Fixing Fiberglass

Sadness and despair....I was going to publish a little how to article... but It appears that there is a limitation of 10 pics. Strange considering Doug doesn't host the pics. Regardless, It was a major PITA to get these pics up to imageshack, resized and so forth....just to find out I couldn't use them in this post...at least not all of them in one post. Grrrrrr.

Doug, it would be helpful to illustrate to others how to do stuff with more than 10 pics. Give some consideration to fixing this.


I posted the 10 photos that I was allowed and I will put a little blurb below each one.

I am now pressed for time but will hopefully post the "Rest of the Story" later in another post.... assuming this one doesn't get deleted.

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Yesterday I went for a quick flight. It was good fun until I heard a rhythmic noise that I thought was an engine issue. The period changed with the throttle. There was not a vibration and there was not a power loss.

I got back to the hangar and found the issue. My front leg fiberglass intersection lost the front screw.

Today is Saturday and the weather is cold, gray and only good for doing maintenance from the comfort of my kitchen.

I didn't think about photographing any of this until I got threw the first layup, but the front piece of the intersection was bent over and over from the slipstream and it was nearly broken off. Thankfully it was still there.

The take away is that if you are in a big hurry to get some glass work done, you don't have to wait until tomorrow or even 6 hours later. If the fiberglass item is small enough, just stick it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes on low heat. In my case 170 F.


Here is a picture of the first lay which is on the top.


Here is the top layup in the oven.


Bottom side of broken fairing intersection.


Cut fiberglass to size.


The west resin system.


1/2 squirt from each... More than I really needed.


Let it settle in the corner.


Now mix it up.


Put your fiberglass strip in and squeeze the resin into the cloth.




I had 16 more pics after this showing you the rest of the story...I'll try to post them at a later date.

Just a suggestion on the multiple photos thing. I always compose more than a paragraph in word, including th links to pictures. When I finish it, if it is too long for a single post, I just "Reply" to my first post with the second section...and the third...and so forth. I have seen folks do five or six posts for a great travel story.

Paul

Technique

I hope Dan chimes in here, given his expertise and status with this forum, but, as a former composite guy, I have to take issue with the technique here. 'About a half pump' is not the way to measure epoxy components and I hope nobody gets the idea that this is common or advised practice. And mixing in a bag is not going to do a very good job either. Just watching Sam James at Oshkosh and many a composite builder verifies both observations. Either might work, sorta and sometimes, but is not an approved method for anything important so why not do it correctly? This is how I think they measure and mix polyester type components or Bondo.
Weigh the materials if you want to make a smaller batch than a full pump. Mix in a cup for two minutes, scraping the sides carefully every turn of the cup. All is documented in the West System instructions which (mfg. instructions) is probably the best way to approach anybody's products....

Thanks Paul

That's a great suggestion. Using word will help allow me to see the whole doc before I post it as well. I'm sure that will help me proof it a little bit better as well.

Do it like this

Here the easy way to show a lot of pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hoptownbob/CarbWork#

Y'all are missin' the point

The point of this thread is that fiberglass CAN go into the kitchen oven and there are pictures to prove it can be done!
I'll try this tomorrow..... wish me luck.... send flowers if you don't hear from me.

Thank you Bobby

I really enjoyed your step by step pictures with captions. It really helps when when trying to illustrate how to accomplish a repair. Thank you for your positive comments and suggestions.

Link to all of the pictures w/ Captions. Thanks Bobby!

http://picasaweb.google.com/105240281710557224797/FiberglassRepairInAHurry02?authkey=Gv1sRgCMjwu5qY1YDhWQ&feat=directlink

Thanks to Bobby for a great suggestion. I like Picasaweb much better than the imageshack. It has a much more robust application on the client side for adding captions and syncing images.

Looks Great!

Now wasn't that easy

Looks great!

rzbill said:

The point of this thread is that fiberglass CAN go into the kitchen oven and there are pictures to prove it can be done!
I'll try this tomorrow..... wish me luck.... send flowers if you don't hear from me.

Click to expand...

I can see the headline...



Police were called to the home of a local airplane builder today and found him prostrate on the kitchen floor, bleeding from a head wound. The builder's wife said she found a great stink in her kitchen, and admitted that said stink "drove me over the edge".

Fiberglass tips....

Having built a Long-EZ, let me share some fiberglassing tips.

