To anyone who has built their own Jockeyseat.

[Mr-d]

Hello, I am planning to build a jockey console (single seater) and have built a mould out of wood and am ready to Rock & Roll!

My question: How thick should the fibreglass end up? is 5-7MM sufficient?
What way would i layer it?

Base -> Wax -> Resin -> Chopped Strand -> Resin -> Woven -> Resin -> Chopped Strand -> Resin -> Woven -> Resin -> Chopped Strand -> Resin -> Woven -> Smooth (Gel) Coat

Also what grade of Fibreglass? 450g/M² or 600g/M²?

Thanks,
Daniel

[Limey Linda]

Surely the gel coat goes on after the wax ????

[Mr-d]

Err, I am building it up on top of the wood, and there's not much point in having a smooth finish on the inside, I was more or less hoping that I could roll the gelcoat on the top and make it semi smoothish (Compared to normal resin on top of a Matt.

[Endeavour]

so where does the wax come in to it?

[Limey Linda]

Oh, your are planning to use a male mould/plug not a female. Smooth on the inside? Yes, Yes, Yes. otherwise you will not be able to remove the moulding. Must be a macho thing. Problem will male moulds is removing the Plug/pattern, so make sure you build in plently of draft angle, at least 5-8 degrees and have some method of getting the component off the plug. Make sure the plug is sanded very smooth and varnished or similar; it should shine like you car???. Make sure you use a lot of release agent ( wax, multiple coats, and let it harden and then polish it before starting the lay up. ( it is called a plug for obvious reasons) If you can make the plug in a manner that it can be disassembled from the inside ie. with screws then life gets a whole lot easier.
Hope this helps.

[Mr-d]

Indeed Wax is release agent, It is already varnished, and all surfaces are sloped away from the bottom (I.e. the wide bit) so it *should* pop off with a bit of TLC.

This still leaves my original question

p.s. I have heard stories of drilling little holes after the Resin has set, and blowing compressed air into it, this should help release it!

[Endeavour]

you have gone to the time to build a male mould. is there a reason why you didn't build a female mould and you would of had a smooth(ish) finish on the outside.

[jwalker]

5mm will be more than enough and just use csm. Woven fabrics give their strength along the weave. They have good tensile strength but it's directional. You want strength in all directions. Use the 450gm csm (also known as 1½oz), it wets out much more easily and this is an advantage for your first attempt at laminating. If you are planning on finishing with gel coat, mix it 50-50 with normal layup resin and apply it with a roller. You must add wax to the gel to prevent it being sticky otherwise the surface in contact with the air will not harden. This is wax dissolved in styrene, not wax polish. You can buy flocoat specifically for this finishing process and you won't then need the gel. If it were me and I lived down the Ardnamuruchan road, I'd buy a bit more of everything and then it would be in stock for the next project. A few days ago, in his thread, Slimtim showed the type of finish you will get.

When dealing with the csm, tear it rather than cut it with scissors. This will give you soft edges because hard edges will be seen in the finished product. Tearing csm neatly is a learned skill and an easy and effective method is to lay a panel saw on top of the csm and tear it upward along the toothed edge of the saw. Easy.

Good luck and don't forget to catalyze the resin!

Mr d, it occurs to me that if you've taken the trouble to make a reasonable quality mould, it may be worth using it as a plug to take a mould from and then you would have the ability to easily make more consoles in the future.

[OceanEco]

You need to finish with 2 layers of CSM under the gel coat or you will get print thru of the woven roving.

[Mr-d]

Thanks for your replies,

So don't use woven roving at all, and just use Cut Strand Mat (450g)
I take it that 1 layer of CMS/Resin is about 1MM thick when set. so say 6 layers.
Flow-coat for the final finish.

If i chose to use the first version as a mould i should ideally use gelcoat right at the start for the first layer.

The reason i made a male mould is because i knew what i wanted the console to look like, and test sizes as i went along to see if it would suit, and modify if it did not. Constructing a female mould would have been a lot more complicated for me to do. And this is the first time i am trying something like this.

OceanEco, with CSM do you mean fine tissue? Even if i decide not to use woven roving, will i still need two layers of something finer than 450g?

Thanks,
Daniel.