Monthly Archives: August 2017

If you have ever followed us on Facebook, you may remember that we used to occasionally share tech tips. We are now going to share some on our blog too.  Here are a few we have shared in the past-

If you are working with styrofoam, do not use polyester or vinyl ester resin. The styrene in the polyester or vinyl ester resin will melt it. Use epoxy resin.

Chopped strand mat is not compatible with epoxy resin. The chopped strand mat is held together by a styrene binder. 

I want to thank Steve at Venom Racing for sending in some photos and a write up of his experience as a first time fabricator of fiberglass parts.  He has been ordering from us since last year and I asked him for some photos of his work.  The write up below is two emails that he sent me.

Email #1

My rear fender flare project was a great learning experience since I started with no composite experience at all. I only did them to prove to myself that I could I do it but I won’t be using these or this design on the car. I still have much to learn and maybe this winter I’ll take another crack at them. The second project was teaching myself how to do resin infusion because I needed to make a new front splitter. Again, great learning experience but still much to learn.

Vacuum bagging adds more time and money to your laminate but will provide you with high quality parts.  In this segment we will discuss some of the fittings that are needed in the vacuum bagging process.

Vacuum Pump-The most important part needed when vacuum bagging is a pump.  There are many pumps on the market that vary in price.  It is definitely an investment.  There are ones specifically for large applications and ones that are meant for medium to small applications. The pumps have different styles (diaphragm, rotary vane, oil bath, piston etc.), motor horse powers and CFMs (cubic feet per minute). You will need to evaluate your project to see which pump will work best for you.