Glassin'

[TheKid]

The fairing is not what I want to use to learn glassin' as I go, so I'm using the seat for practice.
I cut the piece for the fiberglass seat, but I could'nt get it to bend the way I wanted to. So I cut the bottom piece off, and sheet metal screwed the pieces to the frame to line them up. I decided to use the same fabric as the seat cushion to make the rest of the seat. I cut a strip to join the bottom and top, applied epoxy resin to the seam, and presed the fabric strip into place. I then covered the strip with more epoxy. I'm using the longest setting hardner I could find, because I know I'll need the extra time while I'm learning. With this hardener, I have several hours of set-up time. Here's the first pic

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z66/edpol_photos/000_0217WinCE.jpg

Next, I trimmed the excess off the strip, and applied epoxy to the rest of the seat. I forgot to sand the seat smooth, so it will be difficult to smooth out the air bubbles. I won't make that mistake when I do the outside of the seat, which should be easier, because it was the finish side on the boat.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z66/edpol_photos/000_0219WinCE.jpg

Next, I fimly pressed the fabric into the epoxy, and applied another coat over the fabric. This pic shows the beginning of that application.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z66/edpol_photos/000_0220WinCE.jpg

I already know that when it dries, it will not match the color of the fabric. But it will have a contrasting finished look after it's sanded and clear coated.

[Bunk]

When working with fiberglass cloth on bends don't line it up with the edges of the seat. Turn the piece 45 degrees or so the cloth looks like a "V" shape instead of "Vertical and horizonal" lines. It's called putting the cloth on bias. It will form to almost any shape that way and will lay flat. When putting on multiple layers of cloth make sure to put them on in different angle than the last layer. It will make for a lot stronger piece. Just something to remember next time.

Kyle

[TheKid]

Yes, I remember that from when I built a boat back in the 70's. Thanks for the reminder. In this case, I'm not working with fiberglass cloth. I cut the panels from an old boat, and I'm using polyester fabric to cover them. Mainly, it's just to get practice for working with epoxy resin, and serves little other function. I chose to use epoxy resin rather than the much less expensive polyester resin, because it doesn't have the noxious fumes, and won't hurt your skin as polyester resin does. It also doesn't develop the hairline cracks as polyester resin often does, even with a gel coat on top of it. For the fairing, I'll be using epoxy over glass cloth on the nose and edges, and that will get covered with spandex, 2 or 3 coats of epoxy, and however many coats of gel coat I'll need to get a smooth finish. I'll probably need 3 coats considering that I'm working with a wire frame. I used 2 coats on my boat. The second coat was a very light coat that took the waves out. The last coats of gel coat will be have the desired color for the trike, probably a bright orange flake for visibility. (My boat was orange flake also. It looked great.)

[TheKid]

After spreading the epoxy on the rest of the fabric, it dawned on me that the back of the seat will not be seen when I build the tailbox. So I'm not going to waste any more epoxy on the seat. I'll just paint the back of the seat for now. Tomorrow, I'll epoxy some velcro to the seat to secure the cushion. While I'm at it, I'll also put some velcro on the DW seat. The cushion will be switched between the two rides. I know I'll have to order more epoxy at some point, so next time I'll get a hardener with a shorter curing time. This stuff takes forever to dry in cool weather, but on the plus side, I have 24 hours to apply a second coat.

[SirJoey]

That tad is really gonna be something special!

Man, I wish I had your talents (and patience), Kid. You are truly a jack-of-all-trades!

[TheKid]

No special talents here. Just practice and the need to save cash when I can. I still have one more boat I can hack if I need any more fiberglass panels. If you could cut wood and metal, you could cut fiberglass. If you could paint and spackle, you could learn how to lay up glass, especially with all the help available on the Net. I worked with sheetrock as a carpenter, so taping and spackling was a skill I had to learn. It wasn't that hard to master, it just took some practice. I find welding to be a much more difficult skill to master. The rest of bike building is just a matter of applying skills I already learned, i.e. instead of wood, I'm cutting metal. However, when joining wood, I used nails or screws, so until I find a dependable way of bolting the bike frames together and still getting a professional look, I'll have to learn how to weld more efficiently.