crafty with fiberglass
 

My experience with fiberglass is only in basic boat repair. I am a
student of architecture, and I am looking to experiment with the
material's translucent properties for my thesis project. I would like
to make sheets of fiberglass. So I have 2 questions. Firstly, onto
which material could I place the fiberglass (with resin mixture) to
dry without it bonding to it? Secondly, how can I manipulate the
translucency of the material without changing the thickness of the
individual sheets? Any suggestion would be most appreciated.
Thank you.
Melanie

a piece of glass would work. but for larger pieces i would build a work table
out of plywood, then "hot coat" the work surface with resin to make it smooth.
With a nice coat of wax you could make panel's to your hearts content!
Jared Crane

You could use a sheet of plastic stretched and taped to a smooth flat
surface. Use a slotted roller (West Epoxy Products) to work out the air
bubbles. Can't tell you which type of resin would be the most translucent.
Wet out each layer well.
"Melanie" wrote in message
m...
My experience with fiberglass is only in basic boat repair. I am a
student of architecture, and I am looking to experiment with the
material's translucent properties for my thesis project. I would like
to make sheets of fiberglass. So I have 2 questions. Firstly, onto
which material could I place the fiberglass (with resin mixture) to
dry without it bonding to it? Secondly, how can I manipulate the
translucency of the material without changing the thickness of the
individual sheets? Any suggestion would be most appreciated.
Thank you.
Melanie

On 10-Nov-2004, (Melanie) wrote:

Firstly, onto
which material could I place the fiberglass (with resin mixture) to
dry without it bonding to it?

You can use plastic sheets, but have to be careful which plastic you
choose. Polypropylene and polyethylene will be good, polyester (Mylar)
will stick. Alternatively, you could use a smooth surface that is
coated with a release material like PVA - polyvinyl alcohol (not
polyvinyl acetate).

Secondly, how can I manipulate the
translucency of the material without changing the thickness of the
individual sheets?

You can use additives to change the degree of translucency or opacity.
Colloidial silica will make the resin change from clear to white depending
on how much you add. You can also experiment with gel coat pigments. They
add colour as well but the degree of opacity varies. Ditto artist's
pigments. I'm sure there are a lot of other materials you could experiment
with.

These kinds of materials (except the artist's pigments) should be available
from a good supplier of fiberglassing products.

Mike

Where do you get gel coat pigments? I've got a few dings I'd like to fix
without repainting the whole boat.
"Michael Daly" wrote in message
...
On 10-Nov-2004, (Melanie) wrote:

Firstly, onto
which material could I place the fiberglass (with resin mixture) to
dry without it bonding to it?

You can use plastic sheets, but have to be careful which plastic you
choose. Polypropylene and polyethylene will be good, polyester (Mylar)
will stick. Alternatively, you could use a smooth surface that is
coated with a release material like PVA - polyvinyl alcohol (not
polyvinyl acetate).

Secondly, how can I manipulate the
translucency of the material without changing the thickness of the
individual sheets?

You can use additives to change the degree of translucency or opacity.
Colloidial silica will make the resin change from clear to white depending
on how much you add. You can also experiment with gel coat pigments.
They
add colour as well but the degree of opacity varies. Ditto artist's
pigments. I'm sure there are a lot of other materials you could experiment
with.

These kinds of materials (except the artist's pigments) should be
available
from a good supplier of fiberglassing products.

Mike

On 11-Nov-2004, "MMC" wrote:

Where do you get gel coat pigments? I've got a few dings I'd like to fix
without repainting the whole boat.

The same place you get gel coat usually - any decent marine supply shop.

Mike

First part:
a good release surface that is commonly used is "tile board"
this is available in 4'x8' sheets at home centers. This is the stuff some
people used to make inexpensive shower enclosures and the like. Wax it up
good with paste wax like Johnson's polish out and repeat several times. You
can make large( up to 4x8) sheets of frp lay-up easily with this. As others
mentioned, plastic sheets can be tricky as polystyrene resin contains
solvents that can attack a number of plastics. The title board is CHEAP!!
and it works good.

Second part:
most boat fiberglass supply stores have pigments for the resin. The pigments
are expensive but since you just want to tint it, shouldn't be too bad. Do
some online searches for mail order frp suppliers if there are none in your
area.
try people like www.fiberglasssupply.com



--
Ron White
Boat building web address is
www.concentric.net/~knotreel

Yes but gelcoat will not work, it has no wax. What you need is top coat.
Gelcoat is just polyester resin.

Jacques.
www.bateau.com

"Michael Daly" wrote in message ...
On 11-Nov-2004, "MMC" wrote:

Where do you get gel coat pigments? I've got a few dings I'd like to fix
without repainting the whole boat.

The same place you get gel coat usually - any decent marine supply shop.

Mike

Jacques,
My idea is to use West Epoxy with the pigments to fill small chips and
cracks.
MMC
"Jacques" wrote in message
om...
Yes but gelcoat will not work, it has no wax. What you need is top coat.
Gelcoat is just polyester resin.

Jacques.
www.bateau.com

"Michael Daly" wrote in message
...
On 11-Nov-2004, "MMC" wrote:

Where do you get gel coat pigments? I've got a few dings I'd like to
fix
without repainting the whole boat.

The same place you get gel coat usually - any decent marine supply shop.

Mike

Ah! I see that fiberglasssupply sells epoxy pigments! Thanks for the link!
And good info on the "tile board".
MMC
"Ron White" wrote in message
...
First part:
a good release surface that is commonly used is "tile board"
this is available in 4'x8' sheets at home centers. This is the stuff some
people used to make inexpensive shower enclosures and the like. Wax it up
good with paste wax like Johnson's polish out and repeat several times.
You
can make large( up to 4x8) sheets of frp lay-up easily with this. As
others
mentioned, plastic sheets can be tricky as polystyrene resin contains
solvents that can attack a number of plastics. The title board is CHEAP!!
and it works good.

Second part:
most boat fiberglass supply stores have pigments for the resin. The
pigments
are expensive but since you just want to tint it, shouldn't be too bad. Do
some online searches for mail order frp suppliers if there are none in
your
area.
try people like www.fiberglasssupply.com



--
Ron White
Boat building web address is
www.concentric.net/~knotreel