DRCVIC
22-12-2004, 08:48 PM
Hope this can help some people! ENJOY!
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim: To Make a Custom Fitted Gauge holder
Materials Needed:
1-2kg Fibreglass Resin
1 Bottle of Catalist
1/2M.Sq. Fibreglass Mat
X Paintbrushes
1 Bottle of Acetone (or a lot of cheap paintbrushes)
1 Respirator
1 Small Sheet of MDF (5mm or thicker is good, the thicker the stronger)
1 or 2 Length of 6 to 8mm wooden dowel
Method:
I First started off by laying masking tape on and around the area I was to fibreglass. Fibreglass DOES NOT stick to masking tape, so this is a good cheap way to do it.
Put a couple of layers down to make sure nothing gets through!
Any places your sticking it the actual dash needs to have the greasyness / oilyness washed off with metho or degreaser, this usually comes from armorall and other cleaning products. Oh, make sure you tape up a lot of the area surrounding the place you want to fibreglass, if this stuff gets on your carpet/seats you WONT get it out!
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img2377091_25761290.jpg
Then I mixed up some resin/catalyst to the amounts stated on the tin/bottle, too much catalyst you will have no working time, not enough catalyst it won’t harden! Simple!
I also cut up my fibreglass into strips about 3-4cm wide and a few smaller bits in odd shapes for the tight curvy bits. Do this first, because you need to start using your resin pretty well straight away.
Once you have your resin mixed up, apply some to the areas you want fibreglassed on the tape, constantly mixing what resin you have in your container so it doesn’t harden on you! Then start applying strips of fibreglass mat on by one, saturating in resin all over, do not use a “painting” method, use more of a “dabbing” method to soak the fibreglass matt, otherwise it can pull apart as the brush moves over it. When Dabbing, soak the brush in resin, and push it down with decent pressure against the fibreglass mat, “squeezing” out the resin from the brush, then spread it around by dabbing a little lighter all over the place.
Keep doing this till you covered what area you want, plus a decent border around it, we will cut this off later anyway to shape it exactly how you want it! Overlap each strip of fibreglass matt and “dab” resin of the two bits so they are both soaked and joined to together, don’t be afraid, use as much resin as you want. Make sure there are no holes in the fibreglass that you have missed, if there are, whack some mat over it and soak it with resin, dabbing it in as usual.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img51876006_95063072.jpg
Once the area was done, I left it to sit for an hour or two, with the windows and doors of the car open and a big pedestal fan blowing in (the fan mainly to let the fumes out so they don’t soak into the car)
I came back and checked the hardness of the glass; it was a hot day so it was fully hardened by then.
If yours isn’t hard yet, leave it for a few more hours, it will all depend on the temperature and how much catalyst you put in.
Once you’ve made sure your glass is rock hard, peel the tape off as much as you can, but still leave it intact to the area behind the fibreglass, once the tape is peeled off your car all the way to the edges of the fibreglass, start to pull the fibreglass off, taking the tape from behind it with you.
Once your out of your car, start to try and separate the tape from the fibreglass, it doesn’t matter if you leave some on, just get as much off as you possibly can without to much fuss.
Don’t worry if your fibreglass flex’s a little, it will hold its shape, just be careful not to snap it.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img41106467_76548047.jpg
One you have all your tape removed, its time to start making MDF rings
You can see in the pic below that I did not remove 100% of the tape, but it doesn’t really bother me, I’ll just sand it a little to remove the stickyness of the underside of the masking tape.
This would also be a good time to trim the fibreglass to fit exactly where you want it, as it may be hard once the rings are mounted.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img49273228_85447773.jpg
Now, to make MDF rings, first we need to determine the size of your gauge(s)
If you have 2” gauges, grab a pair of compasses (or something 2” in diameter) and draw a circle on the MDF 2” in diameter. Then do a larger concentric circle around the original about a half inch to an inch bigger in diameter. This means you’ll need to use the same centre for both circles if you don’t know what concentric is. The principal is the same for all gauge sizes, you might want to make the gauge hole (the 2” one in this example) 2-3mm bigger than the gauge size to allow for easy fitting later on. The thicker the MDF you use the stronger and better it will be ;)
Then you want to cut out your rings on both lines, leaving one circle with a hole in the middle (mmmmm donuts) for each ring! You now have MDF rings CONGRATULATIONS! He he!
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img10843969_45231548.jpg
Now that we have our rings, spaced out and joined together as we want them (they don’t need to be joined, and joining them may not work in some instances, but in mine it did work!) its time to glue them into place on your fibreglass base, a hot glue gun is really handy here!
