spiney360

ok it is a dumb but simple question, but what do you put on your milds to keep the fiberglass from sticking to it???????

Rob x-7

high temp mold release wax

sidewinderx7

robs my hero!

Travis R

PVA

poly-vinyl-alcohol

drifter

If your still planning on making fibreglass body parts, I wanna see some pics!

Travis R

Here is the female mold of an M1 miata trunk lid that I made for some local autocrossers.

Travis R

This is what the PVA looks like on the original trunk. I sprayed it on with an HVLP gun, in multiple thin coats... green.

It smells really sweet too... maybe I should wear a respirator.

Travis R

This is the trunk after I popped the mold off. When the PVA dries it turns into something like heavy duty saran wrap. I also waxed the trunk very well to make sure. The good thing about PVA is that it's water soluble, so if you are having trouble separating the parts you can run them under the hose.

drifter

Travis R - wasn't referring to you for pics, but thanks anyway.



So you spray the PVA on, then lay heaps of resin and fibre? I ask as I've got a bunch of carbon fibre and I was wondering what to make of it.

Travis R

I know you weren't asking me... I just like posting pics.

Yup, pretty much. Don't waste the carbon on the mold... make it out of fiberglass. I just used the crappy strand matte available from Home Depot. If you're doing something big, like the hood, then I would try to find a local distributor that will sell you a big roll.

To get a good surface on the mold I like to put a layer of resin onto the part before I put any material down, then roll it out and add resin until everything is fully wetted out. I've got too much resin in the mold, but it makes for a lot less work to makes the surface nice for the final part.

Good luck