First time build - FX-1

Joker

Joker

...chaos? Its Fair!
Location
La Porte, Indiana
Oh and of you want a smooth finish you can use cellophane and lay that down on top of the glass and when it hardens it will have a super smooth finish
 
Nate_D

Nate_D

Location
Houston, TX
I would look at an S glass twill or 4HS for areas that need high conformability. Biax seems to be the go to glass for reinforcing, but there are better options. Biax is best suited for laminate bulking on flat or gently contoured laminates IMO. It also works well with poly resin where the mat between glass is thought to create laminates that better resist delamination. I used 1708 a lot on my plugs and molds because it's cheap.

If you have to use the Biax and want it to lay down better, divide it up into sections anywhere you have a curve >45*. Mix up some thickened resin and lay it over the seam covering the cut pieces and then lay several layers of 4-6" wide glass tape over the thickened resin. I would rather have a reinforced seam than an air pocket at a corner.


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EfX

EfX

Location
St.Pete, Fl. - Daytona, Fl.
Wet Dreams said:
Well I only got one side done tonight. Man I suck at this lol. Luckily no one is really going to see what a terrible first fiberglass job this is. I was bummed that I couldn't get it to wrap around the inside of the hood lip.... Oh well. I'll do a strip of 12oz around that later.
View attachment 274847
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On mine the lip was filled in so it became a simple 90° angle under the hood lip. The curve or "S" shape under the lip is very weak and can cause flex allowing the hood to move when you flop. Fill it in, and it is like a frame or beam - it becomes very solid. Then lay glass up the side and to the hood edge before it is all cured. Maybe its too late now...but laying everything up before it is cured will make it much stronger than a mechanical bond which is sanding in between layups. Chemical bond will be much tougher to break and de-laminate later on.

You gotta lay (and screw up) a lot of glass / composite before you get visual to look any good, but I still let a pro do the layup to make it look nice and pretty like that red hull ;)

Thanks @tom21
 
makejetskiinggreatagain

makejetskiinggreatagain

Brandon
Nate_D said:
If you have to use the Biax and want it to lay down better, divide it up into sections anywhere you have a curve >45*. Mix up some thickened resin and lay it over the seam covering the cut pieces and then lay several layers of 4-6" wide glass tape over the thickened resin. I would rather have a reinforced seam than an air pocket at a corner.


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Click to expand...

Since I already have the biax I will probably stick with that. I'll cut everything up into layers in the nose and see how that goes.

EfX said:
On mine the lip was filled in so it became a simple 90° angle under the hood lip. The curve or "S" shape under the lip is very weak and can cause flex allowing the hood to move when you flop. Fill it in, and it is like a frame or beam - it becomes very solid. Then lay glass up the side and to the hood edge before it is all cured. Maybe its too late now...
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I should have done this...Now what do I do? Try and fill over the glass that I put on that one side? I sure as hell don't want to be grinding out the stuff I just put in. As I mentioned before, the sight of a grinder makes me want to puke now lol. I'll be filling it in on the second side and laying the glass over it. You know, you read thousands of threads about this crap and yet something this stupid and obvious is never mentioned.
 
makejetskiinggreatagain

makejetskiinggreatagain

Brandon
Quite possibly the worst job wetting out the layer on the bottom of the engine bay... I'm so disappointed. The epoxy seemed like it was starting to set up and I started tearing the fiberglass whenever I would try to use the roller or squeegee. Fail. Oh well...

image.jpg
 
Roseand

Roseand

The Weaponizer
Site Supporter
Location
Wisconsin
Dude you need to wet out your biax on a piece of cardboard before you lay it down on a ski. Since it's a biatch to wet out and lay on its own, dump some resin on it when it's on the cardboard and spread it all around, then flip it over, then go back to the cloth side and scrape all the excess resin off. Apply a small layer of resin on the ski and then lay it down and them all you have to do is work out the air bubbles, and you've got like 30+ minutes to do that since you're not worried about pot life anymore.
That method is how I got the glass to come out great on my ski.
 
makejetskiinggreatagain

makejetskiinggreatagain

Brandon
Roseand said:
Dude you need to wet out your biax on a piece of cardboard before you lay it down on a ski. Since it's a biatch to wet out and lay on its own, dump some resin on it when it's on the cardboard and spread it all around, then flip it over, then go back to the cloth side and scrape all the excess resin off. Apply a small layer of resin on the ski and then lay it down and them all you have to do is work out the air bubbles, and you've got like 30+ minutes to do that since you're not worried about pot life anymore.
That method is how I got the glass to come out great on my ski.
Click to expand...
I never thought to do that. I guess I would be worried about getting the biax covered in dust. Inside the ski I can control any debris from getting in. out in the open it would be harder to do that. It would have been a lot easier to wet it out outside of the ski.... I'll remember that
 
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makejetskiinggreatagain

makejetskiinggreatagain

Brandon
thanks joker. Im not really worried about looks. Im just worried that since there is still too much resin in there that it will be weak. Im just going to leave it and chalk it up to learning lol. I appreciate the encouragement.
 
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