So hot glue your rings where you want them, and then add some dowel to support them (I used 6mm dowel, but the bigger the gauge, the thicker the dowel you should use, and for subs and things, u want really thick stuff)
Hot glue some Dowel in to support the rings and add re-enforcement to the structure.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img67642326_78296060.jpg
Make sure that’s all glued in properly, then its time to cover the whole structure in some stretchy material!
Put some Hot glue around one edge, and stick the material on it, then after that’s dried, on the opposite side, apply some more glue, and stretch the material so its pretty stretched out and glue it down, do the same for all opposite sides, getting the least amount of ripples as possible, you can see I was a little careless in this department! The photo below is pretty self-explanitory!
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img72837218_81350998.jpg
Now once you have that, you can see what your basic structure will look like!
Mix up a new batch of resin and catalyst, and apply LOTS all over the material, so its all soaked, make sure its sticking to your mdf rings too!
If you’re able to, apply some fibreglass to the inside, this will save sanding on the outside, if you’d rather wait till the resin has dried on the fabric, this is ok too, but you may have some leftover resin and don’t want to waste it!
Once that’s dry, I did a single layer of glass on the inside of the structure to give strength, but DON’T glass over the holes in the rings! You’ll need to cut this out and don’t want fibreglass in your way!
Now when all that has dried and hardened, cut out the holes for your gauges if the some material is very brittle and you may be able to just push it in with your fingers and pull out all the way round the ring, other materials you may need a dremel, figure it out yourself!
*SORRY NO PICTURE HERE, CAMERA NEEDED NEW BATTERIES*
Next you want to sand the outside with a fine sandpaper, getting it as smooth as you possibly can. And now would be a good time to do a test fit of the gauges, the pic below shows a test fit being done, but I hadn’t sanded at all yet! You can notice my careless material stretching too! *whoops*
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img3581855_63120523.jpg
Once you know your gauges fit, and the outside is extremely smooth, its time to paint! Grab a colour of your choice, and spray away, do a few coats and using a primer underneath and clear coat on top will help a bit!
Now sorry I don’t have photos of it painted or installed in the car, but if anyone is really interested I’ll get some in the next few days!
NOTES: Do 2-3 layers of fibreglass on the base thingy, to make sure its strong enough! I cut a few corners doing this which I wont do again, it was my first project!
And yes I do know a couple of pictures aren’t of the same structure, I made a first one which I decided wasn’t covering enough area so I made a second one, also with a hole in the bottom for easy gauge wiring/inside fibreglassing!
If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me or just ask!
Hope this will help some people!
DRCVIC
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim: To Make a Custom Fitted Gauge holder
Materials Needed:
1-2kg Fibreglass Resin
1 Bottle of Catalist
1/2M.Sq. Fibreglass Mat
X Paintbrushes
1 Bottle of Acetone (or a lot of cheap paintbrushes)
1 Respirator
1 Small Sheet of MDF (5mm or thicker is good, the thicker the stronger)
1 or 2 Length of 6 to 8mm wooden dowel
Method:
I First started off by laying masking tape on and around the area I was to fibreglass. Fibreglass DOES NOT stick to masking tape, so this is a good cheap way to do it.
Put a couple of layers down to make sure nothing gets through!
Any places your sticking it the actual dash needs to have the greasyness / oilyness washed off with metho or degreaser, this usually comes from armorall and other cleaning products. Oh, make sure you tape up a lot of the area surrounding the place you want to fibreglass, if this stuff gets on your carpet/seats you WONT get it out!
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img2377091_25761290.jpg
Then I mixed up some resin/catalyst to the amounts stated on the tin/bottle, too much catalyst you will have no working time, not enough catalyst it won’t harden! Simple!
I also cut up my fibreglass into strips about 3-4cm wide and a few smaller bits in odd shapes for the tight curvy bits. Do this first, because you need to start using your resin pretty well straight away.
Once you have your resin mixed up, apply some to the areas you want fibreglassed on the tape, constantly mixing what resin you have in your container so it doesn’t harden on you! Then start applying strips of fibreglass mat on by one, saturating in resin all over, do not use a “painting” method, use more of a “dabbing” method to soak the fibreglass matt, otherwise it can pull apart as the brush moves over it. When Dabbing, soak the brush in resin, and push it down with decent pressure against the fibreglass mat, “squeezing” out the resin from the brush, then spread it around by dabbing a little lighter all over the place.
Keep doing this till you covered what area you want, plus a decent border around it, we will cut this off later anyway to shape it exactly how you want it! Overlap each strip of fibreglass matt and “dab” resin of the two bits so they are both soaked and joined to together, don’t be afraid, use as much resin as you want. Make sure there are no holes in the fibreglass that you have missed, if there are, whack some mat over it and soak it with resin, dabbing it in as usual.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img51876006_95063072.jpg
Once the area was done, I left it to sit for an hour or two, with the windows and doors of the car open and a big pedestal fan blowing in (the fan mainly to let the fumes out so they don’t soak into the car)
I came back and checked the hardness of the glass; it was a hot day so it was fully hardened by then.
