Fiberglassing 101

Today, for the first time in some 30 years, I did fiberglassing. The last time was working with my Dad to do some body work on a rusted out fender and then he handled the epoxy mixing. Today was the first time I would do the entire process on my own.

For this reason I purchased the practice tube I previously spoke about and today it was time to glass it.

I'm using the West Systems epoxy and fiberglass sleeve sold by Soller Composites with the 207 hardner.

I started by borrowing a trick from Vern Knowles and using foam to make centering rings to mount my tube on a PVC pipe. I then slid the fiberglass sleeve down the tube and used masking tape to secure the first end to the PVC pipe. I then worked the fiberglass back along the tube to make it as snug and even a fit as I could. I used the masking tape to cinch down the sleeve on the second end of the PVC and then borrowed again from Vern. I masked off all but a narrow band of the sleeve and then applied the same 3M Super 77 adhesive he used to prevent fraying. I gave that a bit of time to set up then cut the sleeve off and finished securing the second end to the PVC pipe with more masking tape.

I then mixed up the epoxy using the pumps I'd purchased to ensure the proper ratio of resin and hardner. To apply the epoxy I opted to just pour it onto the fiberglass and then use my gloved hand to spread the it along the tube. The only issue I had was when I was working at the end of the tube the fiberglass wouln't adhere despite having plenty of epoxy. Apparently I still had some slack in the sleeve that I'd not been able to work out during prep. I was not overly concerned about this as I intended to use heat shrink tubing to squeeze out excess epoxy and this would also have the affect of compressing the fiberglass against the tube while the epoxy cured, ensuring there would be no long term issue.

I did find that I'd mixed up more epoxy than I really needed and like my fellow local rocketeers I was trying to find something to do with the excess. Unfortunately I didn't come up with anything. It wasn't a whole lot and I'm not sure that using only 2 pumps of resin and hardner would have made enough epoxy.

The heat shrink tubing went on without any difficulty and performed as advertised. The tube is now hung (as recommended by Jon Soller) in the garage while it cures. Tomorrow I intend to strip the shrink tubing from it and dismount it from the PVC so I can glass the real airframe, payload bay, and coupler tubes. Fortunately the heat shrink tubes that were missing from my order showed up in the mail today.

Photo Album: Fiberglassing 101