I've never used a chopper gun which is the best

[Steve805]

Here's the deal, I appologize this is not about boats, but I can't think of anyone who might use fiberglass more than boat builders, I have started my own little buisness making Vehicle specific fiberglass subwoofer boxes, I have a few Molds, but it takes forever and creates so much trash laying them up by hand, I need a chopper sprayup system, But I dont want to buy a crappy one. I've looked at all kinds of companies, GS manufacturing, Magnum Venus, Phoenix Equipment, and a few others, I want to invest in a system that will last. So I guess I'm asking what should I be looking at and what should I stay away from, Here is a Photo of one of my molds I'm working on, It's for an GM crew Cab and fits two 12" subs behind the seat, It still needs to be cleaned up and finish sanded, Just so you guys have an Idea of what I'm trying to do.

[fiberglass jack]

wasting your money buy a choppergun for those parts, csm matt is cheap and thats good enough for a sub box, cut ur self a template to cut the matt to size, you will do a better job handlayup as you will be able to controll the thickness, with a chopgun it is hard to keep the thickness consitent and you are going to have a big mess with overspray and lose chop, also the smell will be far worst, a good chopergun will set you back a good deal of money

[Steve805]

thats really the fastest way? I know a good system is gonna set me back but I need to get these produced as fast as possible, I'm goning to have a room specifically for spraying the molds, this one is a little over five feet long

[fiberglass jack]

Magnum Venus with a internal mix is what i got and works good also have a glasscraft external mix, I know the moulds are 5 feet but a good laminator would be able to lay them up fast by hand, even with a choppergun you still have to roll out the chop and remove the air

[Steve805]

What about outsourcing? Good Idea? Bad Idea? Recommend a specific company? Thankyou for your input so far Jack.

[fiberglass jack]

if i was you i would farm them out dont know of anyone around your neck of the woods, if i was u i would place a add here got to be a fiberglass shop looking for work

[waikikin]

Steve, your a lucky man if you never used one, I aint for well over 20 years, listen to jack, they make mess & bring heat from council/municipal authoritys, if you need some quick thickness think about trying some coremat/upica mat to bulk the laminate. Regards from Jeff

[SamSam]

They also don't like to sit around unused and seem to require a lot of upkeep and fine tuning to keep running right.
I think I have inadvertently described a wife or girlfriend.

[fiberglass jack]

i have worked in many fiberglass shops and most of them have a choppergun sitting in the corner collecting dust, they seem simple to use but take a great deal to get the hang off

[joergen]

I use both the Swedish aplicator system and graco spraymaster, and its very difficult to learn how to use them correct and they need a lot of service and tuning to go as you want them to, usually we use them for big moulds, for your type of products i think you should listen to the other answer you already get.

[Steve805]

Thankyou for all your input, It's exactly what I needed to hear, I'm going to cut some templates for the chop matt that should speed things along,
Steve