Translucent Fiberglass Sheets

You can get some background general information, on translucent fiberglass sheets by following the links below. However, I must add, it is not easy to manufacture these, based on reading some literature, on the subject. It would be better, IMHO, to hire a hands-on-experience guy for the job.

How to make translucent fiberglass sheets?

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Buy them. Unless you are making them with an automated press you're wasting your time.

1. Get some glass cloth and polyester resin.

2. Lay out glass cloth.

3. mix resin and hardener.

4. pour resin over glass cloth.

5. smooth the resin into the glass cloth so all cloth is saturated.

6. place between platens and apply 20PSI of pressure for 30 minutes

7. trim to size.

8. Repeat as needed.

You want to make them yourself? Why? (granted, they're slightly less common than plywood...)

Maybe he is the DIY type that wants to say "I made and installed it"

Are you building a better mousetrap, or reinventing the wheel?

These kinds of products are commonly available.

Specifics on construction methods are available in above posts.

I have a few hundred sheets of Transite I can let you have cheap, I've lost the MTRs though . . .

-A-

Why would you want to make something you can pick up at the hardware store?

You confuse me..Unless there is something you are not saying or asking for some unknown reason, can't be for security reasons.

So what's your deal?

As has been pointed out making these sheets will be difficult, but not nearly as difficult as convincing anybody to use them.

a) They would be more expensive to make and therefore to sell than existing alternatives already established in the market sector you are aiming for.

b) The sheets will have to be thin to pass an appreciable amount of light. Thin sheets are vulnerable to breakage if anybody stands on them. So it will be impossible to maintain or even clean the roof.

c) The resin will need UV stabiliser added to prevent it from brittling and failing, and even that is not going to make it last as long as the alternatives.

d) To fix it onto a roof you will need to drill the sheet. Where holes pass through the surface layer moisture will enter and start to de-laminate the sheet. To counter this you would have to paint each drilled hole with resin and wait for it to dry before fixing he sheet. That makes the sheets totally impractical to install.

To sum up. You want to enter a mature market with a new unproven inferior product that cannot be installed or maintained, will not last very long, and that sells at a higher price. If you can do this successfully, you would be better advised to set up a new company selling snow to Eskimos, where you will make a quick fortune.

What country are you in? U.V. light in sunlight breaks down the fibreglass resin and soon the fibres are exposed allowing them to catch dust. This very quickly builds up into a layer of dirt that is a growth medium for mould and lichens. So in a few short years you have a roof that is no longer translucent. A steep slope can minimise this.

The manufactured, usually corrugated sheet can be bought with a thin film on top side that is U.V. resistant giving a longer life. Try Bayer website for products and suppliers of translucent sheeting in your country.

DEAR FRIEND,

I AM IN BUSINESS OF MAKING ROOF SHEETS ALSO.

BEST WAY IS TO USE AS UNDER:

@ TAKE A CSM 450 gsm POWDER MAT IS COMMONLY KNOWN IN INDIA.

@ AND TAKE ROOF LITE GRADE POLYSTER GRADE RESIN FOR MOULDING.

@ 450gsm MAT WILL GIVE THICKNESS OF NEARLY 1.00 ( 0.8-1.00) , WITH MAT TO RESIN RATIO WILL BE 1: 2.3 -2.5.

@ THIS METHOD WILL GIVE YOU A VERY GOOD RESULTS AND WITH LITTLE TRANSPERENT POLYSTER PIGMENT WILL GIVE A ELEGANT LOOKS EVERYWHERE.

@ IF NEED BE PL. DO WRITE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

NARESH DAFTARY

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Thanks everybody for your input. Even though my question has not been answered clearly, yet the input contains valuble and important pointers and advice, particularly from a marketing point of view To provide some background as to why i asked my question about translucent fiberglass panels: I have a fiberglass factory (just starting production), with a marine main section (with the intention of making small recreational/fishing boats), and another supportive division to make other fiber fiberglass products. The marine section will take a while to put together, so i decided to make other products that the local market needs, so as to create some income pendind the evolving of the boat production. Fiberglass sheets will be needed for some of my products, and i thought having a translucent sheet may be a usefull addition, particulary that there is need for it in newly built factory hangers and workshops. But from what was said maybe it was a bad idea. I thought it would be a simple technical modification, such as adding some material that would allow the goal of translucency to be achieved. In my local market there is lack of translucent fiberglass sheets, however there are other product such as acrylic or Lexan, but these are very expensive. Its obvios that i have little experience with this sector, and to some, my getting into the manufacturing buisiness from the start was a mistake, besides, trying to do things in a developing industry is harder than i thought. Hiring experts is obviosly a logical approach, but difficulty finding tham locally is a problem. By the way i am located in Saudi Arabia.

If you don't put any dies in the resin it will be translucent.

All you need now is a mold and some folk to lay the glass and resin.