Alt Bike Culture - score one for the freakbikers

i hate freaking hate fiberglass resin, it smells like ****,gets stuck to your hands and its itchy when you sand it not to mention its incredibly unhealthy. this is the safe but not as strong method(they do make a stronger product but it involves the use of scales and whatnot) i do resin casting for model cars and one day i figured hmm can i make a panel if i soaked cloth with it. so i did the baking soda was used to make the liquid into a paste . after it dried it was stiff with some flex and adhered to the cup(this stuff is occasionally used as glue). this opens a new door for those that are looking to get into fairings and wheel covers and skirted fenders

you can get the resin here www.Smooth-on.com look up 305 or if you want the super strong stuff look for shellshock
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/DSCN5757.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/DSCN5763.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/DSCN5758.jpg

Have you put this to practical use on a bike yet? It looks interesting.

East Hill

Have you put this to practical use on a bike yet? It looks interesting.

East Hill

i will once it gets warm enough this stuff is pretty strong i had to wack it with a hammer pretty hard to break it. we use something stronger at my job but harder to mix and longer to drive they use it to make prototypes on the CNC machines

hey easthill im gonna try something smaller for now since i can fit this in my basement easier than a 8 foot long chopper.got it from bike rod an kustom gonna try making the aero disc wheel
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/Jan012003002-1.jpg

Sounds like fun! What kind of pluses and minuses does this have versus the fibreglass?

(I know that the fibreglass is nasty stuff, so I'm assuming this has mostly pluses compared to fibreglass).

East Hill

Also there's a "cardboard sandwich" method, where posterboard is used to form the part and then coated with resin, with glass cloth used to strengthen critical areas. Similar to the way some guys make car speaker pods out of cotton cloth and resin.

Sounds like fun! What kind of pluses and minuses does this have versus the fibreglass?

(I know that the fibreglass is nasty stuff, so I'm assuming this has mostly pluses compared to fibreglass).

East Hill

pros:
no odor
very easy to mix
10 minute working time
very sandable
soaks well into the fabric
can be thickened with baking soda to make a filler
paintable
cleans up with laquer

cons:
not as rigid as fiberglass resin
6 month shelf life
price(23.00) for a trial kit
youll still have to wear a dust mask when sanding

Also there's a "cardboard sandwich" method, where posterboard is used to form the part and then coated with resin, with glass cloth used to strengthen critical areas. Similar to the way some guys make car speaker pods out of cotton cloth and resin.

Would it be amenable to use in a similar way to some of the high-strength papier mache stuff I've done, where you carve a styrofoam mold, then tear strips of kraft paper and cement them with wall paper paste. Could you practically use the resin instead of the wall paper paste?

did a wheel today im happy
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/DSCN5767.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/DSCN5768.jpg

Oh, let's see that on a bike! Very slick looking....

East Hill

I'm tempted to look into carbon fiber... light, strong, all I know... but welding is 70% of the fun

Would it be amenable to use in a similar way to some of the high-strength papier mache stuff I've done, where you carve a styrofoam mold, then tear strips of kraft paper and cement them with wall paper paste. Could you practically use the resin instead of the wall paper paste?

I believe the answer is "yes". Here is a link to what I had in mind, which also contains a link to building with foamcore: http://microship.com/resources/cardboard-core-composites.html

The custom car builder Ed Roth evolved a system of building fiberglass body molds out of papier mache "spitballs," handfuls of paper saturated in plaster of paris, which then got worked and revised after setting, then sealed for use as a mold. This was a one-off process. I wonder if using the polyester resin instead of POP would have yielded a permanent, reuseable mold?