KF4TH

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Has anyone had experiance re-inforcing plastic cowls with fiber glass.If so do you glass the whole cowl?Do you glass the inside or try to glass the outside.

Deadeye

I usually glass the seams on the INSIDE with 3/4 oz, wait for that to cure, and then give the rest of the INSIDE of the cowl the same treatment. Make sure to rough it up with 80 grit first. Same with wheel pants.

KF4TH

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks for the info Deadeye.One more question ,do you tryto get the very front of the cowl at the spinner ring covered? I have a 300 extra that I want to glass the cowl on.

Deadeye

The more coverage the better, but if you can't get in the tighter areas, you should be OK. There is little to no stress by the spinner. A good glassing job is more important on the rear of the cowl where the screws go through.

KF4TH

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THanks Deadeye I am going to give her a try.

fredscz

My Feedback: (47)

I've had to reinforce/repair several plastic cowls and I used whatever scrap fiberglass cloth I had handy and PVC cement and one of the small metal handle flux brushes.. Worked just fine.
Fred

djr1007

I like to reinforce around all the mounting holes, engine cutouts, etc, plastic or glass cowls. Go to Sally beauty supply (or ask the wife to) and ask them for finger nail fiber glass tape. You get a roll of 3/4 inch wide, very light weight glass tape that has a tacky backing on it. It's just enough tack to help hold it in place, especially molding around inside curves, conforms great. Then just a few drops of CA and no more cracking.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

I use 1/2 oz - 2 oz fiberglass cloth (depending on the size of the cowl/plane). I cut this in strips 2" - 3" wide and about 6" long.

Rough up the inside of the cowl with 80 or 100 grit paper, then wipe clean with a cloth wet in alcohol to get the rest of the dust/pieces out.

Take a piece of scrap 1/8" music wire and round one end.

Put a strip of fiberglass inside the cowl and position it with the 1/8" music wire.

Attach it to the cowl with either PVC cement OR THIN CA.

Repeat for the other strips.

When dry, trim the excess with a #11 blade, razor blade, scissors, etc and smooth the edge with some 220 paper.

KF4TH

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks Campy. I have a couple of questions.Do you use the pvc cement or thin ca in stead of the fiber glass resin or is the pvc cement used to saturate the glass to bond it to the plastic?I have tried glas cloth with thin ca to reinforce a plastic cowl around the circumfrence of the cowl but it did not work out too well.
Do you saturate the cloth before putting it inside the cowl ?what about pre wetting the inside with the pvc glue before putting the glass cloth in? Franklin

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

I have not had any luck using resin to apply the cloth to the inside of an ABS cowl (I have tried both epoxy and polyester resins).

I usually use thin CA for re-enforcing. The key with the thin CA (or the PVC cement) is roughing up the inside of the cowl so the cement has something to grab on to AND GETTING ALL THE RESIDUE OUT.

I put the strip in place and make sure it is flat against the cowl (completely contacting the cowl) then I use a micro tube on a thin CA bottle to drip/squirt the CA on the cloth. The 1/8" wire comes in very handy to get the cloth into tight places and to push the cloth back down if it starts to lift up. As with anything, it takes a little practice to get the "hang of it". The big thing is to let each strip COMPLETELY DRY before doing the next strip. I also suggest doing this outside or in a well ventilated room as the CA fumes will be concentrated and will most likely bother your eyes, nose and lungs.

If you use the PVC cement there are 2 schools about applying it - one school says to wet the cowl, then put the fiberglass cloth in place and press it into the cement. The other school says to put the cloth in place then put the PVC cement over the cloth and work it in with the dauber (ball on the end of the wire). School 1, you have to work VERY quickly. School 2, the fiberglass cloth tends to shift around while you are applying/working in the cement (the 1/8" wire comes in very handy with school 2).

In either case you need to work fairly quickly as the cement sets up pretty quickly. I rarely use the PVC cement because depending on the brand of the PVC cement and the type of ABS cowl (material composition) AND the amount of cement used, PVC cement has been known to soften the ABS (sometimes a lot {:-) ).

PVC cement works by SLIGHTLY melting the PVC pipe so that the the 2 pieces actually melt together. With the fiberglass cloth it works by softening the cowl so that the cloth can be pushed into the ABS and then when it dries (in theory anyway) it becomes part of the cowl.

Hope this is of some help.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

Another trick that I've tried with some success. Save the extra pieces of ABS plastic that you've trimmed from the kit, or collect the coffee cup lids from you're local coffee shop or convenience store. Get some of the PVC pipe cleaner (its a combination of MEK and Acetone) and pour some into a glass mason jar. Cut up the plastic pieces and dissolve them in the PVC pipe cleaner. Make sure the jar is tightly capped, it will take some time to fully dissolve. Add enough plastic to give yourself a thin paste.

Lay out your fiberglass strips on a piece of glass, then cover them with the dissolved plastic. Use a popsicle stick to fully impregnate the plastic into the glass. Let these dry, then use the PVC pipe cement to glue your glass reinforced plastic strips where you want them.

Brad

KF4TH

My Feedback: (5)

Thank you guys for sharing these methods on how to re-inforce cowlswith glass cloth.I will give one of them a try and hope i don't ruin my cowl.as it is from experience it won't last long with out cracking some where if i don't do some thing to it.

Flypaper 2

Another thing that sticks well to ABS is Goop. Of course, it sticks like snot to anything Because it is fairly heavy, I lay the glass strip in, then put a goober of Goop in and spread it out as thin as possible through the glass with my finger. Spreads fairly thin this way. Because it's flexible, it works well with the plastic.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I use PVC pipe glue with about 2 oz glass cloth. First, spray a light coat of 3m77 or 3m45 spray adhesive to hold it down. It can be a hassle the first time or two you try it cause the spray adhesive grabs it pretty quick. But once in place, a light brushing of pvc glue works like a champ. Dont use too much, the abs might melt. I've never melted one but you can feel it get fairly warm. Once done, its pretty rugged.
Edwin

KF4TH

My Feedback: (5)

flypaper2 what is goop and where do you buy it?

Flypaper 2

Many hardwares and automotive suppliers have it. Home Depot and such places.

rctrax

I keep a tube of sportsman goop[available at Menards or such] on hand at all times. It works for all kinds of things. It comes in various typs and I use sportsman for all arond use