Have Ya Got That Sinking Feelin'? Have You Started
A Fiberglass Project And Now You're Wondering If You Might Be In A Little
Too Deep? Well, You've Come To The Right Place!
These
next few pages may help or at
least humor you through it all.
Enjoy!
This is a picture of an early model (1971) Binks Glascraft spray-up system, more commonly known as a "Chopper Gun" (and yours truly). It runs off of a pump similar to a grease gun pump, moving the resin to the gun.The catalyst is feed by air over an orifice much the same way as a carburetor. It has a separate line for acetone flush.
When the resin and catalyst meet at the gun they are combined and atomized
through the tip and into a stream of fiberglass "chop". It's called chop
because it is a continuous strand of glass fiber that is drawn by a rubber
wheel meshing against a series of razor blades fitted in an opposing wheel.
This is run by an air-motor that sits atop the gun and is adjustable in
the number of blades so as to set the length of the strand from 1/2" to
2" long. This is then blown in front of the gun and the resin mixture is
sprayed through the glass. The whole operation is adjustable through air
pressures to control speed, volume and catalization timing. I've had this
baby for 12 years and only rebuilt her twice! You don't use this sort of
equipment for small repairs, but to build parts, it's a sweetheart!