Among the products developed by the tuning industry are kits and the most commonly used are made of fibreglass. It is a flexible, lightweight, strong and relatively easy to use material, which has earned a reputation for this type of work.
Fiberglass is a material that is used in fairings for racing motorbikes, whether they are supersport, superbike, formula extreme…
This type of fairing kits are the most economical and also easier to assemble, as all the standard fairings of a supersport such as all the grilles, headlights and plastics can be about 20 pieces, all these are replaced by only 3 or 4 pieces of fiberglass kit, which are much less heavy and also much easier to replace at the time of a fall.
The most economical kit to repair the fairing:
Fiberglass fairings for yamaha jog rr. These fairings are often used for tuning, as well as for scooter competitions.
Fiberglass is also widely used in tuning for both motorbikes and cars. Sometimes we get bored of seeing that our neighbour, we don’t know if it’s because of a desire to annoy us or in good faith, has decided to buy the same motorbike as us and we decide to take the first step in the aesthetic transformation of our motorbike.
Modifying a bike aesthetically is something more than having a different bike to the others, it is something like expressing our personality in our bike and trying to make it the best and the most beautiful, when we decide to take this step we have two options to take it to the workshop or do it ourselves; I personally would choose to do it myself, it is something that when it is finished will fill us with pride and satisfaction.
SAFETY MEASURES
It is necessary to take protective measures both to avoid hurting ourselves and to make the work more comfortable.
In this case, the minimum measures are:
1-Work in a well-lit and well ventilated area.
2-Wear a mask.
3-Gloves.
4-Protective goggles.
You have to take into account that you are going to provoke a chemical reaction which will give off noxious and, above all, smelly gases… In addition, the fibreglass fabric can provoke particularly annoying allergic reactions on the skin, as if you had walked right into a nettle net.
TOOLS
1-Jig saw
2-Drill
3-Spatula
4-Sandpaper.
PHASES
1-Building a mould
2-Making the piece using the mould
3-Polishing the piece
4-Finishing.
MATERIAL
Where to buy it?
The material can be found in any do-it-yourself shop, car or nautical spare parts shop, as fibreglass is widely used for hulls… It is even possible in any drugstore or paint shop… It is also possible in construction stores, as fibreglass without resin is used for thermal insulation of houses. But at this point I would like to emphasise once again that fibreglass should not be confused with glass putty…
The presentations that I know are two: either in the form of kit in which comes 1 square meter of fabric and the resin and the catalyst to work it, which comes out to about 10 euros or separately leaving the fabric to about 4 euros per meter and about 20 the litre of polyester resin …
Material to make a mould:
I like wood but it has the disadvantage of the edges… I know that polystyrene is also widely used and that, in fact, most people use this material because it allows to get rounded shapes more easily, but I don’t like it because I find it is very difficult to get a perfect symmetry, because you have to go by eye… Maybe the solution is to make the mould out of wood veneer and fill the corners with plaster or even silicone, giving it a rounded shape with the help of any round element (for example a soda can)… To make petrol tanks, which are usually made of fibre although I am not at all in favour of it, I think the best way is to use plaster giving it shape with a balloon full of water…
1-Wax or oil so that the mould can be easily removed from the piece.
2-Fibreglass cloth
3-Polyester resin that is sold in cans with a catalyst that comes in a separate tube. The characteristics can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and there are resins that react more or less quickly… I personally dislike the slow ones because, contrary to what it may seem, they are not very easy to rectify…
Construction of a mould
It’s a school handwork thing. The complexity of the mould is up to you.
You can use almost any material to make the mould: from polystyrene (white cork) to plaster and wood.
The mould should be of the outside of the piece: that way, when you take it out of the mould, the piece will be almost polished. If you are very perfectionist and you want the inner side to be perfect, you will have to make a mould and a counter-mould, so that the piece is the result of the fibreglass being the filling between the sandwich between the mould and the counter-mould. Obviously, the counter-mould will have to contemplate the thickness that you want in the resulting piece.
Personally, and for those who do not have much experience in this, I recommend wood veneer and Imedio transparent glue, as it is easy to handle and allows you to achieve the symmetries effortlessly. The advantage of plaster is that it allows more roundness, but it is more laborious as you have to make a previous mould.
You have to take into account that fibreglass has the advantage that it sticks to itself, so once you have made a piece, you can add fibreglass parts such as supports, hooks, etc., following the same procedure.
Make the part using the mould
Making the part
Once we have the mould (and the counter-mould if necessary) comes the fun part… The first thing to do is to cut the fibreglass fabric so that it covers the whole surface you want to make the piece. The more layers you put on, the thicker the final piece will be. Two layers are usually enough.
Next, smear the areas where the fibreglass will be in contact with the mould generously with anything viscous and greasy, because this way, when you unmould the piece, the mould will not stick so much to the piece, otherwise it will be difficult to get it unmoulded.
When you have all that ready, it’s time to get to the top. We will take a plastic container (a glass or a water bottle that we have previously cut the narrow area. Normally, the polyester resin bottles say to put the resin in the mould first and then the fibreglass. Personally I do it the other way round: I put the fabric in the mould (it’s usually difficult because it drips out) and then I pour the resin… Let everyone choose their own method but the final result will be the same… I do it this way because I am not conditioned by what I will now explain… For the glass resin to do its job, it is necessary to add the catalyst and mix it well… The catalyst is what causes the chemical reaction that I will talk about later… The only problem is that this reaction takes place at an indeterminate time: depending on the environmental circumstances, especially the temperature, it happens sooner or later… It is not instantaneous, but when it starts there is no stopping it… Some people say that it has to be done with an environmental temperature of 25 degrees because they say that it is the ideal temperature for the reaction to take place and the glass fibre to acquire rigidity through crystallisation… Personally, I disagree with this: it may work for people who are used to working with glass fibre on a regular basis…
Personally, I have been working with the polyester resin at 5 degrees and the reaction has occurred normally, just giving me more time to distribute it… We take the plastic container, pour the polyester resin, add the catalyst in the proportion indicated by the manufacturer and mix it with a stick or a spatula until we see that the catalyst (usually a garish colour: red) disappears into the honey colour of the resin… It doesn’t cost anything… And immediately pour the whole content on top of the fibreglass evenly into the mould with the help of a spatula, reaching the whole surface of the piece… Quickly but without rushing: We will normally have about ten minutes to finish this operation… It is like when we spread the oil in a frying pan so that it covers the whole surface… You will see how the glass fabric seems to dilute like a sugar cube in milk… Once it has been spread, if you have made the counter-mould, place it… And if not, then wait… 10-15 minutes after having mixed the resin with the catalyst, you will start to hear some clicks: This is the chemical reaction… Smoke will start to come out, which is nothing more than the result of this reaction that gives off a lot of heat and with it water vapour and a stench that will make you stink: if you do it indoors, I assure you that you will be thrown out of the house… Don’t breathe these fumes… Wait for half an hour.
If the piece is very large, you may need to incorporate metal ribs to increase rigidity or to place the hooks… It is at this stage that you can incorporate them…
Polishing the piece
Before unmoulding, take the opportunity, with the jigsaw, to cut all the edges following the edge of the mould… You will see that it is very easy… With the jigsaw and the drill you can make the holes that you want…
Remove the mould… Now you have the piece done…
Finishing
To clean the piece and free it from the remains of oil from when it was in the mould, use solvent… Once the piece is degreased, you can sand it to polish it… And it is ready to be primed and painted. Keep in mind that the colour of the piece will be whitish, but this can be modified by dyeing the fibreglass resin in the colour you want before mixing it with the catalyst…