This is the second time this has happened to me this morning.

I was in the middle of fiberglassing my doors when all of a sudden, the mix (fiberglass resin & liquid hardener in a cup) starts to get warm, hot, then starts smoking and making cracking noises. WTF??? I swear it was gonna catch on fire or something.

The first time I did it, the mix just got warm and then turned to gobs forcing me to end my project. Second time around, it starts to smoke. Any help would be much appreciated.

You'll want to reduce the amount of hardener that you're using. Depending on the type of resin and hardener that you're using, the ratio of hardener/resin will change slightly. Follow the instructions exactly. If you don't work with glass everyday, it's hard to guesstimate the right amounts.

Best of luck.

Okay, problem solved. It went much smoother on the 3rd attempt.

What happened was, first time around I poured maybe a tablespoon of hardener in a small tray, maybe half a can of soda's worth of resin in the tray, mixed, then fiberglassed. It got clumpy for some reason, I assumed because I put too little hardening in it.

2nd attempt, I put a little more than double the amount. It smoked. I thought it was gonna blow up or something. I ran, came back, nothing. Started this thread, spoke to Mr.X. His diagnosis: too much hardener, same with what Jason is saying.

Nonetheless, problem solved. Case closed.

I'd suggest work in small amounts because if you mix too much it'll firm up and get too tacky to work with before you're done and you want to take your time. When I did mine I worked with 3oz papercups, filled most of the way with resin then added the right number of drops of hardener, mixed with a plastic spoon and went at it.

Hmmmm....reminds me a lot of chemistry class :)

dude use a teaspoon to a quart and mix it good so it wont clump. also make sure your in a shaded area, you don't want to do this in hot weather because it will set the resin faster. it also gets clumpy when you start mixing small strands of fiberglass with the resin, which does happen, so just work through it. let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks Elite, will do.

if you have a real fiberglass supplier, see about getting a roller or a hog roller. they are great for getting air bubbles out. as far as the loose strands of chop mat making for nasty mucus blobs that ruin your work, pick them out with your latex gloves. I'll tell you what a $5 box of 100 of those and a gallon of acetone are a true friend to fiberglassers. every two minutes spent doing prep work and making sure that the layup is correct while the resin in starting to cure is worth about half an hour of cleanup.


Best of luck, pics or ban

Best of luck, pics or ban
LOL! I'll post up pics tomorrow when it's dried up. It's not pretty though.

Curse myself for getting some resin on my doors. It's going to be a bitch scrubbing it off.

[edit] BTW, you didnt pick up that "pics or ban" from OT did you?

pics or ban is common on most forums.

I stay out of ot just so I don't catch anything. Ew cooties.


The resin, if cured on the vinyl side doors usually pops right off. minor fingernail action.

Here's pics as promised...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/sephiroth619/doors001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/sephiroth619/doors010.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/sephiroth619/doors008.jpg



Let me know if you guys have any comments.

did you remove the vinyl in the contact areas? if not that panel will pop right off... You could drill through the door and panel and put chop mat and resin on both sides touching to make a fiberglass rivet (I think I'll TM that...)
That should help with the potential falling off, and be upholstered over and not look silly like buttons or screws...


Looks like you're not getting banned today. And I guess if you keep cycling g/f photos in the sig that's good too.


Keep us posted


BTW

How are you covering that? paint? carpet? fibered carbon? vinyl?

How are you covering that? paint? carpet? fibered carbon? vinyl?

I haven't decided yet. I was thinking of painting the cover first. If it looks anything close to nice, I'll keep it. Otherwise, I'm thinking of taking the leather vinyl from my seats, cutting and using it as the cover. Why the leather from my seats? My seats look like ass right now with all the rips and tears. I'm getting it redone and taking the leather out.

Carbon fiber is something I'll tackle in the future. It looks hard.

Those mids look familiar! I really like it. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.


:redspot

carbon fiber isn't too terribly hard, I've found a greatly prepped surface and making a tacky coat for it with resin keeps the weave pretty clean.

You can get the pattern of Carbonized Cloth Strands in vinyl too. I just think it may be very neat and subtle on a panel adhered to a black door panel.


Now that I don't work weekends anymore I think I'll make some door panel inserts out of it and keep you posted on tips if you wanna try it, I bought a few yards while it was still cheap.



You retiring the other door speakers or ???