Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

jakejakejake wrote:

kstills wrote:Took a while, but I mocked up both weights of fiberglass onto the XPS.

Looks good, just practice on few more small samples and it becomes easier each time.

A couple of tips:

Ive found that prepping the foam to an 80 grit finish produces a better glass to foam bond. I use a cheap random orbital sander to do this.

Get a few plastic bondo spreaders https://tcpglobal.com/products/dynatron-3-pack-spreaders-358?_pos=2&_sid=a8250cbf2&_ss=r and squeegee the cloth down with them. it will produce a nice flat finished product. If you wipe them off with a paper towel when you are done they last forever. You can get these at any auto body supplier for a buck or so each.

a chip brush https://www.harborfreight.com/1-in-chip-brushes-36-pack-58084.html does a great job of wetting out your workpiece. Also used to work air out of the cloth and the resin into the cloth. Use an up and down motion like you are poking the workpiece with the bristles, if you use it like a paintbrush it will distort the cloth, which is to be avoided.

I have used 6oz per sq yard cloth almost exclusively on my build. Give a multi ply layup a test. 2-3 layers will surprise you with its strength.

Welcome to the club!

I'm hoping that when both sides are laminated the lamination will be strong enough to hold a bolt-nut combo,

tony.latham wrote:

I'm hoping that when both sides are laminated the lamination will be strong enough to hold a bolt-nut combo,

I think that would work fine if you used a good-sized washer on the side without the hinge or slide. But you might test it out. You could always bore out the foam with a spade bit at that location and fill the void with epoxy thickened as thick as peanut butter with wood flour.

Tony

kstills wrote:I'm hoping that when both sides are laminated the lamination will be strong enough to hold a bolt-nut combo, which would mean I won't have to use any wood for supporting hinges or slides. Have you tried using bolts, and if so what were your results? I figure I can either put moulding or caps over the exposed bolt heads, so I'm not too worried about the aesthetics.

jakejakejake wrote:

kstills wrote:I'm hoping that when both sides are laminated the lamination will be strong enough to hold a bolt-nut combo, which would mean I won't have to use any wood for supporting hinges or slides. Have you tried using bolts, and if so what were your results? I figure I can either put moulding or caps over the exposed bolt heads, so I'm not too worried about the aesthetics.

Though bolting as you described would work for very light attachments. I would personally avoid it. If you go this route surface area is your friend! The biggest fender washers you can find or some custom cut 1/4 ply "washers" to spread the load over the biggest area you can.

Tony's method works great, the only change I would make is to use cotton flock instead of wood flour. Cotton flock is a milled cotton available from most composite suppliers. This is where I purchase my epoxy and fillers https://www.uscomposites.com/fillers.html

I've used wood hard points, most with t-nuts for a single sided attachment. I am using screws in a few locations too. This is really only a small amount of additional labor and very little added cost. It produces a really nice system for attachment. I cut the foam and the plywood with the same sized hole saw, and cut the foam to depth with a router. The hard points are bonded in with a loose microballon and epoxy filler to take up any gaps.




Here's some really good reading from the aircraft world
http://www.captoscana.com/captoscana/Do ... uction.pdf

Sorry if Im complicating things, ultimately do what makes you happy and enjoy the process!

twisted lines wrote:Someone plugged the threads with ?
Then Epoxied; To save the threads for later!

jakejakejake wrote:

twisted lines wrote:Someone plugged the threads with ?
Then Epoxied; To save the threads for later!

When I first got started I only used patience to keep the threads epoxy free during the layup, now I've switched to using cheap candle wax. There are probably some other options too.

mccutheon wrote:melted into it

TCJ wrote: then remove a halo of foam around the hole by chucking an L-shaped allen wrench in a drill, inserting the end into the hole, and spinning the drill.

Squigie wrote:

TCJ wrote: then remove a halo of foam around the hole by chucking an L-shaped allen wrench in a drill, inserting the end into the hole, and spinning the drill.

That is one of the scabbiest Bubba solutions I've heard of in a long time.
Holesaws and fly cutters are not expensive.

jakejakejake wrote:

kstills wrote:Took a while, but I mocked up both weights of fiberglass onto the XPS.

Looks good, just practice on few more small samples and it becomes easier each time.

A couple of tips:

Ive found that prepping the foam to an 80 grit finish produces a better glass to foam bond. I use a cheap random orbital sander to do this.

Get a few plastic bondo spreaders https://tcpglobal.com/products/dynatron-3-pack-spreaders-358?_pos=2&_sid=a8250cbf2&_ss=r and squeegee the cloth down with them. it will produce a nice flat finished product. If you wipe them off with a paper towel when you are done they last forever. You can get these at any auto body supplier for a buck or so each.

a chip brush https://www.harborfreight.com/1-in-chip-brushes-36-pack-58084.html does a great job of wetting out your workpiece. Also used to work air out of the cloth and the resin into the cloth. Use an up and down motion like you are poking the workpiece with the bristles, if you use it like a paintbrush it will distort the cloth, which is to be avoided.

I have used 6oz per sq yard cloth almost exclusively on my build. Give a multi ply layup a test. 2-3 layers will surprise you with its strength.

Welcome to the club!

If you would redo your camper would you consider using less epoxy and fiberglass?

tony.latham wrote:

If you would redo your camper would you consider using less epoxy and fiberglass?

I'm a woody guy. The lighter the glass, the better, 2 oz. if you can find the right width. Obviously, heavier cloth means more epoxy. But with wood, you glass to seal the wood. Strength isn't the goal. But I'm sure 2 oz. of fiberglass/epoxy is stronger than PMF over foam. You'll not find someone doing peel tests with glass/epoxy.





Tony