Update:
No longer $40…
I went and bought a bit of carbon fiber and more resin to finish. I think I’m done with it for now, just a few holes to drill when the rest of the board is ready for assembly.
Edit:
Lawd help me, I’ve started with the holes.
Fiberglass and carbon can split and tear when drilled, so I taped both sides of the holes before cutting and made up some router jigs to cut the holes for the switch and balance charge ports. Makes for nice clean edges
Also, I’m fond of molding fiberglass work in place, like this heat sink that is being molded into place. Clever placement of wax paper and painters tape let me lift the part out of the mold (the same spot on enclosure where it will eventually be bonded) to trim the edges and clean the tape off. Next, I’ll route out the hole on the bottom of the enclosure and epoxy the enclosure from the inside. The goal is a 100% waterproof board
@fnfoged
The package of glass linked above was opened and folded in half and layed on the mold double-thick. This glass mat is very thick and soaks up a lot of resin (3mil thickness was just those 2 lams). If I were to do it again, I would have tried to lay the first 1/2 of the mat up individually, let it harden a bit, maybe sand it if needed, and then do the other. As I did it, the layers are more prone to trapping bubbles, and the resin wet-out is much harder with 2 layers. This was fixed with subsequent sanding and patching, not detailed here, but it’s just elbow grease…
Remmber there are no mistakes in fiberglass, only more sanding! Good luck, keep us posted in your progress!
Yes, same table top resin. I almost got the real epoxy, but then I decided to continue this experiment. Plus, I’m cheep like that.
Part if me wishes I had bought better epoxy to begin with. But then I realize that i would have spent at least $60 more for the good stuff. This stuff is a little softer than laminating epoxy, but for the price, I can just glob it on with reckless abandon. I realize that it’s slowly getting harder, and it’s already stiff enough for me not to be worried at all. For those looking to squeeze every last gram from their builds, I’d recommend using quality epoxy and a vacuum bag setup. For everyone else, especially for people just getting into working with resin, it works great👍
I guess it would depend on the deck, but if the deck is decent and does not require structural reinforcements, I would tend to go for it. Otherwise if the deck needs more strength, get the good stuff to be sure.
Thinking about it now, I didn’t bond different materials together with this epoxy, and while I can’t imagine this won’t stick to wood, perhaps a test on a scrap of wood would be in order. That way you can test to destruction before a deck gets sacrificed.
Killer info, I’m gonna have to give it a shot myself. I liked it precarbon myself but I"m sure that added some rigidness, gonna need to learn how to mix in color or something so it’s not semi see through. I’ve been wanting to make my own enclosures for some time.
Awesome!
Definitley put a unique finish on it… so many options for skins and finishes. In the end I went with the carbon for the added strength
Myself, I’ve mixed opaque paint, translucent paint, and graphite into other epoxy projects… would love an excuse to use phosphorescent powder to make a glow in the dark part (enclosure?)…
The graphite I used to make a speargun track slick (purely functional) by mixing it into the resin pour. It ended up with this crazy marbled translucent graphite swirl look…
Surfboard shapers swirl paint onto layups to make trippy marble effects…
Edit:
A good mix is essential to epoxy finishes. Make sure you mix the epoxy completely before adding anything, and you should be good
Correct.
If the corners have big enough radius-es(?) you can “massage” the carbon cloth down onto a form. Pouring resin onto the dry cloth helps hold it down while you shift the fibers gently to wrap the corners
