Fibreglass Tube Mold Release

What mold release, and any other hints, for making a fibreglass tube.

I want to lay glass about 3-4 layers thick along 4 feet of a 1.5 inch diameter aluminum tube. When finished the glass sleeve should slide smoothly over the aluminum tube.

Thanks

 

By OVER, do you mean off the tube? If yes, then any normal releases should work IF you have no drips over the end edges. It you have tight ones it may be from the tube heating up from curing times being rushed. Let it cool completly. If it still is tight, the work area is heating the Aluminum tube and expanding it tightly against the Fiberglass sleeve. Fan air inside or a dip in a tank of cool water or pull them off in the early morning. Pick which ever fits your production rates.

 

http://www.aerosleeves.com/tut.php

http://www.solarcomposites.com/MakingShafts.html

 

John, if you are needing a almost perfectly round sleeve when it hardens you will probably need to constantly, slowly, rotate the cylinder on something you can rig up, until the stuff is firm. I found that wetting the cloth first, then wraping while it was rotating worked well.------------- Practice makes as good as needed.

 

i use to work doing large and small industrial pipe this is how u do it.u want to lay up a 1.5 tube witn 3 to 4 layers.1 get a tube 1 1/4 in diameter and wrap it wit cardboard thats 1/8 thickuse the type of cardboarb that u would get in rolls it will wrap easy. 2 get some milar or resin resisting plastic and wrap this around the cardboard no need to wax at all. 3 get two stands and place the pipe on to them so u can roll it. 4 get the circumpas of the tube ans multiply by 4 this is the length u will want x 4 feet5 wet the pipe with resin and place the mat on it give it a full twist and wet the mat . u can also do this on a table as well. u can make the resin a little hot to stop it draining on u when its cured wrap a rope on one end with a choker type knot and do the same on rhe metal tube use a 5 foot pipe to let u do this and tie it too a tree or poast and pull off comes the tube u have just made then pull out the plastic from inside its that easy

 

A libiral coating of Petrolium jelly coating on the former tube first , Wrap a layer of plastic sheet around the tube ( the jelly will grip the plastic )ENOUGH towrap at least 2 or 3 times then glass over the top finishing with Peel ply .
Have been making all kinds of tubes all diameters for years and it works evertime without fail . The plasic will pull out from the inside of the tube

 

When I needed a fiberglass tube I wrapped waxed paper around a tube of the correct size and glassed over that. The biggest problem that I encountered was that CSM keeps getting loose as I wet it out. So I wound glass strand from woven roving around the wet mat and tied the glass up nice and tight. I guess that I wound about ten turns per foot on that tube and then spiriled the winding back forth until I was satisfied. I didn't wet the strand there was plenty of resin already in place. When everything was cured I sawed my work to length and removed the mandrel. The waxed paper just pulled out.