General Fibre Glass Mouldings
As one of the UK’s leading glass fibre moulding manufacturers, you can trust in our attention to detail, dedication and exceptional standards within each and every project we work on.
What We Offer
General FIBRE gLASS mOULDINGS
Explore our varied portfolio of general moulding projects and get a feel for the quality and huge range of our work.
Examples of General Mouldings include:
- Any bespoke mouldings
- Kiosks
- Under water Anode shields
- Bollards
- Planters
- Life Raft Holders
- MOD Seats for ships
- F1 Garage tool boxes
- Medical Boxes
- Overlaying Polystyrene props
- Containers for Water treatment plants
- Security Camera covers
- Remote controlled boats for Environmental agencies
- Theme Park restoration services – Flumes, rock restoration etc
- Leisure Centre slides
- 6m Aircraft refuelling nose cone transportation containers
What is Fiberglass Molding?
Fibreglass GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) or FRP (Fibre Reinforced Plastic)? All refer to the same thing: a mat or cloth of glass fibres embedded in a plastic resin.
What we call it isn’t that important, but how we make it is, traditionally, fibreglass products are made by coating an open mould with a gel coat. Layers of glass fibres are then built up with plastic resin being manually applied. The result is then left to cure so the resin can harden before the mould can be reused. It’s messy, emits lots of fumes and requires a lot of labour.
Moulds fall into two groups – male and female. Glassfibre is laminated on the outside of a male mould and on the inside of a female mould. The desired finish whether it be smooth or textured will be on the side nearest to the mould so a female mould would be used to produce car body parts, boat hulls etc where the finish has to be on the outside of the mould. A male mould would be used on such things as baths, shower trays etc where the finish has to be on the inside of the mould.
Workshop conditions are important when mould making as temperatures need to be managed between the ranges of 18º– 22ºC, moulds are to be kept out of direct sunlight and any heat from the workshop should be directed away from the work area as even something as subtle as a draft, hot or cold should be avoided at this stage.
The Plug / Master Mould:
To create a mould first we start with a pattern or sometimes called a ‘plug’ which is an exact replica of the finished item. The plug can even be an existing item such as a car panel or canoe etc but infringing copyrights should be taken into account and avoided. Most times though the pattern must be made from scratch. The pattern can actually be created from almost any material as long as it is made from a rigid, accurate and dimensionally stable material set on a solid foundation.
It is also necessary to have a slight taper on the side walls of the pattern so the mould can be removed easily. Usually, a larger mould would need to have a rigid wooden frame covered in hardboard, plywood or MDF, plaster and clay can also be used as long as it is reinforced with wire netting and hessian as toolmakers tend to manufacture from wood.
The surface must be free of any blemishes and smooth. The wood is then sealed with a hard varnish. This mould can then be used to create many exact replicas as needed for the required industry which is why fibreglass moulds are such a popular choice for companies around the world, Fibre Glass Moulds are constantly extensively researched for new and innovative ideas and uses so the industry is ever-evolving and creating more and more uses for this material.
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