for newbs: Some fiberglass tips as I go along

[konechiwa 10+ year member]

alrighty so I attempted to start my fiberglass amp rack today. Key word attempted. I had one of those regular white-mask over the nose and mouth type resperators, (the cheasy 2 dollar ones, except it was for fiberglass). Yeah that shit don't work.

So some tips I may pass along so far:

Be careful when you cut your mat. It can fall apart if you twist and rip on it, so go slow, and cut just a little at a time so it doesn't fall apart on you.

GET an actual resperator The ones that cost like 40-50 bucks at home depot. Those are the ones. If you've never done fiberglass like me before, once you smell that resin it's like a hammer hits your nose. that shit is NASTY. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif 20 seconds without a good resperator was enough to make me stop. Plus it looks like it's going to rain. But that was secondary.

DONT GET THE FIBERS ON YOUR SKIN. It itches like a *****! Make sure you wear gloves and vacuum up all the excess fibers that are laying around in your garage, car, whatever. It's nasty.

Before you start, sit yourself down and get a game plan. What are you going to accomplish on this outing? What do you need to look out for? How can you make it easier for yourself in the future? What else do you want to add? remember that so it is easier to do it in the future.

And as always, cover your shit up and have a good work space.

Later today i will go and get a resperator (a good one) from home depot, some dowels, the dremel bit to cut fiberglass, and other stuff.

TO BE CONTINUUED.

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[phyphoestilic 5,000+ posts]

http://www.fiberglassforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

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[TylerBD12 10+ year member]

good luck man, i made a fiberglass amp rack back in september for my old camaro. It wasnt all that bad.

 

[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

i read it is best not to cut you glass mat. instead to tear it. that way the fibers may somewhat interlock when your are overlapping and resining them down. the more frayed ends the better. when tearing the glass make multiple sizes. like pieces the size of a dollar bill. and patches the size of say a CD. that way when you lay your glass you have pieces to work all around with and not HUGE pieces all the time.

when glassing it's good to lay 2 layers per session, and do not over resin your glass. just add enough resin to soak the glass. what i did when i did my trunk i would just dip my brush in a little resin and run the brush along the surface just to get a thin sticky layer, then lay mat on the desired location so it could hold the position, then resined the applied mat.

OH. when applying resin use a technique as they call on fiberglassforums.com as "Stippling". basically to soak your mat thoroughly you dip the brush in a little resin and poke/stab it into the mat to push the resin through, what it also does is help get the tiny air bubbles out. don't brush resin into the mat like your painting. stab it through.

good luck with your amp rack.

here's what i did to my trunk. needs to be repainted but it was my first time ever glassing. i did learn a lot though.

http://fiberglassforums.com/showthread.php?t=2203

 

[Crzy 10+ year member]

hmm i love the smell of resin i glassed my doors in my closed garage with no resperator or anythign for thta mater not even gloves. i dont find the matt to itch at all, nor do i find fiberglass insulation to itch maybe im special. but yea the best tip is to not mix ur resin to hot or else it will harden up on u as ur trying to spread it which is beat same for the bondo

 

[dragnix 5,000+ posts]

i don't use a respirator even when i sand bondo, i'm gonna get lung cancer for sure //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

But post some pix also, interested on how this goes //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif