Pictorial guide/worklog of modifications to 'HTPC', GAM's Home Theatre PC; Making a cheap, simple case better - Page 9

By Greig Mackenzie

Fibreglass Duct continued...

Getting it right

The second time around, I realised it was important to elevate the work piece above the bench, thus…

One hardened, single layered, moulded, fibreglass duct!

In my travels, someone told me that the resin (containing Styrene) would dissolve the polyurethane foam and counselled me to cover the entire mould with Plastercine. I did, but in the end I deemed it unnecessary as there didn't seem to be any penetration of the resin into the foam. Now to remove the foam template from the mould.

I started by cutting away large chunks off the corners, layer by layer.

Surprisingly, this process was quicker than expected. Nevertheless, it probably still took close to an hour before I was left with this.

The Plastercine was a real nuisance now, although it did allow me to remove the foam more easily. The fibreglass would have stuck to the mould which would have meant leaving much of the foam in place… still not a bad alternative though as I needn't have applied so much body filler later.

To remove the centre core of foam and Plastercine, I slid my little metal ruler inside and around the edges, breaking the bond between the plastercine and the fibreglass. Once this was done, I manage to push the core out from the other side.

Core removed.

One FRG mould! At this point I SHOULD have applied additional layers of fibreglass matting. I thought this would have been longer and more difficult and opted for the 'bondo' job instead. Bad idea…

The mould needed reinforcement as it was quite flimsy with the single FRG layer. So I applied body filler to the rear surfaces to provide more stiffness and subsequent 'shape-ability'.

After a little edge trimming and much filing and sanding.