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Matt (Staff) - 7/19/2018 8:44:55 AM

Steve's material suggestion looks spot on. I would probably also suggest that - given the relative complexity of the mould - you use a combination of our EMP160 paste, along with conventional laminating resin and glass for the reinforcement. What you can do is use the paste on the inside of all the corners of the mould, filling in the detail and creating a much smoother profile. You can then use the resin and glass (woven glass could be used at this stage) to lay over the paste and add the main strength to the mould. This is a combination that we'll be featuring in an upcoming tutorial where we undertake a very complex mould using a hand layup from (a Kawasaki motorcycle front fairing). The paste and resin can all be used 'wet-on-wet'.

For a hand-layup process suitable for making prepreg parts, here's the full shopping list:

Setting up your barriers (for the split):
Polypropylene Plastic Sheet
Filleting Wax

Preparing the pattern (release agent):
Easy-Lease Chemical Release Agent
#8 Mould Release Wax

Laminating the mould:
EG160 High Temperature Epoxy Tooling Gelcoat
EMP160 Epoxy Moulding Paste
EL160 High Temperature Tooling Resin
Choice of: 300gsm Powder Bound Chopped Strand Mat or/ 280gsm Woven Glass Cloth

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Dinoman - 7/19/2018 12:43:22 PM

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Matt (Staff) - 7/19/2018 8:44:55 AM

Steve's material suggestion looks spot on. I would probably also suggest that - given the relative complexity of the mould - you use a combination of our EMP160 paste, along with conventional laminating resin and glass for the reinforcement. What you can do is use the paste on the inside of all the corners of the mould, filling in the detail and creating a much smoother profile. You can then use the resin and glass (woven glass could be used at this stage) to lay over the paste and add the main strength to the mould. This is a combination that we'll be featuring in an upcoming tutorial where we undertake a very complex mould using a hand layup from (a Kawasaki motorcycle front fairing). The paste and resin can all be used 'wet-on-wet'.

For a hand-layup process suitable for making prepreg parts, here's the full shopping list:

Setting up your barriers (for the split):
Polypropylene Plastic Sheet
Filleting Wax

Preparing the pattern (release agent):
Easy-Lease Chemical Release Agent
#8 Mould Release Wax

Laminating the mould:
EG160 High Temperature Epoxy Tooling Gelcoat
EMP160 Epoxy Moulding Paste
EL160 High Temperature Tooling Resin
Choice of: 300gsm Powder Bound Chopped Strand Mat or/ 280gsm Woven Glass Cloth

Hi Matt, Thanks again,as you can imagine I have quite a bit of Chopped mat Strand which I have used for my Fibreglassin so can I still use this with your HT Gel and Resin, also my MEKcat is that compatible, as I do not want to mix the wrong one and ruin my Mould etc, what is the polypropylene sheet for ( or is that the corrugated sign board ?) so again Thanks for all the help, Regards DM

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Dinoman - 7/19/2018 12:43:22 PM

Hi Matt, Thanks again,as you can imagine I have quite a bit of Chopped mat Strand which I have used for my Fibreglassin so can I still use this with your HT Gel and Resin, also my MEKcat is that compatible, as I do not want to mix the wrong one and ruin my Mould etc, what is the polypropylene sheet for ( or is that the corrugated sign board ?) so again Thanks for all the help, Regards DM

  Hi Matt, another observation ??? looking at your Video Making the Bonnet Mould for the 27th time I suddenly realised you did not Vacuum Bag it and especially on the first layer over the Gel Coat which is the most important coat to make sure there was no air bubbles or voids under the gel, as I could understand no reason to VB any further layers, as the Mould is the most important piece to get spot on as hopefully you will be using for lots and lots of Mouldings ?? Regards DM

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Warren (Staff) - 7/19/2018 2:59:31 PM

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Dinoman - 7/19/2018 12:43:22 PM

Hi Matt, Thanks again,as you can imagine I have quite a bit of Chopped mat Strand which I have used for my Fibreglassin so can I still use this with your HT Gel and Resin, also my MEKcat is that compatible, as I do not want to mix the wrong one and ruin my Mould etc, what is the polypropylene sheet for ( or is that the corrugated sign board ?) so again Thanks for all the help, Regards DM

  Hi Matt, another observation ??? looking at your Video Making the Bonnet Mould for the 27th time I suddenly realised you did not Vacuum Bag it and especially on the first layer over the Gel Coat which is the most important coat to make sure there was no air bubbles or voids under the gel, as I could understand no reason to VB any further layers, as the Mould is the most important piece to get spot on as hopefully you will be using for lots and lots of Mouldings ?? Regards DM

Which kind of chopped strand matting do you have? Typically there is emulsion bound and powder bound.  Epoxy lacks the solvents required to break down the emulsion binder, so we recommend the use of powder bound CSM as any resin will break the binder much easier.   You will NOT need MEKP for our EL160 and EG160 as both are epoxy based and have their own specialist hardeners that need to be used.

The polypropylene  sheet is for use as a baseboard and to create flanges.  Fluted signboard can be used to do the same thing  albeit the surface finish is slightly ribbed compared to the perfectly smooth finish of pure polypropylene sheet..

Generally speaking, vacuum bagging is not needed for mould making.  Wet lay mould making like  suggested for your project is done without any vacuum bagging.   As long as you pay careful attention to applying the gelcoat properly and the first layer of putty and glass, then you should not have any voids to worry about. 

You may be thinking of  tooling pre-pregs, where depending  on the system used and mould  size, thickness etc, vacuum debulking may be necessary.