By JustJDee - 2/21/2015 11:47:15 AM
Hey guys,
As mentioned in the new members thread, we finally got around to attempting our first vac infusion.
To be honest, our first attempt yielded much better results than expected!
2 layers of 200gsm 2x2 twill were used for these:
 
However, we noticed that on the surface, there were fibres that were exposed still, as in not fully covered in resin. It was only small sections. We assumed it was something like resin starvation due to the rate of infusion being too quick, as since it was a small item, once the resin began to flow, it had already infused the whole mould within a minute or so!! (At this time we did not think of trying to control the flow rate). After clear coating them however, they came out a treat 
Our second attempt:
 
Okay knowing that the flow rate was waaay too quick and after reading up some info on here, we decided to slow down the flow rate with this attempt... However as we are noobs, the flow rate was not consistent, as in, it started off too fast, then we slowed it down, but thought it was tooo slow, so sped it up, and so on. Hence, what you see on the photo on the left is numerous air bubbles in the vacuum bag. On the right is also numerous voids.
Also, we just noticed on our first attempt, there is a little section of tiny air bubbles as per the photo below, not sure if this is from spraying the clear coat though.
So anyways, we would just like to find out exactly what we are doing wrong and the causes for the problems mentioned above. Is it down to controlling the flow rate of the resin to a medium speed, but also having a consistent rate during the entire process? The epoxy resin was left to de-gas so there were no air bubbles to begin with.
Any advice to improve is greatly appreciated
JD
PS. I know our mould is pretty crappy, but hey, it did the job! (Kinda)
|
|