Hey guys, once my exams are over i wanna make a custom parcel shelf because i have the speakers in there own enclosure at the moment because i really like the sound from the sub coming in the car via the precut speaker holes. I am going to make a custom shelf using fibreglass to still have the holes, for the sub sound but also make the speakers look good in there own enclosure. Anyways this is what i have learnt from the net and just checking that i have the right process, correct me if something is wrong.

First you mask up the area that you wanna fibregalss. What i am going to do to get some curves and stuff is use chicken wire to get the raised areas then cover it in masking tape. Then once i have done that put material on the tape. I have read to use some polyester or fine material as 100% cotton shrinks too much. Then i put resin on this marterial and let it dry hard. Then i put more resin and put the fibreglass matting on the wet resin and then apply more resin onto the matting. Then i keep applying coats of fibreglass matting not allowing for the resin to dry between coats.

Is this right, i am about 70% sure this is right but any of you that have done fibreglassing could you please confirm this process. Oh also once i have one this i would take it off the chicken wire so it doesn't sound crap.

Cheers guys

yep, thats basically it

some pics of other peoples amazing fibreglass work would be much appreciated, im trying to get myself motivated to do mine, and inspirations come from seeing what you guys do! also what is this resin stuff? and where would i get all the materials such as the fibre glass itself and this resin stuff
cheers
Jason

you can get the resin and chop strand mat from bunnings, and paint spot places like that,
on and i think super cheap and auto barn have it as well

but what is resin and what purpose does it serve

If you're doing this in the vehicle, take your seats out and wear old clothes. The fibre stuff can get pretty itchy and it infests anything and everything




check this out bro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibreglass

the resin is just like the glue that is used when you put it on fabric it hardends it, given that you mix the right amounts of resin and hardener together , other wise you'll be sitting their quite sometime waiting for it to "go off".

If yournot familiar with Resign then io suggest you dont start trying it by yourself. You must get the right combination of catalyst and resin and know how to work with differenty types of fibreglass product to get it to all come together.

Resin
Kahglass
Bodyfiller
Putty

Here are some pics of my fibreglass stuff (which most of you will have seen before)


<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6205919/79668364.jpg">

Inside bootlid

<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6205919/79657117.jpg">
<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6205919/79657167.jpg">


Door pods
<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6205919/79668306.jpg">

<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6851812/96186816.jpg">
<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6851812/96186787.jpg">

(not my work)
<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6851812/96184589.jpg">

<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/4481533/98779162.jpg">
<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/4481533/98630219.jpg">

<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6965654/91281605.jpg">
<IMG SRC="http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL555/2287184/6965654/92861923.jpg">
PS i'm lookling to sell my midbass pods that go under the seats if anyone is interested....

Sorry to crash YA thread...

How do you paint them to get that beautiful shine?

Just paint with regular paint (in my case kamelion) then a couple of clear coats.

The main thing is not so much the paint.. (well it is) but I'd say more so is the material your painting, any blemish will show through, you cant cover cracks, bumps, lumps and the like, make sure u sand and sand and sand! Start rough and sand the f**k outta it then move down a grade and again and again, finally use wet and dry with a bucket of water and keep going, paining is the very last step, theres hours of sanding to get something to shine realy nice. Getting and orbital sander or a drill bit equivelant will cut hours off this process. Thats my two cents.

For good and well explained tips and examples check out mp3car.com and have a gezzer at the fabiration threads there are some AWSOME tutorials on there from mild to wild and beyond!

Okay i making sure i am right with this part. What i mean by this part is, once the resin has dried on the thin material i put more resin and on, this wet resin on the dried resin i then apply the matting. I know my writing is hard to understand but bare with me.

Also pyroay what do you mean by the mixture of resin and catalyst. If i follow the instructions i should be alright and maybe because it is the middle of winter, maybe i should put a bit more of one of them. Which one should i put more of because it is colder? The resin or the catalyst?

Cheers

More catalyst cause its colder and will take longer to dry, I'll tell ya what, sunlight cures that stuff quicker than heat lamps and heat guns and the lot, if ur doing it at night wait till tomorrow and it'll take 1/2 the time!

And yes put resin on first and then when thats dry put the glass on with more resin, cause if u put it all on first run then the cloth will sag heaps, try to get the cloth as tight as possable and then resis and it'll toughen up pressy straight.

cheers mate, and nah nah, i am doing it in two weeks but its on my mind and will be on my mind for the next two weeks because i am excited about doing it.

Cheers everyone. Thanks for the help.

There are a number of cheep books on fiberglassing that are worth reading. Go to any public library and you will no doubt find a number of them.

Then your best bet is to practice on something small enough that you wont worry about tossing out after you learn to use the resin, catalyst and fiber. Making something small but useful as a first step would be ideal, maybe a small pod, box or speaker wedge in fiberglass.

Ideally, the way you do anything in fiberglass is to 1st make a mold which can be made of many differant materials including wood and plaster. Then lay (in the mold) a release wax followed by gel coat followed by the glass fibe and stipple the resin onto it (sometimes rolling with a special resin roller to remove air bubbles). For small jobs, a weaved fiberglass matting is better than chopped strand matting but for beginers it's harder to work resin into it on complex compound shapes with sharp corners. Probably the hardest thing is to design the part so that there is no mechanical lock between the part and mold

Obviosly the quality of the finished surface depends on the quality of the mold surface.. Note that if the mold is made of wood and plaster, you may find it easier if it is painted as this and the wax stops the resin soaking into your mold - just use compatible paints). As stated, surface finish of the mold dictates the finish of what you make, so as said in an earlier post, sand, sand, sand until your happy with the mold finish. If you don't want to see the woven surface of the matting, there are very thin and finly woven matting you use against the gell coat. As for surface color, you can use pigments on the first layer of gel coat that you lay on the mold surface and the final product will have this color

The great thing about making a mold is that once you have done it, making lots of copies takes very little time So get a bunch of mates (that are interested in doing a similar install) and work together on the mold making - it's not hard.

Really, the last thing you want to do is to cover your parcel shelf in resin and fiberglass s**t and have it set in place and then be unable to remove it because resin has dribbled everywhere Do it outside the car

As a final note, buy your supplies from a specialist fibergalss place and you will get much more resin, catalyst, fiberglass and acetone for the similar money as say a small patch kit from bunnings or supercheep auto.

Cheers