Source of fibreglass/grp sheet?

[tvrolet]

Hi
I need some fairly bug bits of fibreglass sheet for use as floors and bulkheads. I could use aluminium, but it needs to be glassed in to other panels, so not the best choice. Carbon fibre sheet would be abdolutely ideal - but this stuff is waaaaaaaay too expensive (uness someone's got a cheap source). So it looks like glassfibre/grp is the best choice on cost grounds.

I could lay it up myself, but given that all I need are flat sheets, I'm guessing you must be able to buy this stuff somewhere 'ready to use' and thick/strong enough for floors etc.

Any ideas?

WB

[Ex-biker]

You could try CFS.

www.cfsnet.co.uk

sales (at) cfsnet.co.uk

[denisb]

Reverie can do carbon or pre-preg fibreglass up to about 8ft by 4ft.

Should be big enough for most.

They will even do sandwich panels (no, not cheese and ham etc before some smart rs replies).

[anonymous-user]

Hmmm, I've yet to be impressed with the quality of components produced by Reverie.

Next time you see them at a show, take a look at the parts they have on display. You'll spot resin rich areas, voids, displaced weave and all sorts. And these are the parts that they put on display!

[tvrolet]

denisb said:

Reverie can do carbon or pre-preg fibreglass up to about 8ft by 4ft.

only seen the carbon panels on their site, and while they'd be just the job, by wallet can't stand £250 per square metre

WB

[joospeed]

i do carbon sheets .. details in joospeed news.

[hal 1]

if you want the raw materials try GLASSPLIES in Southport, Lancs, good prices, even supply carbon fibre & woven roving, i layed some resin and matt on a sheet of glass and got a nice smooth finish on one side when dry it was ready to cut.

[andygtt]

anyone know were you can get pre preg carbon fibre... I have a source for resin and mat but pre preg would be far better looking.

[hot wheels]

andygtt said:

anyone know were you can get pre preg carbon fibre... I have a source for resin and mat but pre preg would be far better looking.

pre preg is pointless unless you happen to have an autoclave needs considerable pressure/heat and vac bagging to work its nothing at all like wet layed materials

[andygtt]

but is there anything to stop me wet laying pre preg and getting a much better weave finish?

[hot wheels]

andygtt said:

but is there anything to stop me wet laying pre preg and getting a much better weave finish?

yes you couldnt effectively cure the component as it needs to be heated, pre preg by definition already has the activated epoxy contained within the weave so adding more by wet laying wouldnt work (two different cure rates ) to consolidate the layers of pre preg its vacume bagged then cured under very controlled heat and pressure gradients its a very involved and technical procedure absolutely nothing at all like wet laying its really not feasable sorry

>> Edited by hot wheels on Monday 7th February 02:02

[anonymous-user]

You can get pre-preg that will cure at room temperature and you absolutely don't need to 'clave it. When I did a composites course last year, the first few parts we made were just vacuum bagged and ovened.

That said, you'll get a much better finish if you vacuum bag it to aid the consolidation.

If it's just looks that you're worried about, you can get woven glass mat in a 2x2 twill and then get a black coloured resin. This will, to all intents and purposes, look like carbon when cured.

The advantages of prepreg over wet layup really come into their own when you're interested in the strength of the final part as you can get a much better resin weight in pre-preg than you can usually manage with wet layup.