hey guys, i was wondering, what do you have to do to make a fiberglass mold. i really want to hand fabricate my own pieces like spoilers, maybe ground effects, roll pans for trucks, etc. anyone know what to do to go about it?

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is not something you can just decide to do, or have some one describe to you how to do it. That is a highly skilled trade. And the guys that build molds from scratch get paid BIG $ to do it too. To make a mold though you need a "plug" from which you make the mold. and that plug is what they get the big $ for. Once you have a plug of your part the actual molding process is easy. But it is also costly to build that mold, because of the special materials needed, such as 'tooling gel' and special types of glassmat, all of which are used for durability. (wouldn't want to pull your part and rip chunks of your mold out!)

 

To make a fiberglass mold is pretty straight forward, BUT its allloottt of work, let me say that again its alot of work.

heres how you do it in a nutshel:
First you start with whatever material you want to make a template from. it can be wood, (dense) styrofoam, plastic, metal, whatever floats your boat. Make sure its overly stiff and rigid, and will not flex.

Once you have an EXACT mock of what you want, you take a spray release agent and apply it to your newly made template.

Now you apply your molding material, I have seen fiberglas used to make a mold for fiberglas and it works well.

let your new mold take shape.

Now that you have a mold you remove it from your template. IF its too complex of a shape you may have to cut your mold to get your pieces out. if this is the case, then your going to have to split your mold into several parts to make sure you get your part out when you make it. You can fill parts of it with bondo, and attach wood to it to make it stiffer etc.

Keep this in mind. If you want a complex shape such as a sphere (a ball) then your going to ned at LEAST 2 pieces to make each of the halves.

Take your new mold and spary it too with a release agent PVA is an example, and let it set up, then remove it from your mold(s). then trim the excess off, finish and paint.

you got a new part.

there is more to this, and its alot of work, I think I might have mentioned that before. But it gives you some ideas.

I wish it was as easy as it sounds.

John

 

i started the post, had to switch my name, but i have a feel for it and know someone who's willing to teach me the trade. I'm going to attempt some sweet projects here and there, i'll keep y'all posted. Also, what can i use as a releasing agent, just a thought, would PAM spray or crisco/shortening work?(i'm a prep cook, lol)

 

I would suspect that Pam would not work. The stuff I seen used is PVA. It acts like a thin layer pf plastic that does not stick to anything. Its water soluble <sp? too.

John

 

I've had success using WD-40 as my release agent. Just a light spray will work well.

 

well, bralger is right, now EVERYONE can do it. Ive never tried to make any kind of spoiler or ground effects before, although i bet it would eb a whole lot more time consuming and difficult than making my kickpanels. I would say you could do it, just be sure what you are doing, you need some creativity and crafty skills. With this you can do anything, but it is still going to eb really hard ad long time process.

 

I'm interested in doing a few things also, anybody know some good material suppliers?

 

Here is a link from www.hotrod.com