When infusion goes bad!


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FLD
FLD
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After many years vac-bagging and avoiding infusion I was tempted to try it after some gentle persuasion.  Freakin' awesome!  Not hard and great results.  Yay!

However, I recently made a booboo.  Infusing a 1.2m x 0.2m part; 4x200g with 6x200g in places; peel ply, mesh, bag.  I opened the inlet clamp and it seemed to stick.  A little jiggle and the resin shot through, not all the way but a good chunk was done in about 20 sec.  Bugger!  Let it flow at a more sensible rate to finish up.  I let a little more flow in on completion but as expected its pinhole-tastic on the fast bit.  Is there any contingency for things like this, ie should I have let more resin flow through or is it a once the damage is done thats it?

If there's a fix it would be good to have a list of problems and solutions.
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Hanaldo
Hanaldo
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I don't think there is any part of the composites world that doesn't have an element of feel. I'm sure I'm going to go through it all again when I start producing pre-preg parts more critically. 

Are you using the clamps with the wingnut? I do find they stick a bit, because as you tighten them they torque up and twist. So what you should do is crack off the nut, and then actually pull the screw away from the body of the clamp to release it. Otherwise you can screw the nut all the way off and the screw itself will still be tight and clamping the hose. Are you letting the resin up to the clamp and then clamping it again for 30 seconds before infusing, to get rid of the air in the hose? 

As for your solution, there are a number of ways you can do it. If slowing the infusion works for you then by all means, go for it. If the clamp is making things a bit tricky, try having 2 clamps on the inlet hose with one done up tightly and the one closest to the mould partially undone. This way when you undo the clamp, if the resin shoots through before you can catch it then the second clamp is still there to slow it down. 

Otherwise, I prefer to control the resin flow with my layup schedule. Thicker areas should be tapered and as Warren mentioned, having a second piece of mesh in those areas can help. Let through a bit more resin if you must, but it shouldn't be necessary. 
GO

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