fiberglass help

hey guys, I know this is off topic a little, but I haven't been able to find help anywhere else so IM hoping to get help from you guys here, I'm trying to laminate a regular party balloon with fiberglass resin, without success, I keep melting the balloons with the resin, or what ever I've sprayed on them to try to get a barrier in between them. so far I've tried silicon lubricant spray, Vaseline, and spray paint, I have mixed hot batches of resin and cold batches of resin, if anyone in here has any ideas to help me out, Id appreciate it


Thank you
Michael French

 

I am assuming you are using polyester resin, if so try epoxy resin.
---Joel---

 

yes I am using polyester resin, I apologize for not mentioning that, and thank you for the quick reply, Ill go pick up some epoxy resin tomorrow and give it a try

 

The styrene in polyester resin is dissolving the balloons.

 

the heat in epoxy resin will pop the balloon.

Try papier mache first then glass over that

 

only problem Ive have with paper mache is I need it as smooth as possible on the inside, Ive never paper mached anything so I dont know how smooth it comes out

 

Papier mache will make it very smooth on the inside, its the outside that would be rough.


what exactly are you using this for?

 

well, we are ploting for christmas, we are going to build a oversized snow globe in my front yard, from playing around I know already that the resin alone with no mat or cloth cures smooth enough that you can see though it good enough for what we are attempting to do I learned that a while back when I got the resin onto a glass cup and poped it offso if I can make this work on a small party ballon Im going to transfer what worked on there over to a latex ballon that is the size of a weather ballon, I dont need to put mat or cloth into the resin because I dont need any real strenth other than to be able to hold its self up. and thank you guys for the quick replys, I just got off of work right now so Im abou tto go buy some epoxy resin and give that a shot, Ill post and let you guys know what it does


Thank you again

Michael French

 

just wanted to update you guys, I went and picked up some epoxy and so far, after about 2 hours, it hasnt poped the ballon, it isnt fully cured yet but its in a rubbery state which is where the polyester resin would pop the ballons, just thought Id update you guys so you know if you even care. and again thank you boatbuilder.org, gonzo, and Alixander Beck for your help and input

 

Why don't you try to form it from the inside out.. fill the ballon with resin then blow up with compressed air. there is a epoxy solution that is used to repair gas tanks from the inside out. it sets in about 5 mins. you would have to rotate the ballon for that time. I know that the material is very tough and you would have a finished product.