Fun with Fiberglass
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I thought I’d broaden my horizons and try something different. After following a few threads over at http://www.fiberglassforums.com I decided to try something myself. So this is my first attempt at any sort of custom fabrication….I have no clue how its going to turn out so wish me the best… I have a thread over their to seek some advice but anything you guys know about this stuff let me know.
Here’s the start of my monster:
Its an old junk bumper off the same vehicle, its covered in a 1k spray foam (great stuff expanding foam)…the plan is to carve it out to the shape I want.
[img]http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3305/dsc00907ck8.jpg[/img]
Everyone at the shop thinks I’ve lost my mind (maybe I have)…. I want to create a foam mold to look something like this:
[img]http://images.cars.com/main/DMI/16337/6741.jpg[/img]
It’s going on a friend of mines 2005 Durango
that makes me itch just looking at it:blink: :blink: :blink: they are right you have lost your mind:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: curious ta see how it comes out for ya;)
Im anxious to see the results of the mold, been thinkin about making some grand cherokee bumpers for myself. I didnt know that the dakota bumper cover fits the new body durango grill-lights.
I don’t really know if the dakota-durango bumpers are interchangable or not….this bumper is off the durango, this is just the style were going for….god knows what it will end up looking like!
Just the lower valence is whats being created. I want it to bolt on the sides and 2-way tape it along the front. Its the piece that wraps the bottom of the bumper and goes up to the style line on the sides of the bumper.
I see i thought you were gonna make the whole cover into a mold then cast one piece.
[b]pnlbtr4life wrote:[/b]
[quote]I see i thought you were gonna make the whole cover into a mold then cast one piece.[/quote]I’m not that brave yet! 😆 😆 😆
The bearded bumper…:) I would probably do something similar. Hell, i just might!
I posted this at AB101 a while back. It may give you some clues…
Ya, I’d seen that post. Kinda what sparked my interest!
been thinking if doing a hood scoop for my superbee out of glass but didn’t know how to start exactly. now i got a good idea on how to do it.
I’ve tried similar with great stuff, but didn’t cover the foam before glass work. Just to let you know, fiberglass resin melts the stuff, so cover it with tape or something to make it keep shape.
I had thought it would be similar to what they use to make surfboards, but it didn’t hold up as well as I had thought.
Ya, I got a heads up on that already… some guys have suggested an aluminum tape covered in a wax first too for an easier release..
How did your past projects turn out?
I only have done it a couple of times, and both times I used the foam only to get the basic shape I wanted for a one time deal. Left the foam behind the surface layer for support. I had no intentions of making a negative to cast parts off of so it didn’t matter.
Once was for a school project for son (again). Needed to make a nosecone for a rather large rocket. Built it up w/ great stuff. then covered it with fiberglass. Wound up melting and sinking in some, but it did harden, so I just filled it with body filler. The second time I had a customer with a 300c that they wanted to have the rear license plate retract from the side into the bumper (who knows why, but I don’t ask, I just give them a price). After reengineering the plate mechanism because it was set up for top to bottom instead of side to side, They wanted the license box closed in tighter to the plate. Scuffed the original bumper, filled most of the box with great stuff, shaped and covered with bumper repair material. Bumper repair material melts great stuff too. In the end it turned out looking good, it just took more filling than I would have liked.
Another picture, the foams carved, foiled & waxed… Gonna glass it tommorow:
[img]http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/566/dsc00911pt9.jpg[/img]
Can anyone tell me if I need to do anything special before applying fiberglass fillers, putty,,,,whatever…. Or is it just sand and apply as usual.
I’ve joined fiberflassforums.com. Lots of great info., there… The issue you might have is with symmetry. Looking through several threads at that forum, lots of time is spent
on templates and measurements. Tedious stuff.
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