Ian Pearson
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| posted on 11/12/02 at 10:48 PM |
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Starcrack Repair.
I have a nice star crack in my nosecone. Can anyone let me know how to repair it? I seem to re-call that the gell coat has to be rubbed down
completely?
TIA, Ian.
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Mini bloke Dave
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| posted on 12/12/02 at 11:52 AM |
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Hi Ian.
I assume that it is just a slight crack and not a hard impact smash.
When you get a crack in fibreglass the first thing you need to do is to stop it spreading any further.
In order to do this you must firstly drill the very end of each crack with a fine drill bit so that effectively the crack has a rounded end. Don't go
over the top on drill size, just use one that is just big enough. Once all the holes are drilled you should then tape up the outer side, or face side
with masking tape and, from the inside of the panel, fill the holes with resin. Once the resin has set you can peel back the tape and you are left
with a nice solid panel again.
Once the crack has been stabilised you can then carefully channel out the gel coat along the crack line. For this I like to use a dremel type tool
with a slim filing bit. Dont go mad and remove lots of material because all you are doing is making a space for new gel coat to be brushed along the
line to bond the two sides of the crack back together. When you have filled the cracks sufficiently and allowed the gel to set, you can then rub down
the repaired area and spray it to colour.
Hope this helps.
Dave
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Stu16v
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| posted on 12/12/02 at 07:10 PM |
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Or if you have a gelcoat finish and want to leave it that way, rub down the painted on gelcoat (of the right colour) with 800 grit sandpaper used wet,
and polish back to shine with T cut.
Dont just build it.....make it!
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chrisg
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| posted on 12/12/02 at 10:50 PM |
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The above might work for a while but for a really proper repair more needs doing, it's the old adage about getting out what you put in.
See:-http://www.gibbs111.fsnet.co.uk/grp.htm
under GRP repairs.
Cheers
Chris
Note to all: I really don't know when to leave well alone. I tried to get clever with the mods, then when they gave me a lifeline to see the
error of my ways, I tried to incite more trouble via u2u. So now I'm banned, never to return again. They should have done it years ago!
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locodude
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| posted on 13/12/02 at 12:23 AM |
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Nice one Mr G, I'm following your instructions re:repairing my gel-coat cracked cycle wings. Di it right first time and you only have to do it once!
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Ian Pearson
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| posted on 16/12/02 at 08:01 AM |
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Thanks guys.
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