Fiberglass suggestions

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bikelomen

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Hey guys never posted a topic but have been working on the paper armor. I have been working with fiberglass for years and have some suggestions.
The first coat on your armor should be a very very light coat of resin without wax in it. Most resin companies sell the resin with a liquid called wax seperate that you will add to the final coat. Use the non-waxed resin in all but the final coat (remains tacky so you dont have to sand between coats). After your first couple of coats when you are ready to start laying some bondo (body filler) I use what they call a milk shake. This can be made very thick or very thin depending on what you want to do with it.

How to make a milk shake.

1) mixing container with 1 part bondo (body filler)
2) Add your resin, Wax mixture, and 1 part to 1/3 part resin (depending on how thick you want it)(add small amount of color if you want)
3) mix your mixture as well as posible
4) add your hardiner
5)Now paint with a paint brush or pour your milk shake in hard to reach areas.

This mixure is what a lot of custom stereo instalers use on shaped boxes and panels. The mixture is 100% easier to sand then straight resin. Fiberglass resin is extremily tough to sand and should not be used as a final coat. It will leave small pin holes etc. in your product. I use a ton of this in the classis car restoration business and my products have to be perfect. I would suggest for strength to have one layer at least of fiberglass cloth prior to adding your milkshake. You will find this is very easy to make and takes a lot of the work out of sanding. Also for very cheap (2-4$) you can get a jar of color to add to your resin. This will help when it comes to painting and blending. Also I would not use the resin from home depot. The stuff stinks. You can get your product here http://www.shopmaninc.com/ Look under polyester resins. They give you an exact way to measure your catalyst (not guessing on drops) also you will get a lot longer work time to use the resin you mix. Good luck and I hope this helps.
 
we call it here mud, a few of us knows about this and i post about this awhile ago but i think its buried somewhere in the forums but its good to see it again.......what out for double posting
 
1 part of resin
1 part to 1/3 part of body filler
correct ration of hardener
wax (2 oz per gallon if used)

Example:

200 ml resin
200 ml body filler
2 ml catalyst (1% of resin amount)
3 ml wax (.016 ml of wax per ml resin)

This will give you 400ml of milk shake or MUD as some have called it. You can use less body filler or more body filler. This does not matter for hardness. IT will only matter for how it will flow. Weather you want to pour it or brush it you mix it to the consistancy you want.
 
b/c you're clicking reply to an individual post instead of ADD REPLY.

It's closer to the bottom of the page next to NEW TOPIC
 
You do not have to add wax to bondo or body filler products. These have to be sanded between coats anyway or you will have cracking and non bonding issues. Wax only needs to be added to laminating types of resins. These resins remain a bit tacky once they are dry. The tackyness can also be removed by rubbing talc or baby powder on them. Also rub tbaby powder on your arms and exposed skin prior to sanding. This will stop the fibers from entering your skin and causing that itching fun. (I know its been said before) Baby powder and talc can also be added to resin as a bulking agent to thicken your resin mixture.
 
Baby powder and talc can also be added to resin as a bulking agent to thicken your resin mixture.

Plus it makes your helmet smell baby-fresh. :lol:

I used talc until I found it was much easier to buy a big bag of Polyfiber http://www.polytek.com/store/merchant.mvc?...ode=PolyFiberII
Because talc is so fine, you need a whole lot just to thicken up your resin just a little. Polyfiber makes short work of thickening your batches.
 
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You only have to thicken it if you need it to fill in voids, add bulk, etc. If you are just going with the same exact shape as the Paper helm then you are only running a thin layer outside and bulking up inside with cloth / mat / resin and not needing to thicken. You are using the shape of the paper for the helm and supporting the inside to retain original shape. This is more of a tip for the people who are fabricating other items or starting from scratch.
By adding the powder its easier to sand also. There are several agents you can add to resin to get different effects. There are even more available to add to epoxy to make it thicker, thinner, quicker drying, longer drying, colored, etc. The list goes on and on. Just tips for future projects.
 
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