Learn Fiberglass Fabrication Without Molds In 15 Minutes
Ғылым және технология
When learning a new skill, I try to start with something small. This way, my mistakes only involve a small amount of materials and I can learn without spending a lot at first. Eventually I want to make a boat using these techniques, but for now, I will make a shell to splash-proof this lithium battery.
I first became aware of this mold-less fiberglass construction technique from Jamie Mantzel through his KZread channel "JMANTZEL". He built several boats using this technique and even has a dedicated playlist with all the videos of him building his work boat the "Shark-Slicer". He named the boat because it has pointy pontoons that slice through the water like a shark. Anyone seriously considering making a boat or anything large should definitely watch the playlist about the building of the Shark Slicer.
In its most basic form, this technique uses flat or curved pieces of sheet metal as a form to lay up single layers of fiberglass. That single layer can be peeled off of the sheet metal and is flexible enough to be bent into large radius curves. Short radius curves have to be formed on bent sheet metal.
Fiberglass will not go around a sharp, right angle bend, so all corners need some sort of radius. I form the short radius curves by bending the sheet metal around a piece of round tubing. The sheet metal needs to be waxed with car paste wax so the fiberglass will separate from the metal after the resin has hardened. It doesn't matter what kind of wax you use, so use the cheapest wax you can find, or whatever you happen to have on hand.
After small pieces with simple curves have been created using the sheet metal, they can be glued together with thickened resin. Once you have the shape you want, you can lock-in the shape by applying more layers of fiberglass over the single-layer part. I soaked small pieces of chopped strand mat in resin and used them to add layers over the rounded corners.
Start small, learn, then go big!
Пікірлер: 23
Nuts!!! Jaimie M was a neighbor and friend of mine back in Vermont. Thanks for the Insights here and reminder of his page
Thanks for teaching me the roof flashing as a fiberglass mold technique. Flashing is fairly stiff, yet bendable. It is therefore lots better than aluminum foil as a mold, IMHO.
@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958
Жыл бұрын
Glad to hear someone has benefited from the video a year after it was made. Hopefully they will help for years to come. Thanks for letting me know!
@gf2e
Жыл бұрын
@@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958 I'm planning on adding a mini split AC to my RV. The ceiling mount units I'm going to use are intended to be mounted inside a ceiling - so they aren't waterproof or anything. I need an approximately 30"x30"x12" waterproof enclosure of some sort. Reasonably rugged. I've seen lots of videos of people doing stuff with fiberglass, but a lot of them were more concerned about looks than you. Watching them, I was wondering how many shortcuts I could take and still have something reasonable. Or whether I should just get some other material like a big sheet of ABS. Your video is perfect because it shows pretty much what I want to do. I figure that I will eventually make more things out of fiberglass and will figure out how to make them look prettier, but my roof mount AC will be covered by solar panels anyway, so nobody will look at it. Your workshop looks similar to what I will be working with. Even your hair length matches. :)
When you were wiping off the wax with your arm back and forth next to that sharp edge I was literally holding my breath. I got a whole lot of stitch from flashing when I was a kid it was so sharp I didn't even know I had been cut
Excellent idea.
@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958
2 жыл бұрын
I learned about this technique of laying fiberglass on sheet metal from youtube channel JMANTZEL. Jamie has built several boats this way. I wanted to try it out on something small before attempting anything as large as a boat. Jamie has an extensive playlist of all the videos he made about building his work boat this way.
Gracias por compartir 👍 maximo respeto y mucha vibra positiva 😎
SHE IS NOT PLAYIN'!
I'm trying to do the same thing I thought of that you're doing but I thought of using tin foil instead of the wax and put the tin foil on the shape of the metal panel corrugated steel sheets I'm making. You put the aluminum on there to make the shape and then do some kind of fiberglass on the aluminum foil but I kind of also like the way you do it but I haven't started on this project but I'm learning from what you're showing me what do you think I could add for stability? Or anything other ideas I'm just trying to copy corrugated steel panels that I can't find anymore
@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958
Жыл бұрын
I want some corrugated panels too. I actually want corrugations that are flat on the bottom and top. This pattern lets me glue a flat sheet on each side for a honeycomb effect making a much stronger panel for floors or roofs you can walk on. I take a piece of flat, thick foam and cut strips. Cut at an angle one way on one side and angled the other way on the other side of the strip. This makes a long strip where the sides are ramps that go from the ground up to the top of the strip and back down to the ground. Cover it with plastic, wax paper, maybe aluminum foil, I hear newspaper can work. Then lay glass over it to make a mold for one corrugation. Flat on the bottom, ramp up, across the top, ramp down and flat again at "ground level". The flat ground areas of many identical molded pieces like this get glued together into a rippled panel as wide as you need. In my case, I would glue a flat sheet on each side to make a structure similar to the walls of a cardboard box. If you need a lot of corrugated panels, pull a mold from the first panel you make from the strips and lay up whole panels based on that first one.
you are a smart lady :) Jesus loves you!
Hi, you ever tried epoxy over cardboard and just keeping the cardboard? Or something like that . I figure be easy to build a box out of cardboard then epoxy over it to give it strength and waterproof…. Or epoxy + glass over it
Well it's all insulated now. I never thought of that as a way to do it.
@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958
2 жыл бұрын
Funny story, about the time I was finishing this, I went looking for more of these cheap used server rack batteries. What I found was an article saying they were supposed to be destroyed because they had caused over 20 fires at energy storage facilities in Korea. Battery Hookup never mentioned this when advertising the batteries for sale, so they will not go in the project I bought them for. David Poz has a youtube channel showing how to use the batteries sold by Battery Hookup. He deleted a warning I left in the comments on his channel so his viewers will not know about this hazard silently waiting to burn their houses down. I will make another video about that soon if KZread doesn't delete it.
🙏🌹
Scary
Has it exploded yet due to lack of heat dissipation? And how you ever going to fix anything? Jeez.
Soo many bad ideas in one post, but hey if you don't care about shape, strengh and de-lamination why not.
I think a splash of gel coat on the toe nails would improve the looks
I don't see you wearing a mask, I admire your ambition but you are gonna asphyxiate yourself in that closed room, solvents do not dissipate it hangs out on the floor, one time when you get on the floor like that you will smother yourself, be careful and get a mask, please. all love
@sirkildalot8409
3 ай бұрын
Seems to have managed to reach a ripe an active old age without the Health and Safety advice so far……..