How do you fiberglass?

[Sspider 5,000+ posts]

quick questions, has been buggin me for abit, does the fiberglass stick well to the w0od, i was thinking that the edge where the end of the glass meets the w0od, it would come apart, there causing the while thing to come apart and seperate in two?

please enlighten....

sspider

 

[98greenlude 10+ year member]

no sspider fiberglass sticks to **** near EVERYTHING. you would just glass over ur wooden frame making sure u overlap it alot....then just cut the extra off. make sure u cover anything that u dont want to end up throwing away. fiberglass heats up when its mixed with the hardener, so if ur using plastic cups for mixing they will just melt down and be stuck to what ever its on.

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by spiffy182 lol, no i ment in making a custom fiber glass install, do you make a box then frame it how you want it to look then fiber glass it?

It really depends on what kind and the shape of the enclosure your making. If your going to make a simple enclosure. I would stick to using MDF. But if you want to build an enclosure that is molded to the sides of your trunk. Then there are a couple of ways to accomplish that.

One method is to make a frame. Then stretch fleece over the frame. Soak it in resin. Then build up the inside with mat and or cloth.

Another is to make a mold. Then lay the mat and or cloth on the mold. Build up a couple of layers. Then remove the mold. And once again build up the thickness.

Then My favorite way if I'm building an enclosure that conforms to the sides of the trunk or something. I like to tape up the area where I plan on putting the enclosure. And the surrounding area to protect it. Then put on a couple of layers of mold release on the tape. Then start laying the mat on the tape. After a couple of layers the piece will be strong enough to remove so you can work on it outside the car.

If you have flat sides or a large flat baffle. I would suggest using MDF for these parts. It's alot easier than trying to get the fiberglass completely flat. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by 98greenlude no sspider fiberglass sticks to **** near EVERYTHING. you would just glass over ur wooden frame making sure u overlap it alot....then just cut the extra off. make sure u cover anything that u dont want to end up throwing away. fiberglass heats up when its mixed with the hardener, so if ur using plastic cups for mixing they will just melt down and be stuck to what ever its on.

I use plastic cups all the time. if your plastic cups are melting. Your mixing the resin to hot.

And yeah manresin sticks to wood/MDF REAL well. And just about anything else that's not completely smooth. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Sspider 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by ramos I use plastic cups all the time. if your plastic cups are melting. Your mixing the resin to hot.

 

 

 

And yeah manresin sticks to wood/MDF REAL well. And just about anything else that's not completely smooth. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

alright, thanks a bunch, the sticking part always got me wondering....

i have a golf, so my trunk space is small, i want to make the largest box possible, but keep in mind, i dont want to lose all usability of the trunk...

how do i figure out the volume on not so flat areas..... like the sides of the trunk and areas like that....

sspider

 

[Savant 10+ year member]

Originally posted by Sspider alright, thanks a bunch, the sticking part always got me wondering....

i have a golf, so my trunk space is small, i want to make the largest box possible, but keep in mind, i dont want to lose all usability of the trunk...

how do i figure out the volume on not so flat areas..... like the sides of the trunk and areas like that....

 

sspider

Mostly guess.. you can try to get as many 'boxes' out of what you have for space, and add them all up.. Or, make the boxes (the real glassed in ones) and fill it up with something like foam peanuts or something and then measure those.. If you have too much volume, you can put stuff in in it to fill the space.. Just make sure that your estimate is 'under' the actual as far as deciding if you can do it.. That is, if your guess (conservative) is 4 cubes, and you need 5, you won't make it.. if you get 4 and need 3.5, you can go big, then fill in..

Or, you can fill the space with foam peanuts without the walls there (tape up plastic where the edges of the outer box will be).. and remove some for the 'walls' and 'seperators' etc.. Or, if you don't mind the stink and potential mess, plastic/tape off the entire space you want to glass in, and fill it with foam spray sealant like Good Stuff (foam spray).. it's sticky and messy and expands a LOT, so be careful if you go that route..

For mine, I did the estimate thing.. and have plenty more space than I need (I thought I'd be lacking).. so I'll go full size then fill..

Good Luck //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Sspider 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by Savant Mostly guess.. you can try to get as many 'boxes' out of what you have for space, and add them all up.. Or, make the boxes (the real glassed in ones) and fill it up with something like foam peanuts or something and then measure those.. If you have too much volume, you can put stuff in in it to fill the space.. Just make sure that your estimate is 'under' the actual as far as deciding if you can do it.. That is, if your guess (conservative) is 4 cubes, and you need 5, you won't make it.. if you get 4 and need 3.5, you can go big, then fill in..

 

Or, you can fill the space with foam peanuts without the walls there (tape up plastic where the edges of the outer box will be).. and remove some for the 'walls' and 'seperators' etc.. Or, if you don't mind the stink and potential mess, plastic/tape off the entire space you want to glass in, and fill it with foam spray sealant like Good Stuff (foam spray).. it's sticky and messy and expands a LOT, so be careful if you go that route..

 

For mine, I did the estimate thing.. and have plenty more space than I need (I thought I'd be lacking).. so I'll go full size then fill..

 

Good Luck //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

i'm gonna need all the space i can spare //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif , and gonna need to be as close as possible to the actual volume because i am gonna port around 32-35hz...

sspider

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

i use the peanut method myself most of the time. I start with a box completely packed full of peanuts. That way I know the volume of the peanuts before hand. Then I dump as many boxes full as I need to fill the area. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Sspider 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by ramos i use the peanut method myself most of the time. I start with a box completely packed full of peanuts. That way I know the volume of the peanuts before hand. Then I dump as many boxes full as I need to fill the area. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

ahhh nutsss, peanuts....

i threw out allllll my peanuts i had from all the shipping boxes, nutss...

gonna do that tho...

thanks yall

sspider

 

[ryan_feine 10+ year member]

hey everyone fiberglass stuff is watertight unless you really screwed up thatd be the most acurate way to check volume just make it and fill it up then cut the sides off till its down to what you want then put the mdf on front

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

You can use water. I would suggest removing the enclosure from the car first. The only reason I don't use water is the weight. 3 or 4 cuft of water is quite heavy //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I'm a lazy b!tch //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Sspider 5,000+ posts]

not to mention, dats alot of water that will just end up washing down the driveway....

sspider

 

[Savant 10+ year member]

Originally posted by ryan_feine hey everyone fiberglass stuff is watertight unless you really screwed up thatd be the most acurate way to check volume just make it and fill it up then cut the sides off till its down to what you want then put the mdf on front

And that can only be done AFTER it's built.. if you want to see 'how much of the area' you need to build the box, you have to get an idea of the volume FIRST.. *shrug*

 

[TRANSAMCHARGER 10+ year member]

So you make a wood frame, put on streched fleece, lay fiberglass strips of matting on the frame, what is the resign for?

 

[TRANSAMCHARGER 10+ year member]

Oh yah how much total would it be to make it for 2 12" subs