I have abosolutely no idea...

General Composites Discussions Equipment Talk
#1

I have absolutely no idea where I should be getting my supplies from.

I have made a wing plug out of blue Styrofoam that is fairly dense, but still pourous. I need epoxy resin, micro bubbles, and fiberglass to complete the plug (I’ll get filler, sand paper, polish, etc. locally).

Second, I need some sort of mold making system. Gel coat and resin. From reading here and other places, I would like to use a non-epoxy system to save cost, but the plug is going to be 60" long and 12" deep and 2" thick, so maybe I should just use epoxy. Thoughts? I’m told I need a system that doesn’t shrink, but no one will actually name a system or where to get it. I guess maybe brand naming is against TOC, I don’t know, but it would be helpful if someone would PM me about a good system please! :smiley: I’ll also need the clay, cloth, etc. for molds. I like the idea of using thin matt at first, and then going with 3oz over that, and then using the thick tooling cloth over that. It’s a very simple wing shaped plug with no difficult corners except for the trailing edge.

Third, for the parts themselves (it’s a wing), I’ll need infusion equipment, bagging supplies, flow media, peel ply, release agents/wax, and last, but not least, 3k 2x2 5oz carbon fiber cloth, and perhaps 12 oz cloth as well.

Also, gloves, mixing supplies, scales (though I can get an accurate digital scale locally), various other stuff.

Now, I am in western Ohio. The closest place is Fibreglast. I’ve actually been to their place and like what I saw, but they are very high priced. I see lots of stuff on Ebay, but, well, it’s on Ebay… If you were me, and you were starting again basically from scratch, where would you get your stuff from? And please, I’m not worried about how or why, just where. I have how and why covered in other threads. lol :smiley:

I’d to the point now where I’m just going to go to the old standby and get everything from Aircraft Spruce, but their website isn’t terribly helpful when figuring out what to choose. Any help or suggestions you all have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

#2

Here is a list of places you can find what you need.

Harbor Freight (harborfreight.com)
FiberGlast
FiberGlass Coatings, inc. (fgci.com)
US Composites (uscomposites.com)
McMaster Carr (mcmaster.com)
MSC Direct (mscdirect.com)
Composites One (compositesone.com)

You should be able to get everything you need from the places above. Harbor freight is great for cheap tools and disposables. Sites like Fiberglast and FGCI allow you to buy the products you need, especially resins and gel coats in reasonable quantities. McMaster Carr and MSC Direct have loads of materials other than composites specific products. Composites One sells pretty much anything you need from resins and gelcoats to infusion consumables but getting things like resin and gel coat in small quantities may be an issue.

As far as the mold goes, I would just purchase generic “tooling” gelcoat and an ISO “tooling” resin and go to work. I have never seen an online composites store that makes it easy to choose the product you need. In my opinion the best thing is to call the distributor or even the manufacturer to determine which product(s) best suit your needs.

#3

That’s a great idea- calling the manufacturer. Maybe I should start my own composites warehouse and offer products with detailed descriptions. Maybe I’d take over the industry… lol

As I said, fiberglast is about twenty minutes from my house. It just that their prices are so high. I may call them to milk some info though. Thanks for the reply!

#4

I called fiberglast. Lol is all I can say. When I asked “what would you use?”, he said “I can’t tell you that…”

When I said “I have a foam wing I’ve hotwired for a plug, so I know I need microballoons to fill the pours and then epoxy resin on my glass…” He said, “You know more than I do…”

And even though I live only a few minutes away, they won’t allow local pickup. I think Fibreglast is officially off the supplier’s list…

#5

Sounds like FANTASTIC customer service you received there… :confused:

#6

For tooling:

RM3000 tooling resin, and GC206 gelcoat. That is what I am familiar with, and what I know works. Nidacore sells it in the USA.

And indeed great service.

Side question: If I were to run an internet shop, or not even a shop, but at least a catalogue, how would you like to see the info structured, so you can make choices yourself?

#7

Thanks guys. I got some of my stuff from Fibreglast because a friend uses their stuff and he says it’s good, so I wanted to have some good struff to learn with.

If I (or you) were to run an internet supplies shop, I’d do the following:

[ul]
[li]Show an accurate representation of what the part will look like with cured resin (final look) (don’t use the same freaking photo over and over for different stuff) when you are listing reinforcements[/li][li]Give accurate thickness measurements of finished part (assuming the user lays it up correctly)[/li][li]State plainly which resins work with which reinforcement materials- in both the resin description and the reinforcement description.[/li][li]State plainly mixing ratios, foam eating characteristics, UV protection (or not), etc. I hate digging for the info in the fine print- and I usually just switch to another website if I have to work too hard.[/li][li]If your resin can be used for vacuum infusing- say it plainly. If it can’t, say it plainly.[/li][li]Have a section dedicated to what you need for different things. Like “Wet layup”, and then list the stuff you need. You can add links to your product pages after the list. “Vacuum Infusion Technique”, list the stuff, but don’t make a stupid package that costs $1000 an probably has 1000 meters of hose, 1000 sq. meters of vacuum bagging plastic, a $500 vacuum pump that you can get from Harbor Freight for eighty bucks, etc.[/li][/ul]Oh, and how about a page that translates all of the technical terminology to something the beginner can understand? That would be helpful.

#8

All good things, thanks for the input. I will keep things in mind whenever we are ready to do more on the internet.