Fiberglass tools

[JoshP1]

Admins,

Would it be possible to make a thread as a sticky for people to post what tools they use/are using on their respective projects? It has been a while since I worked with fiberglass and can't remember what all the tools I used were. I started a project this year that's going pretty slow at this point. Knowing the tools to use when deconstructing my boat would have been nice to see in a sticky thread. Just asking and not sure if this would be something anyone else would be interested in. If there is already a sticky somewhere, please direct me there.

Thanks,
Josh

[LakeFever]

Theres not much to the tools so not really sticky territory. You want a heaping pile of 750ml mixing cups. Loads of paint type stir sticks. A good assortment of finned rollers, my favorite is a 3" straight fin aluminum I believe i used that on 95% of my lays. A bunch of 10CC syringes to measure out your MEKP. A good assortment of 1" and 2" chip brushes. I prefer to use the 4" nap rollers ( whizz rollers ) for my lays now almost entirely. Rarely used the brushes near the end its a lot slower to use brushes and harder to get even resin application. A box of large zip lock bags for making piping bags for cabosil thickened resin. Tip there is to put the zip lock bag in the mixxing cup, fold the bag open and over the sides of the cup so you can smear the thickened resin in and then fold the bag back up closed and cut the corner off with scissors, get squirtin. Acetone is a must have item, its good to have plenty on hand it cleans up everything. A good DA sander is nice I cant imagine doing mine without them. Absolutely essential tool with the velcro disks is easiest. I liked the Diablo sanding disks form Home Despot for sanding glass. I used the DA for almost everything I didnt really use the grinder much once I got to laying glass. A box of Dupont disposable coveralls. Dupont ones are by far the longest lasting. 3x better than my staple brand 3M. a couple of boxes of Latex rubber gloves. Latex is also by far the most resilient against resin. Nitrile suck the resin disolves them fast. Theres probably more but thats all I can think of right now

[David - WI]

If you look at the bottom of this forum, you can set the timeframe to "all time"... and there are tons of posts.

[JoshP1]

Lake and David,

Thanks guys! I will definitely use Lake's information when I get to laying glass. I had no idea I could do that with the forum/posts. I'm not really a computer guy. I prefer to use my hands to figure out problems I can touch and feel. I have always been very mechanically inclined.

[David - WI]

Switch it from "Last month" to "All time" to see all the posts.

[FUJIMO]

...yep. lotz of acetone...lol...

[XstreamVking]

And good dust masks!!!!!! Dust will kill you!

[LakeFever]

Good point on the respirator. I bought a 3M adflo welding helmet eight years ago or so and then bought the versaflo face shield as well. Amazing product its your health its worth the money. They come up used on ebay all the time itd the cats azz if you bought one you wont be disappointed

[MattGreen]

Good point on the respirator. I bought a 3M adflo welding helmet eight years ago or so and then bought the versaflo face shield as well. Amazing product its your health its worth the money. They come up used on ebay all the time itd the cats azz if you bought one you wont be disappointed

Ding ding we have a winner ! The 3M Adflow/Versaflow product line are awesome. We have hundreds of them where I work, mostly for welding and arc-gouging. RPB Safety out of Michigan also make great competing products to the Adflow stuff and are a bit cheaper.

If that's not in your budget, get a full-face respirator from a reputable brand like 3M, North, or MSA. The visor in a good full-face respirator is rated to the same impact standards as a face shield - a good consideration if you're rammed in some awkward spot grinding near your face. You can't really get better eye protection than a full-face. Get some OV-P100 combination cartridges - they are good for vapors like resin and acetone, as well as dust/fiberglass fibers, so you don't need to swap filters/cartridges between stages of the job. For grinding a set of earmuffs with a noise reduction rating around 30 and some rollable foam earplugs would be great too.

Matt

[FUJIMO]

...so nice being able to do all this kinda work outside in nice weather with a gigantor pedastal fan ...