Friday, November 26, 2010

Seat Back Inside Filleted and Glassed

Today I finished gluing, filleting and glassing the inside of the seat back structure. The panels had to be held together somehow, so I used duct tape along the edges. The tape will probably leave behind some goop or trap some resin, but that should be reasonably easy to sand off later.

I planned to do the filleting and coating the panels with resin and glassing of the joints at the same time. In preparation for this glass strips for the joints were measured and cut. I chose 6 ounce tape for the top triangle and rear joints, and 12 ounce strips joining the front side panels with the rear side panels.

The panels that were previously epoxied were sanded about 1.5 to 2 inches from the edges so the new resin would adhere better. A sanding block was initially used, but with the uneven surface it turned out to be better to use my thumb against the paper.


I mixed two heaping spoonfuls of filler resin and one of hardener in a cup, using a chop stick and one of the spoons. After putting this to one side I then mixed half of a beverage cup of clear resin and hardener.

After laying the seat back on its side I opened up the tape on one edge and unfolded the panels. This exposed the joints. Clear resin was then applied to all edges and the interior surfaces, sealing the wood.

Filler resin was spooned onto the open joints and slightly smoothed. The panels were then folded back into place and the opened edge taped closed.

Since the top was also being glued onto the seat it was easier to continue working on the interior by standing the seat on the top. The fillets of the interior vertices were then filled the rest of the way and smoothed, first with a spoon and then with the squeegee.

The tape was then applied to the edges and wet with additional resin, which was worked into the cloth using the squeegee.

Along the way the duct tape on one of the edges loosened up a bit. It needed some help by applying some pressure against the panel with a heavy iron block.

As there were some small voids here and there between the edges of some of the panels I applied some additional fillet material with the chop stick. Excess material and resin was wiped off with a paper towel.

I originally thought I'd insert the foam bulkhead after the glass and resin were applied. However, the relatively tight fit of the foam and the relative fragility of the seat back prior to the resin setting made me change my mind. I'll do it tomorrow instead - after sanding the exterior and before glassing the outside.

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