If you have a few days its worth watching the EC video that Paul made showing the infusion process, will help with the questions you asked about vacuum times.

Id say as a beginner you will have better results if you clamp the vacuum pipe off first and then after letting extra resin in clamp the inlet pipe, give it 20seconds or so and if you have any bridging this will help.

I have a feeling I'm going to be moving this onto the resin infusion topic area!! Ha ha

Seriously though, I think I'm going to try a couple of "dry" runs with a single piece of CF and an infusion stack, just to see what happens, but I need to wait on my diy silicone infusion connectors curing, and that looks like a few days of waiting! I know they are cheap, but if I can make 'em, I'll be well chuffed !!

Infusion should work the best. I can see wet lay and pre-preg being difficult on this shape, those mounts are problematic. You will just want to really make sure that there is no bridging in there, that will be the most challenging part. 

Yes, it is a Honda spark plug cover. I did think it would be hard to copy, so I've set my sights a bit high, I guess? Got a few ideas on how I will do the mountings, but need to perfect the infusion process first!

I'm totally knew to composites, and it's been a steep learning curve, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I just wasn't sure on a few things with the infusion side of things, the pump timing being one of them, but thanks to you guys I feel a bit more confident now! Whether that confidence crosses over to practical side of things, is a totally different matter!!!




cheers 🍻 

You say that you want to infuse the part, right?

so you wont be running the pump for long.

Pump will only be used for removing the air and then keeping negative pressure as you infuse, once infusion is complete you simply clamp off the pipes.

Hi

It is a B series Honda engine spark plug cover. the shape is really hard to copie. I've done that with prepreg or sprayed gelcoat with normal layup I couldn't archive good results. I don't use infusion so can't tell how about it. 

~~~Everytime I hear sound of demoulding part I have eargasm~~~

That's music to my ears! Thanks for the hints and tips, they are greatly appreciated. The other thing I was thinking of, is the length of time to the initial cure. I thought about putting the vacuum pump on a timer, as I'm not sure about running it for nearly 24hrs. I could have it come on for 15 mins every hour after the first, say 6-8 hrs, or would the pump be good for that length of time?

thanks again 😊

I think you could. I regularly infuse with an epoxy that has a mixed viscosity of 400cps, so not too much lower than the EC high temperature epoxy. It's slower for sure, so I would recommend using spiral and infusing across the shortest distance to ensure a good wet out. Also heat the mould and the resin a bit before infusing, I think it will work nicely for a part that size. 

I'm not sure if this is going to work, trying to get to grips with hosting pics from Photobucket. If it works, here is my efforts so far. I'm going to flatten the flanges down, and smooth out the recesses and thoroughly polish all surfaces.

My next question is.......Im wanting to do resin infusion with this, but I was wanting this part to be resistant to some heat. I don't have the infusion resin as of yet, but I have the EC high temp resin. Owing to it's extended pot life (5-6hrs) would it be possible to use that, as it has a low viscosity, ok maybe not as low as the infusion resin, but would it work?