Toothless: Fiberglass Instruction

There are many types of fiberglass available...this type suits the need for longitudal strength in a longboard...It's called "unidirectional" fiberglass...I found it in a specialized composite material shop in the harbor area...

The stuff is processed in combination with epoxy resin...epoxy resin bonds itself chemically with wood...polyester does that in a mechanical way...and is therefore not suitable...also it's crystalline structure is not our thing...

Another thing to take care off when buying fiberglass is the fact that some of the types are doped with chemicals to take up polyester better...with epoxy, those types are not so suitable...



	Fact sheet: Fiberglass

	Background:

	At a certain moment I started incorporating fiberglass into my deck experiments...I checked PVC's Rabbit longboard and other decks like the ones from Supaflex...There I saw that fiberglass was used, to get a flexible but durable board...I went out to get hold off all the gear needed...and experimenting started...(!!!) I only used fiberglass with my press...I don't know if it works with the simple technique (!!!)
	First:
	There are many types of fiberglass available...this type suits the need for longitudal strength in a longboard...It's called "unidirectional" fiberglass...I found it in a specialized composite material shop in the harbor area... The stuff is processed in combination with epoxy resin...epoxy resin bonds itself chemically with wood...polyester does that in a mechanical way...and is therefore not suitable...also it's crystalline structure is not our thing... Another thing to take care off when buying fiberglass is the fact that some of the types are doped with chemicals to take up polyester better...with epoxy, those types are not so suitable...

	1: What it looks like:

								All strands are running in one direction...that's what this unidirectional stands for...smaller strands are woven in-there to keep it all together...The type I found weighs about 500gr/m² ...heavy stuff but quite easy to work with...
	2: Cutting straight:
								The stuff came in a 45cm wide roll...I had to trim it down to about 30cm...this can be done by taking out some strands so that you end up with a straight line in the woven mat...this makes cutting easier...cutting is done with a good pair of scissors...
	3: When used: some combinations

	The deck constructions with fiberglass shown here are all a combination of plywood and fiberglass 'P' stands the plywood...the number behind it is the thickness in millimeter...like P4 or P6... 'F' stands for the fiberglass... Now, I can write down combinations I used...check this:
								This picture shows a deck I've built that can take heavier people than myself... Combination: P4 \| F \| P4 \| F \| P4 ... You can see that 4mm (1/6 inch) birch plywood only has 3 layers...this combination was used for the first fiberglass/epoxy deck...FE-01
								This one is from a deck that is very flex...it's only 9mm thick...FE-00...the tryout stuff Combination: F \| P4 \| F \| P4 \| F This combination needs more attention to construct...you'll need some flexible foil and some foam to get a lovely finish when using a simple press like the one I've built... Vacuum bagging is the better way to construct a deck like this...

	3: Practical: how to use it

	This how I build a deck with a single layer of fiberglass between the panels I first apply epoxy resin to one panel...not too thick not too thin...you will notice that the resin soaks into the plywood a bit...Next, I place the fiberglass on-to that panel...with the strands lengthwise...and the resin is slowly sucked up by the fiberglass...Then I add some more epoxy resin on-top of so that the fiberglass becomes completely transparent...The second panel gets a layer of epoxy also...and when this is done, I whack the whole thing together in the press and leave to harden for 3 days... All this is quite simple...I'll add some pictures as soon as I do another deck... More later, Tha Tooth...