Custom Fiberglass Speaker Boxes
Fiberglass materials allow for custom shapes and features. A very popular Do It Yourself project is custom speaker boxes for automobiles.
To accomplish this, it is important to begin with a solid foundation material. Very often this is wood, which allows for screwing and stapling. Next, the speaker mounts need to be properly attached. Orientation of the mounting surface is established for the speaker that will be used in the finished installation.
Fleece fabric material is one method that is used to span the surfaces and transition across the different areas. This material allows for smooth transition, holds staples, is easy to work with, and is inexpensive. Once it is in place it can be covered with resin and fiberglass to establish a solid surface. This can be sanded smooth and painted for full effect.
WestCoastCustomsTV demonstrates how the fleece is applied in the video below:
Aqua Stik Epoxy Repair
Browsing Youtube, I found an interesting video on a repair Epoxy material by the name of Aqua Stick. I am not sure how it is available, but I am sure that you can search it on the internet.
It looks to be very user friendly, and has some very interesting potential applications in the arena of adhesive application and repair for underwater environments. No metering/measurement of the two parts is required, as they only require a kneading action to mix the two doughy components to uniform color.
Carbon Fiber Repair Panel
I found a great video demonstrating the repair of a carbon fiber composite panel. The is is a carbon fiber reinforce epoxy structure that needs a localized repair to the core material. This repair uses a vacuum bagging process to help maintain a high-quality laminate.
The video is sped up to quickly demonstrate the overall process required. This process requires a high level of attention to details, as they are very important. Training and experience are necessary for good results.
Chemical adhesion between all of these layers will create a bond that is durable and suitable for restoring strength back to the structure.
Underwater Pipe Repair
An epoxy and fiberglass wrap can repair steel pipes while submerged underwater. Repairing small holes in pipes by wrapping them is sure to be much less expensive and disruptive than replacing bad sections of pipe. Divers must have access to the whole circumference of the pipe and the pipe must be free of its contents to prevent contamination and allow for the wrap to seal the leak.
As always, surface preparation is very important, and is demonstrated in the video with the grinder. The epoxy must form a good bond with the substrate material, not the rust and scale that is on the outside of the pipe.
Jeff Longmoore of TFT demonstrates how this repair is performed in a Youtube video, but does so in a dry environment rather than the actual underwater one. Very interesting.
Wind Blades
The new composites application that everybody is discussing is composites wind blades. The large, three-bladed wind generators have been around for a few decades, mostly in Europe. The U.S. has been catching on in the last couple of years as a way to make cleaner electricity. These windmills are very tall, and have blades that are 100 to 400 feet long, depending upon output rating and location.
The wind blades use glass carbon fiber, resin, and coring to make a long, stiff and lightweight blade that will attach to the hub of the windmill. These blades are very long, requiring huge manufacturing facilities to make them. The transportation of these blades is important as well, as they require specialized trucks and trailers to handle such large pieces. Large cranse are required to lift them into place at the job site. They are relatively heavy, and must be lifted fairly high, requiring a significant lift capacity.
Resin infusion with epoxy resins is the normal manufacturing technique of which I am aware. They use compsite molds that have a constantly changing surface shape due to the complex geometry of the blade. The holy grail for these blades is to make longer blades at lower weight.
This application again demonstrates the advantages of composites. Complex geometry, high strength to weight ratio, and impact resistance are important aspects of wind blades.
There are several manufacturers of the wind blades in the U.S. MFG is a specialty composites molder that has been around for ages and is in the wind blade market. Vestas is another company with operations in the U.S., along with LM Glasfiber, as well as others.
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