If yours isn’t hard yet, leave it for a few more hours, it will all depend on the temperature and how much catalyst you put in.
Once you’ve made sure your glass is rock hard, peel the tape off as much as you can, but still leave it intact to the area behind the fibreglass, once the tape is peeled off your car all the way to the edges of the fibreglass, start to pull the fibreglass off, taking the tape from behind it with you.
Once your out of your car, start to try and separate the tape from the fibreglass, it doesn’t matter if you leave some on, just get as much off as you possibly can without to much fuss.
Don’t worry if your fibreglass flex’s a little, it will hold its shape, just be careful not to snap it.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img41106467_76548047.jpg
One you have all your tape removed, its time to start making MDF rings
You can see in the pic below that I did not remove 100% of the tape, but it doesn’t really bother me, I’ll just sand it a little to remove the stickyness of the underside of the masking tape.
This would also be a good time to trim the fibreglass to fit exactly where you want it, as it may be hard once the rings are mounted.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img49273228_85447773.jpg
Now, to make MDF rings, first we need to determine the size of your gauge(s)
If you have 2” gauges, grab a pair of compasses (or something 2” in diameter) and draw a circle on the MDF 2” in diameter. Then do a larger concentric circle around the original about a half inch to an inch bigger in diameter. This means you’ll need to use the same centre for both circles if you don’t know what concentric is. The principal is the same for all gauge sizes, you might want to make the gauge hole (the 2” one in this example) 2-3mm bigger than the gauge size to allow for easy fitting later on. The thicker the MDF you use the stronger and better it will be ;)
Then you want to cut out your rings on both lines, leaving one circle with a hole in the middle (mmmmm donuts) for each ring! You now have MDF rings CONGRATULATIONS! He he!
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img10843969_45231548.jpg
Now that we have our rings, spaced out and joined together as we want them (they don’t need to be joined, and joining them may not work in some instances, but in mine it did work!) its time to glue them into place on your fibreglass base, a hot glue gun is really handy here!
So hot glue your rings where you want them, and then add some dowel to support them (I used 6mm dowel, but the bigger the gauge, the thicker the dowel you should use, and for subs and things, u want really thick stuff)
Hot glue some Dowel in to support the rings and add re-enforcement to the structure.
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img67642326_78296060.jpg
Make sure that’s all glued in properly, then its time to cover the whole structure in some stretchy material!
Put some Hot glue around one edge, and stick the material on it, then after that’s dried, on the opposite side, apply some more glue, and stretch the material so its pretty stretched out and glue it down, do the same for all opposite sides, getting the least amount of ripples as possible, you can see I was a little careless in this department! The photo below is pretty self-explanitory!
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img72837218_81350998.jpg
Now once you have that, you can see what your basic structure will look like!
Mix up a new batch of resin and catalyst, and apply LOTS all over the material, so its all soaked, make sure its sticking to your mdf rings too!
If you’re able to, apply some fibreglass to the inside, this will save sanding on the outside, if you’d rather wait till the resin has dried on the fabric, this is ok too, but you may have some leftover resin and don’t want to waste it!
Once that’s dry, I did a single layer of glass on the inside of the structure to give strength, but DON’T glass over the holes in the rings! You’ll need to cut this out and don’t want fibreglass in your way!
Now when all that has dried and hardened, cut out the holes for your gauges if the some material is very brittle and you may be able to just push it in with your fingers and pull out all the way round the ring, other materials you may need a dremel, figure it out yourself!
*SORRY NO PICTURE HERE, CAMERA NEEDED NEW BATTERIES*
Next you want to sand the outside with a fine sandpaper, getting it as smooth as you possibly can. And now would be a good time to do a test fit of the gauges, the pic below shows a test fit being done, but I hadn’t sanded at all yet! You can notice my careless material stretching too! *whoops*
http://www.freephotoserver.com/files/img3581855_63120523.jpg
Once you know your gauges fit, and the outside is extremely smooth, its time to paint! Grab a colour of your choice, and spray away, do a few coats and using a primer underneath and clear coat on top will help a bit!
Now sorry I don’t have photos of it painted or installed in the car, but if anyone is really interested I’ll get some in the next few days!
NOTES: Do 2-3 layers of fibreglass on the base thingy, to make sure its strong enough! I cut a few corners doing this which I wont do again, it was my first project!
And yes I do know a couple of pictures aren’t of the same structure, I made a first one which I decided wasn’t covering enough area so I made a second one, also with a hole in the bottom for easy gauge wiring/inside fibreglassing!
If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me or just ask!
Hope this will help some people!
DRCVIC