fiberglass question

[newbiecrawler20]

Hi all.I'm in the slow process of building a nb avalanche.I've had to cut the grey trey piece that holds the interior.I'm curious if fiberglass would bond to it or not before I tried it and screwed it up.I've searched and can't seem to spot the info I need.any help is appreciated

[jboehler04]

i dont think fiberglass would adhere to plastic. i could be wrong but ive talked to my lhs about using like the fiberglass cloth patches to splice my hilux cab back together and he said he didnt think it would stick to each other.

[newbiecrawler20]

Thanks for the help man.I may have to use sheet metal

[jboehler04]

Can u put up a pic maybe there's another idea. I'm not familiar with this piece u cut.

[4wd4ws]

Originally Posted by newbiecrawler20

any help is appreciated

You can use fibreglass+epoxy or just epoxy on most plastics.
The really 'greasy' plastics can be welded with a plastic welder or soldering iron.

[newbiecrawler20]

.it's the grey piece that holds the interior and front fender wells

[newbiecrawler20]

Hmmm welding it together sounds fun might have to try it on some cutoff scrap

[heartless]

actually, you CAN use fiberglass on plastic - depending on the type. the "oily" types - not so much, but the dryer, non-oily types - yes, it does work

I have successfully used fiberglass to repair a motorcycle fairing that was pretty heavily damaged from years of abuse. you do have to rough it up (med/coarse sandpaper) to provide something for the resin to grip onto - just like you would for any other application.

mixing the resin/hardener properly is the key to good fiberglass. too little hardener and it wont cure right and remain slightly tacky indefinitely, too much hardener and it will start setting up too quickly, not giving you enough time to get the glass cloth set properly.

[newbiecrawler20]

I have done the same on a set of quad fenders.just scared to mess up the trey since they don't sell them anymore.reason I thought about metal. I'm at a stand still

[heartless]

have you considered building a completely new tray out of styrene?

Styrene is not that hard to work with, and is very customizable.

Using the measurements of what you currently have/need it would be relatively easy to build a new tray completely from scratch. (BTW - if you have cut up the original tray, you have already "messed it up" )

[newbiecrawler20]

You make a good point heartless. I've researched styrene a little bit.I'll look deeper into it.thanks for the help

[njohns14]

Plastic welding. hmmm...... Sounds really fun. I will be researching that for sure!