Fibreglass or Carbon Fibre

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Mantis

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I'm looking a home DIY fibreglass kit (mats, resin, etc) or carbion fibre kit (probably more difficult to get and way more pricey).

Al old fricking guy knocked me off my bike, all the fairings are screwed but I'd like like to try and save the top fairing (holding the headlights). All these things are a beyatch to get hold of and the geezers insurance is taking so long I'd like to ride without looking like I'm mounting a skeleton.

I want the smallest kit you get (well probably about 1 litre of resin just to check if I can actually do it myself). I've never done it before and have only read up on it and watched instructional vids on Youtube.

Anyone know a place in Cape Town (cbd pref.) that sells?
 
Not an expert but don't you need an autoclave to cure the carbon fibre or is that only for moulding new parts? If you are lucky enough to have an autoclave then screw fibreglass :)
 
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This is my domain....

Forget about carbon fibre, its very expensive and you need to use an epoxy reson with it (also very expensive anything from R100/l up). Now we use glass and resin in bulk in my factory, so the prices I get are about a quarter if not more than that of the hardware stores. I purchase at about R40 to R55 per kg of resin (I use polyester and vinylester resins). Polyester is your run of the mill resin, cheap & nasty! Vinylester is a better class resin by far (more expensive too, but not nearly as much as the epoxy resin), but also not necessary for your purposes.

Now the glass you get is the interesting part, depending on what you want to do. Chop Strand is the messy stuff, but incredibly strong, as the strands go in all directions (we dont use it). We use an imported glass tape, which has a nice seam (you can get a local brand, but its not as neat). Prices range from R100 to up to R320 per 100mm X 50m roll. Also you can buy glass cloth (has no seam), cut out what you need and there u go.

Gel time (time it takes for the resin to start curing) will depend on your catalyst and how much you use. Catalyst is usually called MEKP (it an organic peroxide - nasty stuff!). Mix it up, paint some on to the area you going to repair and add your glass to the top. paint more resin. Dont over do the amount of resin, this will result in a weak product!

AMT has a branch in the Cape, try them for the glass cloth / tape. http://www.amtcomposites.co.za/
 
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IRG said:
This is my domain....

Forget about carbon fibre, its very expensive and you need to use an epoxy reson with it (also very expensive anything from R100/l up). Now we use glass and resin in bulk in my factory, so the prices I get are about a quarter if not more than that of the hardware stores. I purchase at about R40 to R55 per kg of resin (I use polyester and vinylester resins). Polyester is your run of the mill resin, cheap & nasty! Vinylester is a better class resin by far (more expensive too, but not nearly as much as the epoxy resin), but also not necessary for your purposes.

Now the glass you get is the interesting part, depending on what you want to do. Chop Strand is the messy stuff, but incredibly strong, as the strands go in all directions (we dont use it). We use an imported glass tape, which has a nice seam (you can get a local brand, but its not as neat). Prices range from R100 to up to R320 per 100mm X 50m roll. Also you can buy glass cloth (has no seam), cut out what you need and there u go.

Gel time (time it takes for the resin to start curing) will depend on your catalyst and how much you use. Catalyst is usually called MEKP (it an organic peroxide - nasty stuff!). Mix it up, paint some on to the area you going to repair and add your glass to the top. paint more resin. Dont over do the amount of resin, this will result in a weak product!

AMT has a branch in the Cape, try them for the glass cloth / tape. http://www.amtcomposites.co.za/
Click to expand...

That all sound way more complicated than they make it look in the youtube videos.

Mind if I PM you tonight with a link to the video I checked out.
I would take it to a professional to have done but I would like to try it myself. Looks very interesting and doing something yourself always feels much better than just handing it over to someone else (as well as learning how to do it would be an added bonus)

EDIT:

In the video i saw on youtube (carbon fibre - yes i know its way too expensive to mess with if you don't know what you're doing), they used the carbon fibre mat, painted the mould with resin, layered the mats, painted layered, etc till a final paint of resin was added. Can the same be done with just fibreglass mats and resin?

A friend who used to do autobody repairs years back told me to get the following:
Brand: aBc
1 litre resin
1m sheet of fibre
1 apllicator brush
1 catalyst tube
 
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IRG said:
This is my domain....

Forget about carbon fibre, its very expensive and you need to use an epoxy reson with it (also very expensive anything from R100/l up). Now we use glass and resin in bulk in my factory, so the prices I get are about a quarter if not more than that of the hardware stores. I purchase at about R40 to R55 per kg of resin (I use polyester and vinylester resins). Polyester is your run of the mill resin, cheap & nasty! Vinylester is a better class resin by far (more expensive too, but not nearly as much as the epoxy resin), but also not necessary for your purposes.

