Bodywork panel thickness

[Chris Huck]

Hi all,
I had planned to do a epoxy/glass layup but have changed my mind (due to not being able to get my shed warm enough) and instead going to use Poly and CSM. What sort of thickness are most bodies, obviously the shape adds to the strength, was thinking along the lines of 1/8" inch where the strength is in the shape and up that a bit for more stressed areas, any ideas or thoughts welcome!!
Reckoned, gel + 1 layer of 300gm/sm + 3 layers of 600gm/sm and poss another layer where a bit of extra strength needed. I guess it is all a trade off between strength versus weight.

 

[Jack]

Chris, your planned lamination sounds good, with local reinforcing as needed. Most bodies that I have seen are either 3 x 600gm/sm or 4 x 600gm/sm. They do not need to be heavier than that IMO.

Make the windscreen pillars heavier too.

 

[Ian Anderson]

The Dax is not a lightweight but then neither am I.

The windscreen apperture had a cross section of about 10mm

Rear clip (where cut out for the 9 hole pannel) about 4mm

Ian

 

[Fred W Ballinger]

Hi Chris

I've only made a door so far, I used gell, tissue, 1 x 300, 2 x 600, plus another 600 strip on edges/returns, and that seems fine. Thickness came out between 3.0 and 3.5 mm

Cheers

Fred W B

 

[Chris Huck]

Thanks chaps, will give it a whirl and see how it turns out, just don`t wish to add excess weight for the sake of it!!

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Chris, can you use vinylester instead of poly? It is a lot better and I don't think requires the heat to cure that epoxy does. 3M vinylester is good. We had a lot of problems with the bodywork for my GT40 and it required a lot of repairs. The original construction resin was poly; we used vinylester for the repairs which so far seem much stronger than the original construction.

 

[Chris Huck]

Chris, can you use vinylester instead of poly? It is a lot better and I don't think requires the heat to cure that epoxy does. 3M vinylester is good. We had a lot of problems with the bodywork for my GT40 and it required a lot of repairs. The original construction resin was poly; we used vinylester for the repairs which so far seem much stronger than the original construction.

Too late!!! Already started with the poly afraid, will use Epoxy when the temp warms up in the Spring or early summer, even thinning 10% with acetone and getting the shed as warm as I could it just took an age to wet out, post curing is not the issue with it just the application !! I may have a dabble with Vinylester in future

 

[Jack]

Chris, keep in mind that epoxy will bond to polyester pretty well, but poly doesn't like to bond well over epoxy. Best to stick with one system throughout.