How would you mold this...?

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How would you mold this...?

Author	Message
BlackNDecker	BlackNDecker posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 92, Visits: 251	Things are progressing right along. I spent the last week sanding and waxing the mold. On a whim, I set up a vacuum infusion "just to see" if it would work. I used 3 layers of 200 g 2x2 twill. I want it to flex a little to help pull it from the mold.
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Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	That's an expensive through-bag connector to destroy with infusion... Get yourself some silicone or nylon ones How did the infusion go? Looks like you're not using any flow media?
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BlackNDecker	BlackNDecker posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 92, Visits: 251	Yeah, I will get some silicone connectors...I just had some of these lying around. I'm using flow media from Easycomposites...it's white and turns clear when saturated. The infusion is finished...but now I can't get the vacuum materials off the part. This a tedious process of slowly tearing away tiny pieces of packing tape to try and find edges of the peel-ply.
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kidpaint	kidpaint posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 99, Visits: 676	looks good so far cant wait to see it pulled
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BlackNDecker	BlackNDecker posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 92, Visits: 251	Sorry...forgot to update this thread. The first part had some bridging but it was just a test run so I could see where the problem areas would be:
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BlackNDecker	BlackNDecker posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 92, Visits: 251	Finished up the other half of the plenum. Very happy with how it turned out...I'm refining the technique and its coming out better and better. I spent alot if time making sure there was no bridging at the lower flange. It's gonna take a lot of trimming but this is how it's gonna look:
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kidpaint	kidpaint posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 99, Visits: 676	Looks good. cant wait to see it finished!
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BlackNDecker	BlackNDecker posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 92, Visits: 251	So I changed up the technique to try and eliminate the labor intensive process of vacuum infusing two halves and then trimming and bonding the two halves. I decided to give easy composites pre-preg a try. Got everything laid into the mold and closed it up: Then stuck it in a bag and vacuumed the stack. I put it in the oven and that is where the problems began. The bag burned through twice and lost vacuum. The second time I just said "f*** it" and proceeded. I successfully popped the part out of the mold, but my tooling gel coat mold is history...it cracked in multiple places when I popped the part out. Fortunately the part is "ok"...not fabulous but perfectly useable. I will clean it up and post some pics soon.
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BlackNDecker	BlackNDecker posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 92, Visits: 251	So the pre-preg was a semi-success. I was able to mold the manifold 1-piece with minimal trimming required. Unfortunately, the mold broke when I split it. So there will only be 2 of these manifolds made...this one and the previously posted vacuum infused cf manifold. Here is the pre-preg manifold with a surface scuffing. I will gelcoat it to bring out the weave. The weight difference and strength is negligible between vacuum infusing and pre-preg. I prefer working with vacuum infusion because the surface comes out finished. Edited 11 Years Ago by BlackNDecker
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ajb100	ajb100 posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 346, Visits: 4.4K	Did you run the vac bag through the middle of the mould so the bag was pushing against the carbon? It looks like you've just envelope bagged it? That would explain the poor surface Finish. When using pre preg, you should be able to get the same results as infusion for surface finish
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