Did some digging on fibreglass and came up with some interesting stuff. Did you know that Aerialite actually comes from China? Here’s the link if you don’t believe me http://www.fiberglass-xiujun.com/pro06.htm. When they say manufactured in the USA maybe they should say woven in to cloth in the USA.
Also I believe Aerialite is plain weave and JPS is crows foot weave. The difference being with crows foot (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) is one warp thread has to pass over three fill threads before it ducks under for one. That’s a whole lot of missing the foam if you ask me. Easier to wrap than Aerialite though.
Aerialite being plain weave has one warp thread passing over one fill thread before ducking under for one. Easier to fill in my experience than JPS but a little harder to wrap. Probably stronger with the plain weave too instead of crows foot. And all this time you thought Aerialite was made in the USA…
"Also I believe Aerialite is plain weave and JPS is crows foot weave. The difference being with crows foot (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) is one warp thread has to pass over three fill threads before it ducks under for one. That’s a whole lot of missing the foam if you ask me. "
Don’t you just turn it over and then get more glass hitting the foam?
Not sure why your worried about having fibre against the blank?
The key thing is that the epoxy provides the adhesion.
In a composite structure, it’s mechanical behaviour depends on the bonding between the matrix phase (resin) and the fibre phase (glass fibres), and in turn how they are bonded to the core by the epoxy.
Sure there may be slight advantage of having the glass the other way, but i’d be interested to know if it’s significant.
Is there a difference that you know of? I’m interested…
In my limited knowledge of fibreglass it provides a four hundred percent increase in strength over resin alone. I don’t see how it could be as effective however if it doesn’t touch what it is supposed to be protecting.
Sounds good. A tight lamination is always better than a loose one, but i’m trying to figure out where the advantage comes from in this case?
The resin glues the glass to the core, why does it matter if more is touching?
I think i’m trying to explain something that doesn’t need explaining, just lam it tight as possible eh!
We all know that works best, i’ll be quiet now.
Cheers for the info! sometimes I think about things too much
Hmmm, I wouldn’t call it overthinking, just the point (theory) I was trying to make goes like this. With plain weave the warp threads pass over one fill thread and then pass under one all the way through the length of the cloth. So every second fill thread the warp thread “misses”. Or not. With crows foot every warp thread passes over one fill thread and then under three fill threads (unless you turn the cloth over) so it misses every fourth fill thread. Which to my mind is a lot less “missing”. Either way they’re both nice cloths (JPS and Aerialite) in my experience. My point being, umm…, hey look there’s China!
the crowfoot is stronger because their is less crimp on the tows of the glass a two x two twill is even better and then you have your 4 ,5,and 8 harness satin which are some of the strongest cloth you can by check out jps web site for more info http://www.jpscompositematerials.com/products.htm#about
You might want to check your facts and not believe every website that Google digs up for you.
Aerialite is produced in Virginia (yeah that is still in the USA) by BGF.
The link you gave is a direct copy of the old BGF Aerialite site with every instance of BGF replaced by the chinese factory name. Makes you wonder doesn’t it.
From time to time, I enjoy hearing the different comments made on Swaylock’s since I spent 6 years of my life developing and visiting glass shops for Aerialite. I moved to a different role at BGF last May, but thought I might comment on your thread.
First, Aerialite is produced in Altavista, VA. It is a small town that has been producing fabric since before most of us have been alive. I know one gentleman who still takes much pride in the fabrics made there and has so, for over 50 years…no, he did not start there when he was 3.
Second, the Chinese website referenced is not ours and has no affiliation with BGF. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention; we are contacting our lawyers, literally.
Third, JPS is a great competitor and have many good people. In my last analysis of their fabric, it was a plain weave as is Aerialite. Speaking for BGF, we do produce crowfoot satins, but not for the surf market. We found that a plain weave is the best reinforcement, all things considered.
I hope this sheds light of facts that we here at BGF certainly do not consider useless. We appreciate each glasser that uses BGF’s Aerialite and hope if you haven’t at least tried it, you will.
Hey Kevin - thanks for posting that info. I’ve used both Aerialite and JPS and like them both (yours is harder to spell though!). I thought that both were plain weaves but also figure both companies are big enough that they do all sorts of weaves, even if I’ve not run across them.
Well I was certainly sucked in well so sorry about that one. There was a document on tele on the amount of counterfeiting going on in China recently. This looks to be just one of the many cases. But counterfeiting in China is rampant by the sounds of things. This is just one example. What may really interest you is that counterfeiting in China is so bad that counterfeit medicine is now coming out of China. This includes insulin. So not only are many companies in China counterfeiting, they also killing people at the same time. Literally.
Howzit deanbo, I used JPS cloth for years and loved working with it. One time I asked for a short roll of JPS 4oz warp glass and F.H. sent me a roll that had over 270 yards on it which was the opposite of what I ordered. Normally the rolls had about 175 yds and F.H. was nice enough to give me a break on the price. Later I found out that Those larger rolls were actually made in Korea but I didn’t notice any difference in the quality.Aloha,Kokua
I don’t think so, the tighter you get the cloth to the foam, the less resin to break down under the foam.
Resin rich boards show visible damage sooner and more noticibly, it is the glue to attach the cloth, not the ingredient that is where your looking for all the strength.
Pull 'em as dry as possible, mash the cloth against the underlayment, get the fiber bonding to the work, fill the weave from the top side