Fiberglassing Q

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Okay, I looked through alot of the fiberglassing tutorials posted in the sticky.

Got a Q fo the proz... I'm going to be making fiberglass doorpods and I'm going to be making them all the same, and I'm making as many of them as possible, all for the same make and model of car.

Do you HAVE to use fiberglass mat? Or is it acceptable to use solely fiber such as fleece, with resin?

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[jsntarrant 10+ year member]

resin alone will not be sturdy enough, and eventually it will crack...that said, you could use thixotropic powder mixed with resin to sturdy it up

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

resin alone will not be sturdy enough, and eventually it will crack...that said, you could use thixotropic powder mixed with resin to sturdy it up

LOL //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif not sure what that is... Would one layer of mat be enough for doorpods?

 

[PowerNaudio 10+ year member]

i sugest using fiberglass mat to make the enclosure tuff instead of flees. if youre goin to make several enclosure using a mold. the thixotropic powder is ok, have used it plenty on times. i hate how it mixes with the resin, use a respirator if youre going to use that stuff.

if you dont care of how the inside will look but are worried about strength and want to keep cost down, i have use sawdust instead of thixotropic powder. it mixes very very good. and it is strong as hell.

just my 2 cents.

edit: use flees to start it off with the shape you want. the do several layers with fiberglass to make the enclosure strong.

 

[jsntarrant 10+ year member]

thixotropic powder...AKA cabosil, aerosil...sold on ebay, uscomposites.com or boatyards...

i would use minimum of 3 layers of mat

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

for doorpods. i used very thin extremly stretchy material such as pantyhose.

what i did with mine, was i cut a piece of 1\2" wood to a little smaller than the size of the hole for the stock speaker and made a bracket that sat back far enough just not to hit the window. then i took aluminum foil and pushed it way doen in this hole and up to the level of the door panel and taped it all down. then i took some FLEECE (spell it right people) and i put it over the hole, and pushed it in with my piece of wood, and bolted the wood to my little bracket i made out of aluminum stock.

then i stretched the fleece up to the level of the door and hot-glued it down and resin'd the crap out of it. i put ~2 layers of matte on there and that is my rear mould.

i cut that to the shape i wanted then i make my flushed speaker ring and aimed that. i used the pantyhose material to get my shape because if you use something thick like fleece it will screw up your rear shape when you stretch it over the rear mould because its too thick.

then i resind that and put 2~3 layers of matte on and i carpeted it.

it was easy, i did each pod in about four hours (not including dry time)

heres a graphic i made a while back to show how i did it;

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Crap, no matter how I look a this it keeps getting more and more expensive.

Sawdust sounds like an idea, it would be pretty much free, but I'd need at least some fiberglass mat to make the pod withstand shearing forces.

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

for doorpods. i used very thin extremly stretchy material such as pantyhose.
what i did with mine, was i cut a piece of 1\2" wood to a little smaller than the size of the hole for the stock speaker and made a bracket that sat back far enough just not to hit the window. then i took aluminum foil and pushed it way doen in this hole and up to the level of the door panel and taped it all down. then i took some FLEECE (spell it right people) and i put it over the hole, and pushed it in with my piece of wood, and bolted the wood to my little bracket i made out of aluminum stock.

then i stretched the fleece up to the level of the door and hot-glued it down and resin'd the crap out of it. i put ~2 layers of matte on there and that is my rear mould.

i cut that to the shape i wanted then i make my flushed speaker ring and aimed that. i used the pantyhose material to get my shape because if you use something thick like fleece it will screw up your rear shape when you stretch it over the rear mould because its too thick.

then i resind that and put 2~3 layers of matte on and i carpeted it.

it was easy, i did each pod in about four hours (not including dry time)

heres a graphic i made a while back to show how i did it;

Should be a sticky.... Very helpful, thaks man //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

yup, hope it helped a bit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif