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Re: fiberglass chopper gun
By:Robert
Date: 2/3/2000, 7:52 pm
In Response To: Re: fiberglass chopper gun (Paul G. Jacobson)

> Have you considered using ferro-concrete instead of fiberglass? For a hull
> of that size concrete could be a real advantage in both construction time
> and costs. There would be no form 'cutting' or mold making (time consuming
> and costly) as the iron framework is easily and quickly bent to shape,
> wired together, and plastered with concrete. I've seen one really good
> book on the subject and know that there must be several others. I got the
> impression that building sailboat hulls from ferro-concrete was much more
> popular in Australia than in New England, so you may want to look for
> references from 'down under'.

> Fibreglast (www.fibreglast.com) sells NEW chopper guns and has the
> necessary materials to feed them. They also have video instruction tapes
> on many fiberglass construction techniques. For the modest difference in
> price you might want to start with new tools. You might save a couple
> hundred dollars in a multi thousand dollar project, but having a used one
> break down in mid-project could be a bummer.

> Copied from the Fibreglast ( yes, they DO spell it that way!) website are
> these descriptions of chopper and 'cup' guns.

> - - - - - - - begin Fibreglast catalog copy - - - - - - - - - - -

> Quick Glass Build Up Chopper Gun

> A hand held, variable speed air powered chopper gun for coating molds or
> parts with glass reinforcement. Continuous glass roving is fed into the
> rear of the gun. The gun then chops the roving into short pieces and
> deposits them onto the mold. Resin is then applied by brush, roller or
> sprayed on using a cup gun. The length of the fibers can be varied from
> 4" down to 5/16". This gun will deposit the equivalent of one
> layer of 1 oz mat onto a vertical surface without fall-off before wet-out.
> Ideally suited to quick mold or part build-up once the first layer or two
> are in place. Use a saturation roller to remove trapped air. Works with
> #522 Gun Roving or #292 Graphite Tow

> 171-A Each...............................................................$
> 279.95

> Gel Coat Cup Gun

> An inexpensive gel coat gun for spraying small to medium size molds.
> Avoids the high cost of catalyst injector systems and at the same time
> avoids the pitfalls of a regular spray gun. The resin and catalyst are
> mixed in the disposable paper cups, the lid and nozzle assembly are
> pressed on, and the cup is then placed on the gun. With the paper cup in a
> level position, depress the trigger and the air stream picks up the gel
> coat and provides a uniform, high velocity spray pattern. To clean up,
> merely remove the cup form the gun, and just clean the lid and nozzle.
> Requires 60-100psi of air. Cup capacity is one quart. We ship the gun with
> a 3/16" ID nozzle, but others are available (see below).

> 120-A
> Each................................................................... $
> 139.95

> Catalyst Mixes While You Spray External Mix Cup Gun

> Also an inexpensive gel coat gun for spraying small to medium size parts
> and molds, but with external mix for the catalyst. This added feature
> means less wasted material because there is no need to pre-catalyze. This
> gun uses the same paper or plastic cups and the same nine different
> nozzles as the #120-A. There are seven different nozzles for the catalyst
> side of the gun for a wide variety of catalyzation rates. There is an
> angular adjustment to set the spray patterns for full catalyzation, no
> matter which nozzle or viscosity of material is sprayed. Separate flow
> controls for gel coat and catalyst can be adjusted to desired material
> flow and atomization rates. An excellent gun when numerous color changes
> are done.

> 836-A
> Each.................................................................$
> 269.95

> Save time and waste less resin

> Cup Gun Gravity Feed Attachment An easy-to-use attachment, this assembly
> replaces the one-quart cup when spraying larger projects. The hose
> provided easily attaches to either our #120-A Gel Coat Cup Gun or our
> #836-A External Mix Cup Gun. The large bucket allows up to 8 quarts of
> resin or gel coat to be mixed and sprayed at one time. Use this assembly
> to spray larger projects in a fast, easy manner instead of mixing several
> smaller batches or using more expensive equipment. This product lets you
> spend less time mixing and wasting resin, and cleans up easily with
> acetone to be used over and over.

> 1213-A Each.............................................................$
> 59.95

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - end of Fibreglast catalog copy - - - - - - - - -
> - -

> Years ago I saw tools that mixed resin, catalyst, and glass strands and
> sprayed the mixture. These seem to spray either glass, or resin. First you
> spray on a coating of glass fibers, then you cover it with a coat of
> resin. I'm not too impressed with the ability to put on a layer equal to 1
> ounce mat. Hand layups of heavier glass cloth (say 20 ounce cloth or
> similar mat) might be faster. You could spray on the resin to saturate the
> fabric, and roll out the excess. The cup guns mentioned above, with the
> bulk feed attachment would let you do batches of up to 8 quarts ( two
> gallons) at a time. That would cover a pretty good area! And, you could
> whip up a fresh batch in a few minutes and keep going -- working out from
> a wet edge before the first batch sets up.

> Just a few thoughts. Building boats that big is really beyond my field of
> expertise -- I read about them but I don't actually work on such a scale,
> so take these ideas with at least a few grains of salt.

> Paul G. Jacobson

Paul i had heard about the cement hulls but i can't bring my self to serouosly thgink about a cement hull (i think cement anchor) Thanks for that link those prices or much better then what i had found. I had origanl wanted to do a alum hull but cost and ease i dissided on fiberglass.

Messages In This Thread

fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/2/2000, 9:02 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Steve Groufsky -- 2/3/2000, 12:53 am
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/3/2000, 8:56 am
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Steve Groufsky -- 2/3/2000, 4:25 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/3/2000, 8:02 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Steve Groufsky -- 2/3/2000, 8:48 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/3/2000, 9:03 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Steve Groufsky -- 2/3/2000, 9:25 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/4/2000, 9:26 am
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Steve Groufsky -- 2/5/2000, 5:17 am
Re: research other building methods
lee -- 2/4/2000, 10:08 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Bart Castleberry -- 2/4/2000, 9:24 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Nolan -- 2/3/2000, 2:43 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/3/2000, 1:13 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/3/2000, 7:52 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
lee -- 2/2/2000, 10:47 pm
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Robert -- 2/3/2000, 9:00 am
Re: fiberglass chopper gun
Shawn Baker -- 2/3/2000, 10:34 am