Topic: Fiberglass - Cloth or Mat?

[brettster26]

I am going to be buying material for a cafe seat, and was wondering what to use Woven cloth or Mat?  What are the pluses and minuses of each?  I have heard Mat will be easier to lay down.  Looking for suggestions and reasons.

Thanks!

[Retro Rocket]

Woven is more expensive but can be made lighter and is stronger, most seats are made from chop strand mat. I suppose if you don't mind paying a bit more go with the woven mat.

[brettster26]

Whats a good price for fiberglass material?  first time buying it... and what kind of resin?

[Retro Rocket]

Whats a good price for fiberglass material?  first time buying it... and what kind of resin?

Wait for one of the American members to chime in mate, i have no idea of prices in your part of the world.
I would use epoxy resin but i work with epoxy's and get it for nothing. Normal glass resin will work just as well....
The place you choose to buy the glass matt from will run you through the types of resin that can be used....

[joeyputt]

Brother brettster26 the last dragbike I did I used the woven and chop mat in layers with each other and it came out really strong, the resin and mats from most local auto parts stores are economical and work well.

[brettster26]

Joeyputt,
   Thanks man!  I will check out the autoparts store and see if they cary any fiberglass material!

Thanks!

[BeSeeingYou]

Go to West Marine, I am sure there is one in your city.  Go with epoxy resin and you can use the chopped strand mat and the woven cloth together.  The mat will build up thickness and the cloth for the top layer to get a smooth surface.  The mat will be messier to work with.  The hardener comes in fast, medium, and slow.  The warmer the temp the faster all will cure.  Avoid mixing large amounts in narrow deep containers, use shallow plastic bowls.  If too concentrated in a container it will get very hot and even smoke. There are a few tricks like sanding/scraping the epoxy before it has fully cured.  Do it while it is in the "green" stage, not tacky but  has the feeling of very hard cheese/you should be able to make a mark with a fingernail.  I find a very sharp paint scraper works very good or a sureform file.  Use a plastic squeegee to wet out the cloth, you want to scrap the excess resin out.  The resin itself has little strength and you don't want to float the cloth..  Don't try and sand the final layer of cloth to get it smooth. What you want to do is after you wet out the final layer let it  get to the green stage and then knock off any bumps or lumps.  Then fill the weave with a few layers of resin.  Now when you sand it smooth you are sanding the resin , not the cloth.  Cheap foam brushed work fine.  You want to avoid letting the resin fully cure and then trying to add additional material/resin.  It gets very hard and would need sanding and a wash with soap/water for the next layer to stick.

[MADCB400F]

Hi, give this a try, I did my seat pan and man is it easy to use

http://www.percyshp.com/HyperFiber.html

[brettster26]

MADCB400  That stuff is pretty expensive... Kinda on a budget build.  so want to do it economically.  Thanks

[Eddie]

Kinda related.....I seen a show where a guy who was building a speaker box use a big piece of fleece streched over some blocks and circles of wood. Then he used resin to stiffen it. Once that dried, he covered it up with fiberglass mat..It looked like a easy , quick way to get a smooth unusual shape.

[gregk]

Kinda related.....I seen a show where a guy who was building a speaker box use a big piece of fleece streched over some blocks and circles of wood. Then he used resin to stiffen it. Once that dried, he covered it up with fiberglass mat..It looked like a easy , quick way to get a smooth unusual shape.

I think I saw the same show which gave me the idea to build a fan shroud for my hot rod using the same idea.  took alot of time but came out perfect considering it was an irregular shape.  A little bondo after the fact and it was nice and smooth.

[70CB750]

In car shop we built camaro hoods from mat, and in my previous life we built canoes and kayaks from woven fiberglass.  I believe the mat is stronger, since it is not oriented.

But for not structural element it really does not matter, IMO.

[Kong]

That West Marine recommendation was a good one.  The West System stuff is epoxy of course, the cheap ones use polyester resin.  Another good source of materials, one that operates by mail, is Raka.  Its a small operation down in Florida and their products and prices are superb.  I've been using them for years.

On the original question.  Use matt to build up areas and in areas of multi curves.  For larger or flatter expanses, like the sides of a tank or most fenders, you would be better off using woven matt.  It comes in different weights, different weaves, different mixes, and different prices.

Epoxy is much more expensive than polyester and its worth every dime of the additional cost.

[lucky]

Sure would like to see some photos posted.

All I see is text.

[brettster26]

Lucky,
   Im collecting information before I dive into all the good stuff, I will be posting pictures hopefully next week when everything will be coming together!