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Is fibreglassing really that hard ?


caspros

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So, after my little off into the wall at Manfield, I thought maybe I\'d look at repairing the cracks myself. For fun.

Here is the damage. Is it that hard to fix ? Has anyone done it ? If so, with what ? Or, should I just get someone else to do it ?

Any help appreciated.

DSC_0062.jpg

DSC_0061.jpg

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That\'s where I looked ! Heaps of videos describing how to do it !

But unfortunately with my experience what I see that looks easy on youtube usually is the opposite once I get my clumsy mitts on it. So I wanted to know if anyone had given it a go.

Even then, I wonder if you can just go to Repco/SuperCheap and buy one of their kits and give it a go, or . . .

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buy a $50 kit from mitre 10 and give it a go . its just like paper machay really . well when i do it is

for 50 bucks you will learn something and potentially fix your kit .

the stuff that is messy mesh is far stronger than the flat woven matt stuff . well its horses for courses but i think the mesh is better for beefing up home job repairs etc

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 lachlan said:

buy a $50 kit from mitre 10 and give it a go . its just like paper machay really . well when i do it is

for 50 bucks you will learn something and potentially fix your kit .

the stuff that is messy mesh is far stronger than the flat woven matt stuff . well its horses for courses but i think the mesh is better for beefing up home job repairs etc

Sweet, so you\'ve done it ? Do I just cut out all the cracked stuff (and if so, cut it with what, a hacksaw ?) Or, sand the whole lot back so there\'s no cracks. Or, bog it up ? Or ?

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 caspros']

[quote name='lachlan said:

buy a $50 kit from mitre 10 and give it a go . its just like paper machay really . well when i do it is

for 50 bucks you will learn something and potentially fix your kit .

the stuff that is messy mesh is far stronger than the flat woven matt stuff . well its horses for courses but i think the mesh is better for beefing up home job repairs etc

/quote]

Sweet, so you\'ve done it ? Do I just cut out all the cracked stuff (and if so, cut it with what, a hacksaw ?) Or, sand the whole lot back so there\'s no cracks. Or, bog it up ? Or ?

ive done a repair on a glass boat hull and me and my flat mate repaired his bumper .

that centre section is a bit of a mess i would do something along the lines of lign the front up it an push bits back where they supposed to be and maybe tape it there then go to work prepping and reinforcing the back of it . get some resin in the crack etc . cut it into strips and apply it in kinda the way you apply tape on odd surfaces so it spreads the load etc not in all the same direction so it doesnt all fall off etc .

i wouldnt cut any off unless your going to build a mold and re build that section .

im no expert buy yeah its worth giving it a crack

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Yeah it\'s pretty easy to do. You\'ll probably use up a lot of resin the first few times you do it, because if you add too much catalyst to it, it cures quite quickly and once it cures, it\'s pretty hard to use.

Looking at those pics, what I\'d do is if you can access the underside of it, sand back the top as much as you can and put 2 layers of glass underneath the whole cracked area. Bog over the top, sand smooth and paint. Use Newtech if you can, as it also includes fibre strands so it helps with the strength.

Also, kits from Total Body Shop will probably be cheaper then Repco / Supercheap. Chopped strand is certainly easier to work with for patching / curves than woven mat.

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Anyone can do it... I\'ve made quite a bit of stuff... think paper mache but a lot messier... stickier... extremely smelly... and

the glass fibres are nasty when you get them in your skin.

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I do it a fair bit :) dont go overboard with cutting what you have away, try and push it as much as you can to align it back up, on the backside of the piece give it a good coat of the resin, then lay down a layer of glass ( I prefer the mat and not the chopped strand) then using the resin again coat it until it is really wet, lay another layer of mat and coat in resin again, should be enough.

fix the front once it is dry using bog.

The main thing is the mixing the resin make sure you have it a close as you can to the instructions and the air temp that you are doing it in, does not like cold

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Also, don\'t forget to rough up the reverse side of it before you lay resin. And I mean get quite aggro with it. I usually attack it in a cross hatch pattern with a knife. The resin needs something to mechanically bind with and the mental scratches work ace.

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What i done is drilled a few holes either side of the crack and cable tie it back together. Then used mesh on the other side and fiberglassed over the crack with the fiberglass resin you can purchase from supercheap.couldn\'t tell it was cracked in the end. And was stronger

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 czar loc said:

What i done is drilled a few holes either side of the crack and cable tie it back together. Then used mesh on the other side and fiberglassed over the crack with the fiberglass resin you can purchase from supercheap.couldn\'t tell it was cracked in the end. And was stronger

Then did you do lots of sanding ? Was there bog involved ? And painting ?

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Always repaired from behind, no the front, if you want to do it properly, grind the backside until it is thin on the edges and all cracked and busted old glass is gone, you do t have to remove all, but an old crack will bite you later, rough up surrounding areas with grinder and a sanding disk on it. Always glass to a prepped surface.

Now realign bumper and hold In place with packaging tape, wider the better, as tight and as straight as you can, you can glass straight to the tape, when its dry you can pull the tape right off.

Sand outside surface, then bog it back to shape, etch prime, build coat with a sandable primer, make sure at this point something around the 240 wet and dry to remove all deep scratches, top coat.

Mixing resien follow instructions to the tea, use a brush, make sure you push all air out, start out in small amounts until you get use to it, open space is a must,

And last thing is when icthy, have a really hot shower until it stops stinging, it\'s the only way to get the fibres out of your pores, also have a go it is fun and easy once you get going. And if you get into trouble give me a yell, will happily help out where I can .

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And have some kero on hand in case you spill the resin.

I also approve of the hot shower technique. Best way after running cable in a batted ceiling.

And remember, once you get your fibre glass technique down, you can move on to carbon fibre!

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Oh forgot to add, don\'t get the catalyst on you or in your eyes, that stuff will make you blind in 20 seconds, will stop hair from growing for years, very dangerous to use, can start a fire if the temps are right. It dosnt need a spark to ignite. After all that it is easy to do so go ahead and give it a go.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Admin

Woven mat is easier and better if you\'ve done a bunch of glassing, in my opinion, but obviously you haven\'t :)

Really important to saturate the glass with resin. Don\'t be shy with it. It should be almost transparent before you add more chop mat. Get a bunch of cheap paintbrushes because you\'ll be throwing them out when you\'re done.

Prep is relatively important. Any debris/dust/grime/broken bumper will make it come away. I\'d prep the area with some really low-grit sandpaper followed by a liberal wipe down with some prepsol or similar.

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 boon said:

Woven mat is easier and better if you\'ve done a bunch of glassing, in my opinion, but obviously you haven\'t :)

Really important to saturate the glass with resin. Don\'t be shy with it. It should be almost transparent before you add more chop mat. Get a bunch of cheap paintbrushes because you\'ll be throwing them out when you\'re done.

Prep is relatively important. Any debris/dust/grime/broken bumper will make it come away. I\'d prep the area with some really low-grit sandpaper followed by a liberal wipe down with some prepsol or similar.

God I\'m such a slacker. Due to my limited timeframes I just paid someone else to do it. And, of course, now it is perfectly white, where the rest of my car is just dirty cream.

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 sl8r said:

you gonna race on sunday? weather looks good :P

That\'s why I paid someone else to do it ! That was my limited timeframe :)

He\'s a good guy, just picked it up an hour ago. I have to try and put my car together tomorrow. AND try and find an indicator.

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