I'm setting up a production line for some small to medium size cosmetic parts and I'm having a question as to which manufacturing process to use.

Hand layup (w/ Vacuum Bag) or Vacuum Process Infusion ?
Which of these processes will be faster to produce parts on average of 20 units / day with a low cost and good cosmetic quality?

I've been doing some things through the infusion process, but I see that the setup time of the mold and the whole infusion system ends up holding me too much in one piece.

have you considered press forming and using snap cure prepreg? you can cure parts of in about 10-15minutes. But of course you will need to have a press and heated tooling.

Otherwise you are going to have to get multiple tools to ensure you can make 20parts a day. you can do infusion on multiple parts at the same time by having lines of your resin feed into the seperate tools. Also have you investigated reusable vacuum bags? Have a look over at alan harper composites

The toughest part will be the careful process planning of the factory so that it neatly flows from stage to stage logically with the right equipment and supplies at each workstation as you go along.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

And choosing which process suits your products and people involved, labor, skills, costs quality etc.