Here is a picture of a plug with gel coat on it.  What would be your recomendations for infusing this. Keep in mind once this is a mold it will be basically a U-shaped mold. The kick out you can see in the picture is not on the other side. the other side is smooth.  The lowered sections in front and back (left to right) are flange area. The part area is 32" (813mm)long. The max height is 16"(406mm) and the max width is 16"(406mm).

 I really only see two options....

1. Infuse from the side and let the resin go out along the flange in the spiral then go down one side of the U and back up the other side of the U....

2. Infuse from the end and have the resin as it enters have to climb up the walls of the U in the spiral then across the part.....

Any sugestions would be greatly appreciated. Please be specific as to where I should run the spiral.

Thanks,   Dennis

Hi Dennis,

2 part mould

Hi Dennis,

Personally I think you should be able to infuse it all in one hit. Gravity doesn't make a huge difference and I'm confident that the resin would be able to climb up the other side of the tunnel if you ran the spiral down one (long) side and then had the vac on the opposite side. If you make a split mould you'll have a flash-line to contend with and split moulds for infusion can be complicated (the seams will leak so you can either seal them shut, gelcoat the mould or envelope bag the whole assembly (like Andy did on his Noble). If you don't need a split for mould release reasons then I wouldn't include one.

We made a carbon fibre tunnel for our kit-car earlier in the year which was a similar (although simpler) shape and it infused fine.

It might be worth using some T-Pieces and having a few vacuum take-off points on the other side because it could be difficult to predict where the resin will get to last. If you hade a vac line on the opposite side at either end and one in the middle then you could clamp off any vac lines that the resin reached early to save drawing through a lot of resin whilst you wait for the resin to reach the last corners of the part.

I hope this helps, Matt

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Thanks for the replies.... I definetly do not want a split line in the part if I can help it. Especially since where it would need to be is the most visible point of the tunnel. I will do as Matt sugested which is more or less what I was thinking.

IF for some reason it doesn't work my plan is to infuse past half way from each side them do a few inch strip on the top then bond the strip to one half trim everything and use Dzus fasteners to put the two halfs together.

Getting closer to doing my first infusion and I am both excited and nervous at the same time.  I was a neverous reck the other day after I made my first molds wondering if any of the plugs were going to to release and if the surface would look ok. Everything so far is good.

Thanks, Dennis

Hi, the reason I suggest doing the part in two halves was because this would appear to be your first go at Infusion.

I haven't understand if you are going to do a mold made with resin infusion, or then the piece with resin infusion...Sorry but I don't speak well english

Thanks wozza for the sugestions...You are correct this is my first attempt at infusion. I do understand what you are sugesting but I really do not want a seam on what would be the top of the part. If I need to have one I would rather have it be a two piece tunnel So the seam is a feature and the tunnle is two pieces. Also It would be difficult to do as you sugested since it allready has Gel coat and one layer of glass on it. Unless I am missing something? 

I'm hoping the fact that I am only planning 3 layerers of the following  L1,  5.7oz CF (161.5g), L2  4oz (113g) glass cloth,   L3  5.7oz (161.5g) CF  will make laying the materials easier. I am hoping I will be able to lay the fabrics in the deepest part hold it there then go up over the flange and tape it there, Also I will be able to tape it in the front and back with any luck that will hold it in place and allow it to have enough slack to be sucked to the contours. Probably would be best to use some spray tack but I don't have any of the stuff from easy composites and don't think I want to chance the 3m 77 spray tack. I have read it leaves some surface imperfections. Or do you think it will be necessary?  I am really hoping when this infusion comes out it is finished. I don't want to chance having any blemishes / imperfections from spray tack. I am not planning on any clear coating or anything after.  This part does not need to be absolutely flawless it just needs to be relatively good looking, light weight, and do what it is meant to do, which is cover what needs to be covered. Nothing I need to make will be structural. These parts are for me only at this point. I may make a few parts just to have a spare but not planning on making more than 2 or three.

GABBER......I am not planning on infusion the mold. Just the finished CF part.  I did think of infusing from the middle and having vaccum around the perimeter but I do not want any blemishes from the infusion point.I have another part I may do that with. I will post a picture of that mold when I pull the plug out this weekend. Here is a picture of the back side of the mold.

Thanks,   Dennis

Hi Dennis,

cool idea!!

I presume the car this is going in is spaceframed or has adequate structural support to cut out the tunnel and replace with carbon??

Great weight saving over steel.