Well my next mould project is to create a front lip for the 2005-2009 Lotus Elise S2 USA version.


I ordered a fiberglass version to get the shape but I really want to make this part nice. As of now I have a perfect donor part, its just slightly warped. You can kinda see from the pic it does not sit flat, but it should!


Any ideas on how I hold this down flat while I take a mould from it?


I'm using the mould for resin infusion. I really would like to attempt the lacquer coating technique, “like the pagani zonda”
Also, Anything I should do to the mold to prepare for this?

Then I may use the orginal part to try and modify the style a bit.

The ride:












If Brute Force Isn''''t working your not using enough...

To get the part sitting flat a would suggest bonding it with hot-melt glue down to a sturdy setup-board. A great material for the setup board is 'conti-board' this is the white plastic coated chipboard stuff that the unside of your kitchen cupboards will be made from, you should be able to get some easily from your local hardware store or timber merchant. This board should provide a nice flat platform to glue it down to.

If you are looking to make any changes to the donor part its easy enough normally; just tweak the shape using car body filler and fibre glass until you have got it to the shape that you want, then you can either release agent it up and pull your moulds straight from the filler and get the final polish on the mould, or paint the thing in 2-pack paint and polish to a full gloss so your moudl pulls off ready to go.

There's nothing special about the mould or process if you intend on painting it with a clear-coat, the part will just need flatting out with a 400-600 grit paper before shooting the paint to ensure that the clear will bond perfectly.

I look forward to seeing how you get on with this one.

Paul Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical

Ahhh Crap, Epic FAIL...


Well I went ahead and prepared my part, everything was looking good. I Hot glued it down and seemed to be problem solved “nice and flat”.


ONE MINOR DETAIL WHEN GLUING DOWN A PART: DO NOT USE THE GLUE ON THE EDGES OF THE PART, GLUE IT SOMEWHERE THE TOOLING GEL CAN'T TOUCH.


I glued the part down by the edge of the part, the tooling gel reacted with the dry hot glue, after a few hours it got bubbly around the edges where the glue was and let go, making my part spring up....


O i had to sit there and scrape that tooling gel right back off. I had to wet sand the part to get minor scuffs out from scraping the gel off. Needs to be polished back to high gloss and I will try again. At least there’s not much clay work involved in this part...


P.s. should I be primering this board?









If Brute Force Isn''''t working your not using enough...

When i fail I tell myself "Hey Joe, u just learned one way of NOT TO DO your part"

For the board, i would primer/polish it too, i like to have consistent mold looking...but maybe I get picky.

Cheers.

 



 


    A $1000 electronic device will always protect a 10 cents fuse