I am pre-planning my infusion project and I am on the fence as to how to lay out my spiral tube for both the resin and vacuum lines. There is a lot going on with this mold so I want to be sure that the part wets out properly. I have made a few diagrams to share my thoughts and see if anyone else has an opinion.

Legend:

Green Line = Resin Spiral
Blue Line = Vacuum Spiral
Red Dot / Green Line = Resin Feed
Red Dot / Blue Line = Vacuum Feed

Plan A: Pull from one side to the other

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Plan B: Pull vacuum from the center line of the part and run the resin along the perimeter

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Does anyone have a take on which would work best or is there a better way about it?

-Jeff

I always prefer to infuse from the center and draw a vacuum around...that way you have a strong/even vacuum all around your part.

This is the perfect application for the MTI hose. Just lay some around the perimeter and have a single resin inlet in the center, there is no need for resin spiral, just a silicone connector. Control infusion speed for superior wet out. resin feed cup placed 1 meter below the mould to get excellent resin-fiber ratios.

I'd probably do something like B but without the vac line on the left and maybe finish the top and bottom hoses a little short too. I'd stop the infusion mesh a couple of inches short of the vac line to slow down the infusion to allow the rest of the part and the surface resin to catch up.

Do a test infusion with the layup you are intending on a glass plate to see how quick it will infuse, this will give you good data to calculate the position of the inlet/outlet and hoses

There are a few sharp angles in that area and may cause flow lines for the resin so you'd have to be uber careful to ensure no bridging

Chris

Hi Chris ! Just one question. (I have no experience with infusión, just thinking to start after many years vacuuming)




If you end the mesh before reaching the vac line..... how is the vacuum conducted ? Any peel pply joining mesh to vac line? If vac bag is in direct contact to mould, will not be any porous material to "breath" or drive the vacuum...




Thanks in advance !

Great input everyone! I really do appreciate it. It looks like it is plan B, with no spiral on the vacuum line and a meter of distance from the resin coupling to the pot. And I am VERY interested in the MTI hose. Does anyone know if it slows down the resin at all? Longer pot life needed for the resin?

If anyone has any other insight PLEASE do share

Bit of a rubbish image but shows what I mean. The hose you can see is the vac line. The peel ply extends to cover the entire piece but the infusion mesh stops a couple of inches before the vac line. The peel ply and material provide the vacuum path but the extra resistance provided slows the resin down when it gets there to allow the full infusion to take place before the resin gets to the vac line.




When you infuse you use a specialist infusion resin with a very low viscosity and the resins I've used have a pot life of at least 45min at room temp (some up to 3hrs). As I mentioned previously it's best to do a trial first as you won't know how much to slow the resin down at the end or know how far the resin will infuse for your layup as the rate will naturally slow down the further from the infusion point it gets

OK, understood. Tjhanks !

Hey Turbo, as I was saying, I like to slow my resin inlet (by slowly opening the resin clamp on the feed line and bleeding it in), to ensure that everything is wet out. You place the mti hose around the perimeter of the mould (I would go all around the mould on this one) probably need 2-3 meters of hose. The resin has plenty of time to reach alllll corners of the mould and wet out everything before it gels, depending on what resin you are using. My pot life is by far long enough to degass the resin thoroughly and infuse slowly.

The MTI is designed as such, that resin will reach everywhere it is placed no matter what, no need for a catch-pot either. Once you have done it several times, it becomes easier to gauge the amount of resin u need. The catch pot is placed at a 1 meter below mould elevation, which results in a very high fiber to resin ratio.

I just bought 30ft of MTI hose after taking a closer look. This hose looks to be the best thing to happen to Resin Infusion since the vacuum pump! I am very excited to give it a go. I'll error on the side of mixing enough resin to cover a normal infusion project and dial it back from there. Also, my resin is rated for a 45min pot life and 350cps. I expect that that will be more than enough time to mix, de-gas and infuse resin that is that thin.