thought you guys might want to see

[lkailburn]

here's what i've been working on for awhile. please post comments! http://www.rit.edu/~ltk6260/fiberglassOld.html

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[firebane]

looks good. Speaking from experience when it comes to fibreglass you'll find to avoid things like air bubbles you need to make sure you roll your matte very well and when it comes time to mixing your resin and catalyst never overdo it, I used to mix like 10cc' of catalyst to 4l of resin and it would give plenty of time for me to work with it. But like I said, air bubbles is just from not rolling all the air out of the material.

[lkailburn]

ya, the weird part tho, is that i'm very thorough about brushing in the resin. but it seemed that it didn't matter, i kept ending up with tiny air bubbles. i couldn't seem them when i was glassing. i looked it over numerous times as i was laying on the matt, but it looked solid. but maybe i just need some more practice, especially with mixing. i deffinitly messed up when i put the first layer down. i probably stirred twice and then went at it. but ever since, i have stirred very thoroughly and have had much better results. i'm down to 2 hours drying time! thats an accomplishment compared to 8-9 hours or 24 hours for that patch. haha. i'll improve as time goes on btw thanks for the compliment

[lkailburn]

oh-firebane- do you use one of those rollers? or just a brush? i'm just using 99cent brushes from the local hardware place. i've thought about those rollers, but i figured, most fiberglassing i'd do would probly have to many curves and stuff that the roller wouldn't work as well as a brush.

[lkailburn]

more comments please

[Technodigifreak]

I'll be glad to help you out with the LED's, just let me know what kinds of questions you have---btw the fiberglass looks really good, i'm going to start a project just like this one as soon as it warms up a little

[lkailburn]

thanks for the compliment! so with leds, what size resistor do i need? also what gauge wire? i'll end up having to use a good number of them to get a nice even glow on the plexiglass. is there a way to say wire all 30 or so to one unit, and then only have one wire to run to the battery for power?

[Technodigifreak]

Originally posted by lkailburn
thanks for the compliment! so with leds, what size resistor do i need? also what gauge wire? i'll end up having to use a good number of them to get a nice even glow on the plexiglass. is there a way to say wire all 30 or so to one unit, and then only have one wire to run to the battery for power?

yes there are several ways to do it, do you know what the operating voltage is for each LED? one idea for you to toss around is go by a plastics manufacturer and get a few lengths of extruded acrylic rod, bond one or several LED's to each end and light them up, the entire rod will glow and you can shapeit anyway you want, its a very easy way to light that box of yours

and btw you can run all of your LED's off of your "remote" wire that turns your amp on from the HU

[lkailburn]

um, i believe the led's operate at 2.5v -3v.
i have this board that i can connect 4 led's onto and it does this retarded flash pattern or whatever. but you are able to see the resistors on the board. there are a total of six, a group of two and a group of 4. if you flip it over, on the back, the group of four all lead to the places where you connect an led. they are a tannish color and read left to right: gold, red, black, brown. i forgot what each color is worth. the other two are also a tannish color but are(left-to-right) gold, orange, black, brown. how thick is that acrylic rod(usually)? i don't think i have any plastics manufacturers around here so i will probly have to find it online. do you think that it will produce enough glow to light up my plexiglass window? oh btw, the plexi is approx 10"x14" and is 1/8" thick double strength.

get back to me soon.
thanks
Luke

[lkailburn]

k, i looked it up in one of my dads electrician handbooks and figured it out to be a 1000 +-5% ohm resistor. and then i also measured it using eh whats that thing called, with a red and black thing you use to test shit..lol ..but anyways it said it was a 1000ohm resistor too.

[Technodigifreak]

well you don't really need the resistors since they are 2.5v-3v LCD's, just hook up 4 LED's in series (positive to negative in order) for each grouping (12v divided by 3v is 4, because as the voltage crosses each LED it acts as a resistor dropping the voltage by 3v each time---so clusters of 4 will suffice) connect the positive lead on the first LED to the remote line and the negative lead on the last LED to a solid ground

repeat for each cluster

one cluster of 4 LED's should suffice for each end of the acrylic rod---typical thicknesses run between 1/8th inch and 1 inch for each rod, and you can order them online

i'd recommend 3/4inch to 1 inch diameter for a cluster of 4 LED's

you should have plenty of light from 2-1ft rods, but i suggest doing one and using your best judgement as far as lighting

they may be kind of hard to see in direct sunlight, but i guarrentee you'll love the look at night



let me know if you have more q's

[lkailburn]

wow thanks man! this helps so much. i'll let you know

[lkailburn]

which end is positive? the longer one? or the shorter one?

[lkailburn]

i figured it out. the long lead is positive. and your idea worked!! i soldered 4 together end to end and stuck it into the red and yellow parts of a molex connetor on my computer and they all lit up!! i'm so happy lol, now i don't have to worry about resistors and stuff. thanks so much man!

[lkailburn]

ok well turns out red and yellow only gives you 5 volts, cuz thats actually the wrong two. its the yellow, and the black wire closest to the red. but it looks great

[lkailburn]

i've even got hit hooked up to a switch!

[lkailburn]

wow..huh...thats weird... the LEDs are actually UV..not blue... they look purplish here, but the camera makes it look blue..

[Technodigifreak]

it'll look sweet on that gunmetallish black finish, as well as make your plexiglass "window" glow

[firebane]

No don't use a brush, a brush is only good for applying resin to your mold and applying resin to your matte. After your matte is soaked in resin thats when you need to use a roller. The brush will not get air bubbles out at all. The roller is what does that. You can get all different sorts of brushes and sizes little ones to huge ones. I've used rollers that are 1" wide to 8" wide... round ones and barrel shaped ones.

[lkailburn]

technodigifreak-ya i can't wait to move on with this project and get to the lighting stage(i'm kinda stuck with the cold weather-its way to cold to be outside and glass) but anyways, the lighting ideas have jumped like 10 notches all from one night of hard thought. i'll let you know more about it as this project progresses. as for now-lets just say its gonna be sweeeeet


firebane-what, in your opinion is the best all-purpose size/shaped roller? i'll deffinitly have to try it for future projects. luckily for this one, strength isn't a huge concern.

[firebane]

there is no real all purpose roller, but if you do large scale projects a 6" roller is really good, if you have lots of curves and small areas then get a 4".

[lkailburn]

ok thanks for the tips

[TragicLance]

whats the best price you've found on fiberglass resin? J/W i'm getting ready to glass my trunk space and was wanting to find out how much i would be spending on resin/hardener.

[lkailburn]

i buy mine from the local advanced auto. its 25 for a gallon of bondo brand polyester resin. and 4 bucks for 8 sq feet of either mat or cloth. altho the mat is pretty poor quality, alot of the strands are free from the matt which makes for a slightly more difficult time laying it all down but no biggie. i did two layers on my peice(i just finished patching that hole with 2 layers today) and i still have like have of the gallon left. i had to buy more mat tho. goodluck. and take lots of pics!!