Fiberglassing

[Kevin Carey]

Bonding Gulf flares to body,and any other parts. I have been to the search part of this site. Looking for how to and any real expriance as to the application of two glass parts . To start the bond is it with rivits or screws?I have my own thoughts, any other ideas? Thanks ,Kevin

[Bud]

Kelvin

The bonding of fiberglass can be done in a number of ways, but first make sure that the components to be bonded are ground up and clean.

the two items can be
screwed together through the front face, or you could 'hot glue' the parts together with wooden block (remember to put masking tape on the surface where you want to pat the glue or you might damage the gelcoat).

I hope this helps

Bud

[Bill Musarra]

Kevin,
Visit with a good boat shop or fiberglass repair shop. These guys are usually pretty friendly and are a wealth of information. Try google as well. I found the ultimate person on engine turned panels that way and saved myself a ton of time and expense. There was a program on TV that was devoted to boats and their repair and upkeep and it routinely had to do with fiberglassing and fiberglassing techniques.

Bill

[SpyderMike]

On my plane, I am bonding using 3M DP460 epoxy and then filling with Superfil and using and epoxy sealer and UV Smooth Prime. The epoxy sets up pretty slowly, so there is decent working time. I got the non-sag version of the epoxy and the applicator gun. It is real easy to place and stays there - it does not run. The filling sealing and smooth prime process is detailed in a pamphlet from Polyfiber. I bought all of the materials through www.aircraftspruce.com.

In some cases I have riveted and bonded. I used countersunk aluminum rivets backed the material with aluminum or brass rivet washers. I then filled over the rivet heads with Superfil and you can't tell they are there.

Mike

[Peter D]

Kevin, a mate of mine restores Corvettes & therefore does a lot of grafting new panel sections to old ones. To butt-join panels, his method is use bolts & nuts with large diameter washers to hold the panels together - just a half-hole in each panel for the bolt. Lots of fine tuning the alignment, then tighten up the nuts.

Next step is to grind back the edges of each panel in between the bolts - a chamfer of about 1" back from the edges. The V section formed by the 2 chamfers is then half filled with increasingly wider strips of f/glass mat/resin & consolidated with a roller. (Masking tape is often used under the joint to stop resin running thru).

Once these sections have hardened, he takes out the bolts & repeats the grinding/glassing process where the bolts were.

Then the rest of the V section is filled with continuous strips of glass/resin to about 1/8" above the panel surfaces. After plenty of time for curing, the excess is sanded off & you end up with a perfectly stable & very strong joint.

The choice of resin is an interesting one - so many theories ! My mate has found that ordinary polyester resin is ok on the early polyester-based Vettes if the panels are in good condition - if they are not so good, he finds that vinyl-ester resin gives a better bond. On his top-quality jobs, he now only uses the vinyl-ester. I am told that it is ok to use epoxy resin to bond polyester panels, but never to use polyester resin to bond expoxy panels.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[David York]

You can find a lot of good information about this process at the Gougeon Brothers, makers of west system epoxy. THey have loads of books, materials and instructional videos on Fiberglass lamination and repair.

Try http://www.gougeon.com/

[Kevin Carey]

Once again , I come to this site and ask a question and........... IT'S Answered! Gotta Love it Thanks to all on the replys . Kevin [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]