1. Once a FG part has fully cured, the only adhesion for subsequent glass layers is mechanical. The part should be sanded with at least 80 grit paper, preferably 36 grit. If the part was originally created using polyester resin, subsequent layups should be with polyester resin, not epoxy.

2. Please use a small ?Dixie? cup and popsicle stick for mixing, not a baggie.

3. Please don?t ?pre-preging? just one or two plies. Once glass cloth is wet with epoxy, controlling fiber orientation is like controlling wet toilet paper, unless it?s fairly thick (like 5 plies). Pre-preg on wax paper if you?re doing at least 5 plys. Transfer the glass to the part you?re applying it to, then peel off the wax paper.

4. Use a cheap 1? brush to apply a wetted out layer of pure epoxy to the component, then carefully apply the single ply of dry glass. Use the brush to stipple in the epoxy until wetted out. You can use a pliable rubber squeegee instead of the brush if you?re working with a larger flat surface. Then apply the next layer of glass cloth? repeat until you have the needed thickness. Wet out a strip of peel-ply over top the layup (all the way to the peel-ply edges) to make a smooth edge transition, or for leaving a rough surface for later applications of glass. (You don?t have to sand a previous layup if it has been peel-plied).

5. Please don?t cure wet epoxy in the oven at temps over 85-90 Deg F. At higher temps you run great risk of causing the epoxy to drain out of the cloth, resulting in a dry, non structural layup. You can use higher temps once the epoxy has cured to at least the tack free state. If you cure it out at 150 DegF, then application of heat to the part to reform it at a later time, will require heat greater than 150.

6. When faced with cold temps for wetting out FG, use a hair dryer on low temp to aide in wetting out the cloth. But be careful to prevent the cloth from becoming ?dry? by the epoxy draining out of the cloth.

7. And please, wear gloves when handling epoxy, the stuff can and will cause allergic skin reaction. It requires solvents to get epoxy off your skin, which will also act to dissolve the epoxy into your skin.

I was almost finished building my Long-EZ without allergic problems, then all of a sudden, it was AWEFUL (that was 1984). I almost didn?t finish the project because of the subsequent reactions to the epoxy. To this day, I break out like a poison oak rash if I get any of it on me.

All fiberglass components (like fairings) must have a tinnerman washer under the screw, otherwise in time, the screw head will work it?s way through the bare FG hole.

My wife gave me permission...

Amanda helped me build the 6A.... and with a nod from our friend who works at a composites company, let me bake the fiberglass.

I was required to fry up some bacon and scramble some eggs to go with that fairing.

Thankfully the 6A is a mostly metal airplane with very few glass components. But fixing these non structural components is really easy. A nice guy named Jay Pratt once told me that I was building an airplane and not the space shuttle. Just do it, have fun and try not to worry too much.

N363RV said:

Amanda helped me build the 6A.... and with a nod from our friend who works at a composites company, let me bake the fiberglass.

I was required to fry up some bacon and scramble some eggs to go with that fairing.

Thankfully the 6A is a mostly metal airplane with very few glass components. But fixing these non structural components is really easy. A nice guy named Jay Pratt once told me that I was building an airplane and not the space shuttle. Just do it, have fun and try not to worry too much.

Click to expand...

Well, generally that's good advice but epoxy fumes are not harmless. There are some pretty complex chemicals floating around when that stuff is being mixed and is curing.

In a previous life, after sucking in epoxy fumes building a canard airplane, a routine chest x-ray and CAT scan revealed a large mass above the lungs - it was the thyroid gland enlarged about 5 times over. The consensus was it must be removed which a very skilled woman surgeon accomplished without much ado. The thyroid was not cancerous as feared, but that left no explanation as to why it had grown so out of control.

I know what caused it - epoxy fumes. It happened to at least one other guy - exact same thing - that's what he told me in an e-mail.

Don't get too relaxed with epoxy fumes. Doing a few small pieces probably is of no consequence but you really don't know how much of the stuff your body can tolerate.

I used the oven ones too................

I wanted to cure some touch up of a fairing and put the part in the oven as well, on the lowest temperature the oven will do. Left it on for about half an hour and forgot about it for the time. When I got back in the kitchen to pick up the part, the wife was just ready to cook someting in the oven that she preheated to 225?C , without checking if there was anything in there of course! Well.........bubbles everywhere! now I had to completely resand, prime and repaint the fairing!

You better let the misses know what you are doing in her kitchen!

Regards, Tonny.