Reinforcing Resin with Fiberglass?

I'm really intrigued by the water activated fiberglass mentioned in this thread including the Bolderwrap. I'm about to plunge into finishing my Sgtfang helmet and want to reinforce it before I do anything else. Has anybody tried any of these products yet?

Thanks!
 
Pardon my ignorance, but can someone tell me what the SFMH is made of? The thread title says only "resin," and that can mean anything. Is it polyester? polyurethane? epoxy? I ask because these days, everyone uses the generic term "resin" for polyurethane casting resin. All 2-component polymers have a "resin" side (B), and a "catalyst" side (A).

So if it is made with polyester, then reinforce with polyester, and so on with polyurethane ect.

My next question is "how much reinforcing do you need?" The previous post for the "Boulderwrap" sounds like the trick, but I have never used the stuff. So I would have to experiment with it to get a feel for what it does.

Barring experimentation with new products, It won't hurt to go with the ol' stand-by: fiberglass. I reccomend FG Tape for this job. http://www.shopmaninc.com/cloth.html (goto bottom of page)
Tape is cloth with a wrapped edge that won't unravel.

2 layers of FG tape will add a lot strengh but not much weight. A couple strips down the side will give that range finder a lot of support. A coupe strips along the bottom will reall stiffen the helmet. I don't think that any is necessary in the dome.

As far as resin? 30 minute epoxy will work fine and be compatible with most materials. Its fast, strong, available in 5 oz bottles, and its quick.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves

Its Polyurithane to the best of my knolage... protoyping resin as Sarge calls it. I use several types of resin in my own castings but I find his to be more britle. I am not sure if he uses fillers or what? But it craks VERY easy.

There is no real trick to reinforning the helmet be it with fiberglass or expoxy. We used a fiberglass repair kit and simply followed the directions. Works like a champ. You can reinforce it in many different ways though.
 
I reinforced mine yesterday. I used the Bondo Fiberglass repair kit and bought some extra fiberglass strip. Glad I did - the strips was a little easier to work with and I didn't have to worry about running out.

I have to admit, I was really stressed about this but it went okay. A little of the liquid got on the outside in spots that I assume I can sand off.

Question for those have done this: How long does the inside of the helmet smell? Do you then paint or coat the inside so it isn't as intense? Right now I think I could only wear it as long as I could hold my breath...
 
It only smells until it is fully cured, a day or so

I wouldn't worry about it. If you're in the process of fiberglassing you won't be wearing it until you've finished cleaning it up, which should be at least a couple days. The resin should cure fully by day 2 and the odor should be gone. Once you paint it and put some padding in there you won't even be able to tell.
 
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