Fiberglassing- need some HELP

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#1

I’m new to fiberglass (actually all composites) and I need some help. Several months ago I made my first attempt at fiberglassing. I was trying to reinforce an ABS door panel on a car. The area is prone to cracking from stress so I thought this would work out well. I scuffed the back of the door panel with sand paper and then cleaned it well before I started. I thought that with scuffing up the panel it would make the fiberglass adhere

I used an epoxy resin and laid several a few layers of glass down. Seemed to be pretty strong once I finished but I noticed the other day that the door panel had cracked in that spot so I pulled it off to take a look and saw that the fiberglass had separated from the plastic. I was able to peel it off with my hand. The fiberglass I laid was hard but it ended up making a mold of the door panel rather than reinforcing it.

What do I need to do to make the fiberglass adhere to the ABS panel?

#2

Not a lot will stick to ABS. I used to sell spa pools and some of them had ABS backing on the acrylic and thus couldn’t be fiberglass reinforced (both with epoxy and the esters). Your best bet could be to get extra plastic welded onto the back.

#3

I think I will look into plastic welding a piece to reinforce the panel. I figured that the fiberglass would work once I scuffed the part but I guess not. I really think it was the stress put on the panel that caused the separation.

#4

Something else I came across while researching my options was that some would use fiberglass cloth but would use an ABS cement or epoxy to reinforce the parts. I guess they would wet the glass with the cement or epoxy much like using a resin.

What’s everyone’s opinion on this?

#5

depending on what ABS cement does…it might work.
ABS cement might melt the ABS, and that is how it glues itself together…but, if that doesn’t happen much (the melting), you can use a bit of fiberglass over the cement and see what happens.

#6

What about using a polyester resin? Originally I avoided it because I wan told it would melt the plastic in effect that’s what the ABS cement would do so why not experiment with a polyester resin.

Or would this be a bad idea? I’ve seen some use polyester to overlay an ABS part before with success.

Could someone suggest a resin to try and a place to purchase? I don’t want a lot of resin since I’m a hobbyists and don’t work with composites much.

#7

If you want some ABS scrap sheeting…I have tons around here as I make ABS interior panels…

If you want some, just pay for shipping from So. Calif.!

Then you can test your resins on them.

#8

That would be great. Its a lot easier to work with scrap than a $500 part. Let me know what shipping will run to 76017 and any other details you need.