Who wants a Dalek? / Fiberglass class

[Chris Jorgensen]

Hello Everybody!

Quite a few members expressed interest in learning to fiberglass and obtaining a Dalek of their own during Makerfaire / Siclovia. I spent the last 1.5 years getting my Dalek to the state it is currently in, but I used traditional construction methods, so it is mostly wood, glue, MDF, bondo, blood, sweat, and manchild tears. Luckily for everyone else, part of building the Dalek involved learning to make fiberglass molds and using those molds to create much stronger/lighter reproductions of the plug piece out of fiberglass.

I'm going to be referencing various parts on the Dalek that might not be very intuitive what they are, so see this handy website for explanations: https://www.projectdalek.co.uk/mainsite/index.php/dalek-autopsy

Currently, I have the shoulder section, skirt, and fender which I can make molds from. I had a dome mold, but it was my first attempt fiberglassing and it broke, so we would need to re-make a plug (ideally with 3d printing) to make a new mold from.

Anyways, I was hoping to try making some molds/casting some parts while teaching others about fiberglassing, tentatively Sunday, April 9th, but more likely Sunday, April 30th since I'm waiting on a specialty catalyst to arrive in the mail. I'm hoping 10bit can oneday have their own Dalek Mascot since it seemed to be a crowd pleaser at both these events over the weekend.

Now onto the downside, this much fiberglass is rather expensive...  The cheapest supplier I've found in San Antonio is Plastic Supply of San Antonio ( http://plasticsupplyofsa.com/ ). 

Their relevant pricing schedule is as follows:

Fiberglass Matting: $1.60 per foot (about 1 meter wide)

Gelcoat: $58.85 per gallon

Polyester Resin: $33.75 per gallon

Acetone: $14.25 per gallon

PVA: $4.95 per pint

UV Catalyst: $33.33 - catalyses 10 gallons of resin

Materials required to make the molds (one time expense): 

38 ft of fiberglass matting  $1.60 x 38 = $60.80

3 quarts of Gelcoat $58.85 x 0.75 = $44.14

3 gallons of Resin $33.75 x 3 = $101.25

Ancillary items (MDF, PVA, Catalyst, Acetone) ~$30

Total cost: $236.19

As the cast parts are essentially just the positive versions from the mold negative, the material costs per fiberglass Dalek is approximately the same.

If enough people are interested, hopefully we could do a  group buy to pay for molding materials and then individual members might pay for their own supplies to have the basis of their own fiberglass Dalek. Please respond with any additional ideas or suggestions because I'm just spitballing at this point.