I'm making some fairly large panels for a motorcycle project for the full fairing, seat etc and so far have had pleasing results. I'm using three layers of 1x200 and 2x 450 carbon twill and resin infusion.
The moulds are multi part moulds made using the unimould system. Before laying up the carbon and bagging it I have applied four coats of easylease with 15-20 minutes between each and then a final fifth layer that is left for at least an hour before infusion.
I've watched Matt on all of the easycomposites videos demoulding parts and it looks effortless. Firstly when I'm removing the peel ply, it's really hard to do. Matt tears his in strips and it comes right off whereas I have to use all my strength to get it of free the carbon part and I'm no weakling! Then, where Matt's parts virtually pop out of the mould, mine need dozens of polypropylene wedges knocking into cracks to get it to come out. This Is largely, bar a few details, a flat panel and it takes me about 2 hours to free it.
On two of the five things I've made, part of the mould has come off with the part meaning major repairs if I wants to use the mould again.
I believe I've followed the instructions for easy lease to the letter but demoulding is a nightmare. What am I doing wrong or does Matt in the video just have superhuman finger strength?! Any suggestions appreciated as I'm about to move on to the complicated nose cone and want to get that out more easily. Thanks.

Something is going wrong somewhere because parts normally come out of EasyLease'd moulds very easily. Are you sure you have left the parts to cure long enough?  When too green, parts can grip the mould a lot more than normal.  Also how long have you had the EasyLease? What resin system is the mould made from and what resin are you infusing with?


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Hi Warren, that's what I thought so it must be something I'm doing huh? The moulds are made with the Uni mould tooling system so tooling gelcoat, coupling coat and then four coats of tooling resin and glass. The easy lease I reckon is just over a year old now but I keep it sealed in a cool place so I'd hope it is ok? The difference from the videos I have is that I use the easyflow infusion mesh so maybe that makes the peel ply layer thicker and harder to get off but obviously no impact on removing the actual part from the mould. I use IN2 infusion resin mixed 100:30 with a 50:50 fast and slow hardener. From the point of completing infusion I wait a full 24 hours and then de-bag and remove from the mould. I assumed 24 hours was enough time? Anything in there that sound wrong from your perspective or could it just be old easy lease? Thanks ;-)

24 hours is the minimum time before demould, and it is only enough time if the ambient temperature never drops below 25 degrees. If it gets cooler than 25 in those 24 hours, then it is best to wait 36 or 48 hours before demoulding. To be honest, I prefer to leave ambient cured parts in the bag for a week to reduce the level of fibre print through that occurs. Or do an elevated temperature cure.

As for peel ply removal, that is actually always a difficult task. It depends a lot on the geometry of your components, the consumables on a complex part will be significantly harder to remove than on just a flat sheet. Also if you have pleats or overlaps in the infusion mesh where it becomes multiple layers thick, this can be even more difficult to remove. My advice is to use plastic release film between the peel ply and the infusion mesh (EC's bread wrap is great for this). Then you can generally remove the flow mesh quite easily, which in turn makes it much easier to remove the peel ply. Again, complex geometry makes this more difficult, but it does help. 

24 hours at room temperature is definitely far before the point of easiest release. But it should not be so difficult, that the tooling coat comes off. If this is not caused by geometrical issues, the easylease might be too old.
The peel ply comes off far more easy, if the resin is cured to a higher level. 48h at room temperature, even longer at usual workshop temperatures.

Thanks guys, sounds like I might be too keen to get the part out of the mould, always the most exciting bit if the job, I don't like waiting! I cure the parts in a very warm basement room where the temperature is around 21 degrees so it does sound like I need to leave them for much longer than I have been doing. I have a fresh can of easy lease so next part I do I need a month or so I will use that plus leave it for 72 hours or so and see what the difference is. I'll report back! Thanks everyone.👍

The maximum shelf life for EasyLease in a sealed bottle is 12 months.  It does tail off in performance quite quickly and being hydroscopic does absorb moisture.  So every time you open it, you can degrade it a bit more so if it is over a year old and has been opened a few times, I wouldn't be surprised that it has degraded.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Thanks Warren, makes sense. I'll try the nice new tin next time so that coupled with the longer cure time might resolve the problems I've been having....will update! 😉👍

Hi!
U need to use sealer before adding the release agent. I recommend Chemtrend Chemlease® 15 sealer EZ. Google it and u will find instructions. If your mould is even a little bit porous, this stuff will help u a lot. We always use this sealer before adding any releasing agents. U need to do it just at the first time when u take mould in use. no need to add it later on, unless u sand the moulds.