Im just on with making some fibre glass body panels at the moment, and i did a test piece with 3 layers of 450gsm chopped strand mat at the weekend. I think ill use 4 layers for the proper job, does that sound about right? Ive just been looking on line to order some more, and come across something called woven rovings. Whats this used for? It sounds like it is used to bulk up the component, should i be using this instead of layers of csm? And also, are the low cost resins ok or not worth the few quid savings (these)? Thanks
Simple answer is.... it depends.
On so many factors.
CSM is a real jack of all trades, it does almost all GRP jobs well. You only tend to use woven for appearance, or giving specific material strength
properties. ie if you want a good tensile strength in a certain direction then uni directional is ideal.
But basically, CSM will do most of the jobs you want.
Do you need to 'bulk up' your items? If you do then you need something called a 'core material', again of which there are dozens of types for different applications.
Maybe bulk up wasnt the right term, i meant like adding more layers of csm. If chopped strand is ok, ill use that, but are the woven rovings silky, a bit like a fire blanket? I have some woven glass cloth like that, but ive never known what to use it for as i was given it. It doesnt seem as strong as csm though when i tested a bit.
For making most things CSM is the material of choice, easy to work, and reasonably strong. I use four layers of 450g when making car body parts, and haven't had any failures yet. As for the resin, unless you are ultra fussy, or need to produce something to a given specification, (Lloyd A1 in boat building,etc), then the Low Cost resin is just fine, it's all I ever use. HTH Ray
quote:
Originally posted by Chippy
For making most things CSM is the material of choice, easy to work, and reasonably strong. I use four layers of 450g when making car body parts, and haven't had any failures yet. As for the resin, unless you are ultra fussy, or need to produce something to a given specification, (Lloyd A1 in boat building,etc), then the Low Cost resin is just fine, it's all I ever use. HTH Ray
Yes that looks fine, although I have never used that one, I always just use the Low Cost resin which I see is a pound dearer, Hmmmm! will try the Easylam next time, :-) Cheers Ray
Just to note, when i rang them to order it, they said the easylam contains fillers so its a bit thicker than their general purpose, this means you use less resin too.