I've been wanting to make fiberglass parts for my car for a while, i just don't know how. I've managed to stockpile quite a bit of info on but none really cover how to make a mold of oh lets say a door panel, and the fiberglass the mold. For those of you with fiberglassing experience, what do you use to make your molds, how do you do it, and how do you get the finished project? TIA!!!

non stick cooking spray so that it will release, some metal bar and strapping to reinforce your mold, and what you're going to make a mold of, if you just want to make a copy of say your door, take the door off (much easier to work with) coat it with the non-stick spray and slap on a layer of glass, place your reinforcement and glass that in place, remove from object you're molding (wait for it to cure) now you have a decent mold, fill any air bubbles with spot putty/bondo and you're ready to go

Make a mold from the outer part of what your trying to make, peel it off, then make a mold from that piece of the inside. That way you have a perfect fit. If you do it over top, its going to be too big and it wont fit correctly.

Good Luck, making molds isnt fun when your first learning, especially at $45 a gallon of fglass resin.

Mike is exactly right...thats what I did and it worked out perfectly. Just mess around with small stuff till you get it down.

Have fun!

Originally posted by Aggression
Mike is exactly right...thats what I did and it worked out perfectly. Just mess around with small stuff till you get it down. Have fun!

Yes and I will give you one more word of advice.

Dont attempt Door panels until you are SWEET at glassing.

Getting the fitment correct is very precise and also making all the pieces on the back of the panel for the heater vents and what not is not fun.

I hope you realize what your getting yourself into :)

So Mike... you gonna give us any hints on this "secret" weapon you've been working on? Its almost april 1st, and I have no idea what this thing is!

C'mon! you always give us quick glimpses!

Originally posted by edxmon
So Mike... you gonna give us any hints on this "secret" weapon you've been working on? Its almost april 1st, and I have no idea what this thing is! C'mon! you always give us quick glimpses!

Nah :)

AH you sly devil you! As long as you didnt fiberglass a baby seat with a 3-point harness into your car :7

Originally posted by eclipse982nrRST
Make a mold from the outer part of what your trying to make, peel it off, then make a mold from that piece of the inside. That way you have a perfect fit. If you do it over top, its going to be too big and it wont fit correctly. Good Luck, making molds isnt fun when your first learning, especially at $45 a gallon of fglass resin.

that's what I was trying to say

Originally posted by eclipse982nrRST
Make a mold from the outer part of what your trying to make, peel it off, then make a mold from that piece of the inside. That way you have a perfect fit. If you do it over top, its going to be too big and it wont fit correctly. Good Luck, making molds isnt fun when your first learning, especially at $45 a gallon of fglass resin.

So if i understand this right, i make a mold of the outside, then mold the inside of that mold?? oh by the way, i don't look foward to $45 a gallon of fiberglass, especially when i'm learning, prob use a ton.lol. but hey, gotta learn sometime.

eclipse982nrRST
Make a mold from the outer part... then make a mold from that piece of the inside.

Slimyjr.
So if i understand this right, i make a mold of the outside, then mold the inside of that mold??

Hmmmm. I don't get it. Can someone explain this? :shrug

Originally posted by djtrickee

eclipse982nrRST Make a mold from the outer part... then make a mold from that piece of the inside.

Slimyjr. So if i understand this right, i make a mold of the outside, then mold the inside of that mold??

Hmmmm. I don't get it. Can someone explain this? :shrug

First, you make an initial mold which will be used for another mold. For parts like door panels, you use the original door to make the mold. By laying class OVER the door panel, the inside (the part touching the door) will mimick the shape of the door.

However, if you just make you final panel directly from this, it will be slightly too large. So you make a new mold from the first one. By laying fiberglass inside the mold, you will create a new mold mimicking the shape of the door. the OUTSIDE surface of this mold will match the INSIDE surface of the origianal door panel. So, in order to achive the proper size, you then use this to make a piece which matches the size of the origianl piece.


To put this more simply - you make 2 molds - one from outside of the door, one from the inside of the mold. Think of averages, by making molds of both extremes (undersized and oversized) you get a piece of the correct dimensions. This is indeed not fun at all - I've done this process for bodies on FSAE cars.

