fiberglassing aluminum

Can you fiberglass aluminum?  I want to make an overhead console and I want to use aluminum for structural integrity, but after wrapping in poly fleece will the resin still bond good?

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Eat, Sleep, and Off-Road. Everything else is meaningless details.

Can you fiberglass over aluminum, yes. Would it bond well to it, probably not. But the real question would be why would you need to use aluminum to frame it?

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Certified Security Specialist
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Might aswell just use MDF instead of aluminum. If you going for light weight thinking aluminum is lighter, it is but not as strong, and stuff won't stick to it very well.

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In actuality the strength of aluminum is very underrated, aluminum if used in the correct way can be as strong as steel. but it has to be put under pressure. bend the aluminum into a channel or flanged box and it is incredibly strong. but practically use mdf, having to construct in alum. will become very tedious because of the excessive bending and fabrication.

You could rough sand the aluminum to get a texture that fiberglass would stick BETTER, but I don't think it would ever really bond with the metal. When you glass wood, the resin somewhat sinks into the wood (and other subsequent layers) to form a bond.

Just my input....

DXAV

Yes, you can get it to bond to the aluminum. Acid etch the aluminum, or rough it up with sand paper, then go get some epoxy resin, not polyester, and use that. It is completely pointless to do this though.

A.  If you use aluminum for the frame, and then stretch the felt, the resin will soak into the fleece, and you dont need it to bond to the aluminum anyways.

B.   This will cost twice as much unless you have access to aluminum for cheap. The epoxy resin is a lot more expensive than poly, and it is a lot more difficult to work with, smells twice as bad, and is not as forgiving while sanding.

C.  It is an overhead console... why use aluminum? It does not need any integrity. Use popsicle sticks and just one layer of fleece, it is more than strong enough... (don't actually do this... )

Soup,
    Good call on the epoxy, didn't know about the epoxy -- knew it was more expensive though....

Haven't tried the popsicle stick method yet, maybe later today!!

DXAV