Has anyone used Texalium glass?
G’day Yorky,
There was a thread on this a while back, and the consensus, from memory was " not worth the effort or cost".
Or maybe I just imagined it.
I’ll see if I can find it.
Regards
Daren
Edit:
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=180450;search_string=texalium;#180450
or just type it into search, heaps of stuff in the archives
Hey Yorky,
Texalium is not any stronger than regular glass, it just is more decorative. It has a very thin film of aluminum sputtered/evaporated onto it, and to get the different colors, that aluminum is anodized, like aftermarket hose fittings for cars. Great for ‘carbon fiber’ look parts that do not need the strength of carbon…I’ve seen it available in natural aluminum, red, blue, gold, and black. Fiberglass Hawaii says it is harder to wet out than normal glass, my guess is it has a tighter weave…
I still haven’t pulled the trigger and bought some, but I bet some would look good around the rails of a board…
JSS
Yorky,
Texalium is extremely stiff, when laid out on a board the laps don’t even sag!
The glass has to be creased to get it to bend, this causes bruising of the colour and discolouration on the crease line, excessive working causes bruising, you cannot see thru the glass and look for bubbles, you need to be an expert glasser and have to listen for the air. The glass does not like sharp edges or concaves or Vee bottoms and the laps will not stay down even if taped.
The above problems are for air laminating.
Using vacuum holds the laps in place after they have been taped down and this gives a better result.
I used it for a couple of years for the bottom of twin-tip kiteboards and tried a couple of surfboards.
Good luck
Boardbumps
they also seem to come in different weights
I bought the blue texalium and the silver texalium from Fiberglass Hawaii after getting inspired from Drew’s post.
Gigi said she wouldn’t reccommend it for hand laminations but folks were using it for vacuum bagging auto parts.
The blue was alot more stiffer than the silver and even bagging it it didn’t go so well.
the silver was flexible enough to hand lam but it was stiffer than regular 6oz glass.
the silver on the deck will hurt your eyes in the sun and the blue will heat up something awful
Don’t know if I’d do it again over using just wood
unless I want to make some fake foam core H2s
Machine cut license paid Clark PU epoxied with blue and silver texalium…
Thanks. I,m getting some red and silver 4 oz in a week, so i’ll send you some photos
Awesome site, so stoked to find it.