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Hi DUB , there's no scale in the picture , just how big are those pieces ?
All I did what 'Google' for photos of fiberglass lamination rollers...and that is what I got.
Go by how big the handles are...the handles are basically the length of your hand is wide so you can hold onto it. So..the rollers can be as small as 1/4" or 5/16" in diameter and go up from there.
Also you can find rollers that are easily half as wide as what is seen....but you have to search for them.
I finished doing the bonding seams for the second time. I took the resin and hardener inside the house and took it out to the garage after I had the garage at room temperature. It was a good workable consistency compared to the corn syrup consistency I had with the resin and hardener at 40 degrees F.
After I finished rough sanding the fiberglass I started to smooth out the mating surfaces on the 70-73 ACI rear clip. Then the compressor died again. So I don't know when I'll be back at it, but probably not soon.
Hubby had a look at the compressor this evening. He said oil on the motor means the capacitors inside have failed and that was due to the contacts on an internal electrical switch not working properly. He speculates that the contacts are burning out due to all the fiberglass dust in the air. He seems awfully confident he knows what the problem is as he said tomorrow he's going to buy new capacitors and contacts. So perhaps I'll be up and running much sooner than I expected. If that's the case then the only question is is the same thing going to happen again in a couple of months due to the dusty environment. He says he can't really put a filter on the motor because then it would overheat.
Fiberglass dust is very abrasive as you unfortunately found out.
Back in the 70's I found out that, Kevlar / carbon fiber (Carbon (Graphite) Fibers ) dust conducts - don't ask.. almost lost one of my lab tech's.
Back in the day I built a plywood box for the compressor and pumps. I used household filters for a HVAC unit on the door to allow air in and it kept the units somewhat clean.
If you want your shop vacuum to last - Get a 15 to 20 gal drum - with a lid -plastic.
Have the hose from the vacuum go to the top of the drum, stick down no more than 1/2 inch. Put a PVC pipe to 3-4" off the bottom of the drum through the top. Fill it 1/3 to 1/2 full of water. Put the lid back on and seal all the openings. Turn on the vacuum. The particles and dust will go into the water and the vacuum will be pulling cleaner air. It's a pain in the butt - but works well.
So Hubby came home today with some capacitors and contacts and the compressor is up and running again - I sure didn't expect that. I thought the motor and/or pump had burned out. $80 to fix it. Spending that every few months might just be the cost of doing business if we can't come up with a filter solution.
I had my air compressor in the main shop at my old location for ten years due to I had no place outside to put it safely and securely and I never had a compressor problem...so I can not see that the dust is the issue...but I do not know what your set-up looks like either....not that any of this matters.
I was roughing up the surfaces on the 70-73 ACI rear clip where I'll be mating it to the 79 but for some reason I can't get as much roughness in the surface as I'd like to see so I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I started with a 24 grit disc on an air sander and it seemed too smooth after that. I used some 40 grit paper both by inline sander and by hand and that seemed a little better but still not very rough which is confusing because on the bonding seams on the car I used 40 grit on an inline sander on the resin and mat and that is really nice and rough and I can see the sanding scratches in it but I can't see any on my 70-73 ACI rear clip. I also used a 24 grit disc by hand on the 70-73 ACI rear clip but still no visible sanding scratches which once again is strange because I used that on the bonding seams on the car before I put down the resin and mat and that was nice and rough there and I could see good size sand scratches. I'm thinking about getting a wire disk I can put in my drill and trying that.
Keep in mind that just because the grinder with 24 grit on it can go to full throttle and spin like crazy...you can slow down how fast it spins by controlling the sped of the disc and get a more aggressive cut in the fiberglass.
Speed of disc...the amount of pressure you apply to the panel can change how your scratch can be made. I often times hit the trigger and get the disc spinning and take the grinding disc and while disc is spinning....with a stroking motion... will apply the disc onto the surface with some pressure while moving it across the panel and actually stall the disc and make it stop. The do it again and again.
Remember.... the faster your tool spins can heat up your grinding disc and actually make it wear out faster. And I do not care if you are grinding steel, fiberglass or whatever.
Seems odd to me that you are doing that job with power sanders at all. Nothing like the control of hand block sanding without all the billowing clouds of fiberglass dust. That's a couple hour job both sides with block sanders. I only use a DA for sanding off old paint, disc grinder getting rid of other peoples bondo work plus some prepping to V out areas for glass repairs. Otherwise it's all by hand. Inline sanders and DA final finish work is for production collision shops, not quality restoration work in my opinion.
I think amateurs believe they are doing something wrong if it takes a long time to finish body work, hence the unnecessary power tools to cut corners. I know I did.
I might have an idea for your compressor problem that you haven't though of. I have mine in another part of my pole building that is partitioned off from the messy part. Copper/soldered plumbing piped in air from that location. Clean environment for the compressor and no noisy compressor in my work space. In my last house, I had the compressor in my basement and buried copper plumbing pipe to the garage. Again no noise, so nice to not have it running all the time in my ear not to mention I can always hear the radio. I've been doing it this way for 30 plus years.
We'd have to build a partition off the side of the garage and come up with some sort of heating system for the winter. I'm not sure hubby wants to put in the work, but I can ask him.
It would be nice to have it a lot quieter in the garage, the noise is the thing I dislike the most about autobody wor,.
We used hand sanders for roughing and hand sanding with 16 grit paper.
Final roughness of the surface depends an the type of glass and the resin system.
If you ever have to buy a motor for the compressor buy a Totally enclosed motor. (TEC) it is safer in a paint environment as it's close to the explosion proof motors which are super expensive. The TEC motors will not suck in dust as regular motors do.