Originally posted by Penumbra

Originally posted by djtrickee

eclipse982nrRST Make a mold from the outer part... then make a mold from that piece of the inside.

Slimyjr. So if i understand this right, i make a mold of the outside, then mold the inside of that mold??

Hmmmm. I don't get it. Can someone explain this? :shrug

First, you make an initial mold which will be used for another mold. For parts like door panels, you use the original door to make the mold. By laying class OVER the door panel, the inside (the part touching the door) will mimick the shape of the door. However, if you just make you final panel directly from this, it will be slightly too large. So you make a new mold from the first one. By laying fiberglass inside the mold, you will create a new mold mimicking the shape of the door. the OUTSIDE surface of this mold will match the INSIDE surface of the origianal door panel. So, in order to achive the proper size, you then use this to make a piece which matches the size of the origianl piece. To put this more simply - you make 2 molds - one from outside of the door, one from the inside of the mold. Think of averages, by making molds of both extremes (undersized and oversized) you get a piece of the correct dimensions. This is indeed not fun at all - I've done this process for bodies on FSAE cars.

roflmao

Originally posted by Penumbra

Originally posted by djtrickee

eclipse982nrRST Make a mold from the outer part... then make a mold from that piece of the inside.

Slimyjr. So if i understand this right, i make a mold of the outside, then mold the inside of that mold??

Hmmmm. I don't get it. Can someone explain this? :shrug

First, you make an initial mold which will be used for another mold. For parts like door panels, you use the original door to make the mold. By laying class OVER the door panel, the inside (the part touching the door) will mimick the shape of the door. However, if you just make you final panel directly from this, it will be slightly too large. So you make a new mold from the first one. By laying fiberglass inside the mold, you will create a new mold mimicking the shape of the door. the OUTSIDE surface of this mold will match the INSIDE surface of the origianal door panel. So, in order to achive the proper size, you then use this to make a piece which matches the size of the origianl piece. To put this more simply - you make 2 molds - one from outside of the door, one from the inside of the mold. Think of averages, by making molds of both extremes (undersized and oversized) you get a piece of the correct dimensions. This is indeed not fun at all - I've done this process for bodies on FSAE cars.

ok i know what you meen when your saying "make a mold of the mold", but my quetion is... after you have the first mold made and you are making a mold of the inside of it, how do you keep the glass from the second mold from sticking to the inside of the first mold? just spray a bunch of Pam in there or something? haha.

Originally posted by Eclipse95racer

Originally posted by Penumbra

Originally posted by djtrickee

eclipse982nrRST Make a mold from the outer part... then make a mold from that piece of the inside.

Slimyjr. So if i understand this right, i make a mold of the outside, then mold the inside of that mold??

Hmmmm. I don't get it. Can someone explain this? :shrug

First, you make an initial mold which will be used for another mold. For parts like door panels, you use the original door to make the mold. By laying class OVER the door panel, the inside (the part touching the door) will mimick the shape of the door. However, if you just make you final panel directly from this, it will be slightly too large. So you make a new mold from the first one. By laying fiberglass inside the mold, you will create a new mold mimicking the shape of the door. the OUTSIDE surface of this mold will match the INSIDE surface of the origianal door panel. So, in order to achive the proper size, you then use this to make a piece which matches the size of the origianl piece. To put this more simply - you make 2 molds - one from outside of the door, one from the inside of the mold. Think of averages, by making molds of both extremes (undersized and oversized) you get a piece of the correct dimensions. This is indeed not fun at all - I've done this process for bodies on FSAE cars.

ok i know what you meen when your saying "make a mold of the mold", but my quetion is... after you have the first mold made and you are making a mold of the inside of it, how do you keep the glass from the second mold from sticking to the inside of the first mold? just spray a bunch of Pam in there or something? haha.

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someone needs to throw this out theres too much mold on it

Originally posted by bigrob3232
someone needs to throw this out theres too much mold on it

eew, a little fuzzy, did that just move? :eek

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G

Originally posted by bigrob3232 someone needs to throw this out theres too much mold on it

eew, a little fuzzy, did that just move? :eek

Originally posted by djtrickee
Hmmmm. I don't get it. Can someone explain this? :shrug

Thanks for all the feedback guys!! Especially eclipse982nrRST


and Penumbra. points to you both!!