Now the glass you get is the interesting part, depending on what you want to do. Chop Strand is the messy stuff, but incredibly strong, as the strands go in all directions (we dont use it). We use an imported glass tape, which has a nice seam (you can get a local brand, but its not as neat). Prices range from R100 to up to R320 per 100mm X 50m roll. Also you can buy glass cloth (has no seam), cut out what you need and there u go.

Gel time (time it takes for the resin to start curing) will depend on your catalyst and how much you use. Catalyst is usually called MEKP (it an organic peroxide - nasty stuff!). Mix it up, paint some on to the area you going to repair and add your glass to the top. paint more resin. Dont over do the amount of resin, this will result in a weak product!

AMT has a branch in the Cape, try them for the glass cloth / tape. http://www.amtcomposites.co.za/
Click to expand...

Nice post!

I fixed all the fairings on my scooter when some old lady with no insurance almost drove over it in her tank of a merc.

In the end the bike looked brand new. I didn't know any better so I used chop strand I bought at the hardware shop along with a little resin and catalyst diy kit. I just followed the instructions on the tin. It took a LOT of sanding to get the fairings smooth tho and probably took me about 3 weeks of sanding with waterpaper in the evening to get them perfect. But in the end they where perfect.
 
tnx madman

@Mantis. the easiest way for you is to buy some cloth rather than chop strand. Its just easier to work with. 1 liter of polyester resin will be fine, it should come with catalyst (enough for the 1 litre). Cut the Cloth to the sizes you need, put some plastic sheeting down where u wanna work, lay it down ... easy stuff. Once dried (cured), sand to your requirements. If its a bugger up, sand it all off, try again. just be aware that its tough to get resin & glass to stick to plastics!
 
Thanks a lot guys. Darn Youtube videos make everything look so easy.
Emailed AMT. Pricing seems reasonable. Just waiting for them to tell me one of the things was a typo and I don't have to buy a minimum of one kilometre of glass lol.

Otherwise I'll have to start fibreglassing the entire house just for kicks.
 
Hi
Apologies for necro'ing this post.

Do any of the guru's know where I can get my hands on a comparison chart of Aluminium vs Carbon Fibre vs Fibre Glass in relation to cost, weight, strength and any Pro's & Con's?

Thank you greatly!
 
1587138507567.png



Hijack but for Sir Fooks attention.
I've had the timber for years. How difficult and at what cost for the resin could a table as per sample be.
The dimensions of the table 1,7 m x 1,3m and 100mm thick. The timber will cover 80% of the area.
A very rough thumbsuck please.
1587138507567.png
 
Rhein said:
View attachment 824175



Hijack but for Sir Fooks attention.
I've had the timber for years. How difficult and at what cost for the resin could a table as per sample be.
The dimensions of the table 1,7 m x 1,3m and 100mm thick. The timber will cover 80% of the area.
A very rough thumbsuck please.
View attachment 824175
Click to expand...
100mm thick ? You best make it where you going to use it
 
Rhein said:
View attachment 824175



Hijack but for Sir Fooks attention.
I've had the timber for years. How difficult and at what cost for the resin could a table as per sample be.
The dimensions of the table 1,7 m x 1,3m and 100mm thick. The timber will cover 80% of the area.
A very rough thumbsuck please.
View attachment 824175
Click to expand...

For that you need the ultra clear epoxy resins that are designed to cure very slowly so as not to generate heat. Personally I have not bought any such resins, I do however think AMT might be able to help on that front. I'm going to guess its a premium class epoxy resin to achieve the clarity. I would not be surprised at R150/kg or more.

As for difficulty to do it, not so much, plenty of YouTube channels with epoxy pour tables. I've seen some where that pour over R100K worth of resin on a table. Some beautiful stuff...

https://www.amtcomposites.co.za/product/woodcast-30-8kg/ goes for about R1400 for 8kg (R175/kg)

Your dimensions 1700mm X 1300mm X 100mm = 221 litres
20% Resin = 44.2L ....
44.2 X 175 = R7735 worth of resin

Going to be a heavy table!
 
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Thanks for all the very useful information, it is much appreciated.

Just one question: Does 1 litre of resin weigh 1 kg., the same density as water?.

I'm aware that it is going to be very heavy. I was fortunate to get two beautiful lengths of oak and they are 100mm at the one end and 65mm at the other end. They were cut from the outer parts of the trunk.
 
Rhein said:
Thanks for all the very useful information, it is much appreciated.

Just one question: Does 1 litre of resin weigh 1 kg., the same density as water?.

I'm aware that it is going to be very heavy. I was fortunate to get two beautiful lengths of oak and they are 100mm at the one end and 65mm at the other end. They were cut from the outer parts of the trunk.
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% sure , I think it's less dense than water. I remember using a 1lt tin of fibre class resin in December and it seemed quite light. Where ever you getting it from will have a safety data sheet for it. It will have the density .
 
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