The water activated fiberglass used for casts on broken bones...????

[DR]

Anybody have experience with the stuff? I first saw it 15 year ago when I had an ankle cast. The cast guy said it wasn't available except to the medical profession.

I think the same stuff is now sold at Home Depot as a leaking pipe repair method.

From looking at a recent arm cast of a relative it feels like it doesn't cure hard like regular fiberglass with activated resin. I wonder about sanding and painting.

[Ed ke6bnl]

Works great, got it as a Christmas present and used for some shovel handles as a test. Fantastic

[old mart]

Probably based on plaster of paris.

[Mike Amick]

link ?

[Ed ke6bnl]

Probably based on plaster of paris.

not at all like plaster of paris. when it hardens it is more like a fiberglass car part. and as hard as fiberglass if not harder.

[754]

About 35 years back they came out with a fibreglass cast.. I think it was called Hexcelite... try looking for that. It cured faster and could survive getting wet..plaster could not.. not easily anyways.

[alanganes]

Works great, got it as a Christmas present and used for some shovel handles as a test. Fantastic

Are you referring to the Home Depot stuff? Sounds like it might be an interesting thing to keep on hand for things and stuff.

[Ed ke6bnl]

Are you referring to the Home Depot stuff? Sounds like it might be an interesting thing to keep on hand for things and stuff.

I just looked it up and this is the stuff I have. fiber fix.
https://www.thegrommet.com/products/...anent%20repair.

[chipmaker4130]

I think you can still get the real thing on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=water+act...f=nb_sb_noss_2

[boslab]

I asked a friend, the answer was a bit shocking if correct, the fibreglass one actually hardens by the ordinary Portland cement with accelerator in in, seems it’s high alumina stuff, concrete leg plasters, but saying that the old ones were plaster of Paris and gypsum, modern technology? Not
mark

[genea]

Read the reviews before buying. Some of these have very short shelf lives and once opened anything not used has to be discarded because it will activate with the moisture in the air. I see a lot of 5 star and 1 star reviews.

[epicfail48]

I mean, I had some 'hands on' experience a few years ago, broken wrist. Pretty neat stuff, nurse just dunked it in water, wrapped it over the gauze and it was hardened up in a few minutes. I do winter what exactly it was made of, the mesh itself I'm guessing was a close cousin to fiberglass, but the resin itself seems like pretty neat stuff. Quick curing without a load of heat buildup, water resistant, rock hard

Granted, can't think of anything I'd use it for in the shop, but still, nifty

[sch]

Air activated fiberglass splint/cast material has been around for several decades. It is sold in plastic/foil covering and is available in
widths from 3 to 6" in rolls or short lengths (ie 15-30"). Once exposed to air they harden in a minute or so so can be wrapped and
molded to shape, best used as a splint rather than cast due to the wrapping needed for cast. The fibreglass is impregnated with
the hardener and it has nothing to do with plaster of paris or portland cement but is something organic likely closer to super glue sold
in small tubes. The rolls of material come
with a nice clamp meant to go on the end of the roll once it is opened and some removed, the cutoff end is pushed back inside the
envelope and the envelope end is clamped shut, generally works ok but clumsy clamping will result in 4-12" of fiberglass hardening
in the envelope. Like super glue water accelerates the hardening but is not required.

Hexcel was in the casting business back in the '80s and peddled a plastic material that was wrapped into place and then the patient
stuck their arm/leg into a cylindrical light with a lot of UV that hardened the plastic. Generally regarded as a PITA and was a high $
cost to the hospitals.

[Baz]

Interesting but does anyone have a home use for this stuff?
I remember messing with PofP and gauze for my model train scenery then some clever entrepreneur packaged the medical version for the hobyists called 'Modrock' I think.
Another stuff my mother once brought back from her job in the hospital was what dentists used for making a mold of teeth to then cast plaster in. It was a plastic bag of bright pink powder the size of a teabag. You dunked the whole bag in a cup of water and the plastic disolved which was pretty exciting for a kid as plastic wasn't supposed to do that. Do they still do that? I think it might work for making wax copies to be used in lost wax casting.
Should have googled it first, Alginate sold for the very purpose. Not fun bright pink though.