Recommend a Fiberglass kit...

Ribo

Twist the "go-go" side and hold on!
Hey folks,

Can anyone recommend a fiberglass kit they've used?

Thanks
R./
 
I've never used a "kit", but I buy resin by the drum, so I googled it for you to see what was out there...

Man, it doesn't look like anyone makes a reasonable "kit".

My best advice is to find a local composites store, if you can, and pick up stuff there. Avoid the bondo kits walmart and Home Depot sell...

http://www.fibreglast.com/product/Polyester_Molding_Resin_just_resin_77/Polyester_Resins is a good site with reasonable low volume prices and all the items you'll need.
 
Agree with what mathil said, avoid the Bonda stuff, its horrible and you won't save any money with it. I pick mine up at a local composite store, just pickup what I need for the job I'm working on so that it doesn't go bad just sitting there, it has a shelf life.
 
if you want to do the job right get laminating resin it allows you to VERY easily build up a few layers and make a strong light part
use mostly cloth do not use all mat there is very little strength in mat
use mat between layers of cloth
a little finishing top coat resin for the final
if you buy a kit with only the one kind of resin you cannot build up layers with any kind of bond integrity between them unless you do the whole thing wet in one shot,which is just very difficult and can be frustrating as hell
 
I'd even avoid those stores, I went to a West Marine once to pick up gelcoat pigment (I buy it in the quart for about $15) they charged me $5 for a 1oz tube... that's a pretty standard markup in that business. If you need lam. resin I find the kind sold by UScomposites or fiberglasssite are good, I haven't used lam resin since I started bagging my parts though :)
 
Thanks folks,

I can't find a composite store near me in NOVA but I'm sure I can get something online - cheers for the pointers. I just want to play around with making a seat - probably going to be a few "versions"
 
I also recommend buying a quantity of unwaxed resin, and then waxing it as needed.
 
For what you are wanting to do. A 1.5 or 2oz chopped strand mat, and an unwaxed poly resin will be more than suitable.
 
I buy everything from these guys except the glass which I buy local. Good people. Good prices. Excellent products. Plus straight up info hard to find all in one place. Seems there is a lot of variety in what people prefer for materials. I only use epoxy, it's better, but more expensive than polyester. I think it a better value in the end. I use finishing cloth almost exclusively for new parts because it is very flexible and very thin. Bike parts are very small, and many layers makes very light very strong parts (the thin cloth is easier to work with, I think especially for novices. It takes more layers and therefore more time and patience for any given end thickness, but you more easily get a better glass to resin ratio, and better strength, so it is easy to end up with a lighter thinner part.). I don't keep a lot of various weights and weaves on hand. I do generally keep some chopped strand matt on hand though. Those 3 items, (standard "laminating" epoxy, chopped strand and finishing cloth) will enable you to make nearly anything you will ever want for a motorcycle.

http://www.epoxyproducts.com/
 
One thing to remember is chopped strand mat is held together with a polyester soluble binder, meant to dissolve in poly resins. When used with epoxy it usually remains "stiff" rather than blowing apart into a flexible tangle of fibers. Someone makes epoxy "compatible" CSM, but it's not as widely carried.

I tried to look at that website you posted, and man, they really need a webmaster or something. I tried for 3 minutes and couldn't find the right place before I got frustrated and quit.
 
That one of those new "cafe" websites - they took an old website and removed anything that wasn't essential like any kind of navigation and moved everything to one page -- it does the ton on the information super side-road.
 
Ribo said:
That one of those new "cafe" websites - they took an old website and removed anything that wasn't essential like any kind of navigation and moved everything to one page -- it does the ton on the information super side-road.

Some of us just aren't built for speed, I fear!

:p
 
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