make the item harden faster, so 100+ outside will definitely help. i use a heat gun to help curing...

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

heh I put too little my first time and it took 2 days for it to dry LMAO.

hahaha

 

[ra4u2nv 10+ year member]

thats funny! I followed the manufacturer directions to the T and it worked out perfectly considering the fact that it was 103 degrees outside. Weird I thought I was going to have problems as well but nope not at all. I had a horrible time with the matt though