Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Giving back to the TC community

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic20597.aspx

By Davidpetty1988 - 2/23/2016 2:58:38 PM

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to start by saying how much I love this forum. The idea of people with mad skills and knowledge in the field of composites dishing out information absolutely free with the genuine inttention of helping people is very commendable, considering how many times I've been told nothing in this life is free.
Thanks to the people who answered my questions even though they probably herd them a million times before(standard newbie questions) yet you people still take the time to answer.
Anyways....what I'm trying to say is I'm asking and recieveing all this help and due to my limited knowlege and experience in composites I can't give anything back(not for a while anyway) so I thought I'd give people my experience of building my small deticated composites workshop.

I started out by building my base out of decking 11ft by 9ft

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Uploads/Images/276baabb-e409-462a-a3ce-688a.jpg
http://www.talkcomposites.com/Uploads/Images/2a692e98-0f7c-440e-9c9d-c0d3.jpg
Then I bought my flat pack metal shed I would suggest buying a lot of silicone sealant and expanding foam to fill all joins and gaps otherwise you will get water inside but don't permantly block the air vents or you will get a problem with condensation and humidity.
http://www.talkcomposites.com/Uploads/Images/f30b2c26-753c-4396-9e2a-9132.jpg
Luckily we had just replaced the flooring in the house so I used that to put down two layers of tounge and groove wood flooring for added insulation
http://www.talkcomposites.com/Uploads/Images/c1d35a80-dcf9-4219-b4b6-299d.jpg
Then I built a stud frame all around the inside using 2×2 CLS untreated(cheapest best option)
http://www.talkcomposites.com/Uploads/Images/7b4bcdf2-125e-43ec-bbe4-ecc7.jpg
Lined it with rock wool insulation (cheapest best option) will absorb excess moisture
http://www.talkcomposites.com/Uploads/Images/726daa0d-563e-4d15-afc8-079c.jpg
By Davidpetty1988 - 2/25/2016 3:49:45 PM

Yeah I got my mate who does house clearance is sourcing me a glass table top of some sort and will be building one like yours for my resin infusions. Also I have an old steel gas cooker which I'm going to sort out going to build a box out of fire board to put inside and rock wool insulation as I'm going to dable with some prepreg. I bought 1800wtt element for £25 and I got a pid temp controller with a thermocouple and a SSR for £11.97!! doesn't do ramp or soak but as I understand the ramp times go up in intervals of between 10-20 degrees every couple of hours so will just control temp manually just to see what its like and if its any good I'll pay 40 or 50 quid for a ramp and soak pid controller.
Today's bonus a hoover for £3 for localised dust extraction! Happy days:-)
Dave