Hello guys,

           Greetings from Costa Rica! For the past few months I have been working on the design and fabrication of an automotive alignment tool. After analyzing countless ways of making it out of aluminum I have now concluded that the weight, strength and design advantages from making it out of CF are worth the switch. I have been reading your prepreg guides and watched the complex parts video and it looks like a real possibility to make something very nice at a very similar cost so I'm very excited.

        My question is the following. Given the vacuum pump included in the starter kit, would it be possible to divide the vacuum line into 4 leads for separate parts or is it necessary to have a more powerful one? The parts are 500 mm x 150 mm x 30mm (hollow) so it looks like 4 can fit into an Oven I've looked at but not sure about the vacuum pressure requirements.

        Also, how scalable is the process described in your prepreg starter kit? Would it be a problem if vacuum bagged parts are stored in the freezer (or anywhere appropriate) while a 20 unit batches are prepared to cure them all at the same time?


Thanks,
JC

 

One pump would be sufficient depending on size of the parts. One pump would be able to pull a full vacuum, but it will take longer than a higher volume pump

As long as your bags are pretty leak free then you will be fine. We put multiple parts in the oven connected to one pump on a regular basis.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Ok thanks that's good news then


How much time does one have after laying up the prepreg in the mould to put it in the oven? Can it go back in the freezer/cool area to extend this time?