By atlantis - 2/22/2019 11:58:36 AM
Tooling boards are - unfortunately - very expensive for a hobbyist like me, especially if thicker and larger pieces are required. Therefore I wonder if there are alternative materials that have been used by other forum members instead of proper tooling boards to keep the cost low.
The obvious possibility is MDF but I'm not sure if there's a way to get the surface good enough. Does anyone have any suggestions?
My plan is to cnc mill the mould directly without making a plug first, but I could change plans for specific reasons.
Kind regards
Martin
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By quinn - 2/25/2019 4:54:01 PM
I'm having good results with gluing up mdf, machine the plug, seal with polyester resin (so duratec doesnt soak right in), sand, shoot with duratec surface primer, sand/polish. Only downside is curing the mold. This part im still currently trying to perfect. Post curing can't be done on the plug because of the max temp duratec can handle. My first try at this I ended up with dimples in mold after post cure, most likely because I had air bubbles between surface coat and laminate. Working on second try now. About to do final post cure. This time I decided to do a 50c post cure before pulling the mold but even that was a bad idea. Duratec took it fine, but the mdf expands with heat so you can see faint lines on the mold where layers of mdf were glued together. So really, no post cure allowed at all on the mdf/duratec plug. This time when laying up the mold on the plug, I vacuum bagged it after wet lay to remove all air. Really hoping the post cure goes well this time. I'll report back when it's done. Buy anyway, for molds that don't need post cure, the mdf/duratec plug is excellent. Soon to find out if it's viable for prepreg molds that are cured off the plug
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