I'm making a very specifc mud guard for a bike, the piece is very small, I keep following the instrutions from your videos but small air bobbles keep appearing.

The mud guard: about 10cmX6cm



If you can give soma assistance!

Hi Kylle,

that has a fairly tight curve for wet-lay totally possible but tricky, a bristle roller is often a great way to get rid of small air bubbles, however, your part is a bit too small to get one in! For something that size you might want to consider making a matched tool, which is easier than you would think here's an outline of the proccess:

Making the matched tool:
Apply a 1mm sheet wax over your current mould (this sets the thickness for the part)
Make a second, 'male', mould off the wax using your normal mould making method (gel-coat, resin reinforcement etc)
Separate this male mould from the orginal mould and sheet wax
Clean the sheet wax from the mould surface and apply your chosen release agent - You now have a set of matched tools!

Making The Component:
Layup the part with 4 layers of 200g cloth in exactly the same way that you already have been doing into the female tool but apply slightly more resin.
After the layup, Place the new male tool onto the layup and clamp the 2 moulds together firmly with G-clamps, any excess resin and entrapped air will be squeezed from between the moulds.
Release the component by separating the 2 moulds, you should be left with a flawless surface on both sides of your part.

This method is a very reliable and quick way to make smaller parts like this, it's great for batch production of parts and is really cheap to tool for.

If you have any more questions I'd be happy to help.

Paul Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical

I would like to make matched tools for a part i have had trouble infusing, how do you get the wax sheet to conform to the contours and corners of the mould  and still retain a uniform thickness? can you infuse with matched moulds or is it better to wet lay then vacuum bag the whole thing?

the male mould doesn't requiry mould putty? or it's like a normal piece? (the male looks like a  normal putty mould or a normal piece?
 In this process how do I apply the G clamps on the sides?

here's a picture of my mould If that help's...

i would like to see you guys do a how to video on making a matched tool. think most of us here would like to see that.

yup ,it will be great

best regards mhd alghoul mhdghoul@hotmail.com youtube channel :atmospherejo link is http://www.youtube.com/user/atmospherejo?ob=0&feature=results_main