Popped my cherry - first mould attempts/failures

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Popped my cherry - first mould attempts/failures

Popped my cherry - first mould attempts/failures

Popped my cherry - first mould attempts/failures

Author	Message
remodovakhin	remodovakhin posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2, Visits: 14	Hi guys! I am a noob and newbie in Fibreglass stuff. I am a fourth year engineering student actually. We are making the body of our car for the Shell Eco Marathon actually. This is also our first time. the plan is to first build a plug and then make a female mould using fibreglass and then applying carbin fibre on the insides on this mould to get the final carbon fibre car body. SO we have bought a few fibreglassing items:- I have purchased pre-accelerated Vinylester Resin Crystic VE679 PA, pre-accelerated Polyester Resin Crystic RTR 4000PA, Crystic GelCoat 12 PA Pine Green, Surface Primer Grey Nord 210 lAQUE, Surface primer Nord 230, methylene Chloride (like acetone) and 450g/m2 CSM glass matt. I also have the catalyst MEPOXE. Now my problem is i am a little confused about these chemicals. I want to build a fibreglass female mould using these chemicals. So firstly we are planning to build a plug using mdf and pour foam. Then the plan is to apply putty or body filler to fill in pores and gaps on the plug surface, this will then be sanded. Then i would apply 'Mould kanstik sealer' to seal porosities. Then next i would apply the gelcoat, followed by ... I am lost then. Can someone here please guide me on how i can use the above chemicals to build my plug to good smoothness and then create my female fibreglass mould. i cannot thank you enough for your help! Also some of my questions are- Do the Vinylester and the Polyester resins mentioned above require a hardener chemical as well to cure or is it just enough to add the catalyst? And how much catalyst am i to add normally? Also what is the difference between the Vinylester resin and the polyester resin? Are these chemicals used together or do i just use one of them to put on the fibreglass? Your answers are highly appreciated! Thanks and Regards Hoping to hear from you PROS soon!
	Reply Like 3
Dravis	Dravis posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 592, Visits: 1.9K	Hi .. Watch as many of the EC tutorials as you have time for... they will tell you a lot.. Take a look at the "car bonnet" vids ... part 1 and 2 deal with "plug" and Mould" making. Also search Youtube for vids showing mould building and wet-lay of boats, cars and even planes.. When working with Polyester and Vinylester resins, work in a well ventilated area and use a mask... Styrene vapours are very nasty stuff... And .. No, the Polyester and Vinylester resins you have only require the MEKP/MEPOXE catalyst around 1,5% to 2 % (normally) (check the datasheets/info for the resins.) Good luck! "Sapere Aude"... Dare to KNOW! The written word is the only truly efficient vehicle for transmitting a complex concept from mind to mind... 103% of all people do not understand statistics... Do not adjust our mind, theres a fault in reality :-)
	Reply Like 2
remodovakhin	remodovakhin posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2, Visits: 14	Thanks for the reply Bro!! So i had another doubt..when they say add 2% catalyst to the resin, does that mean i should add 2ml of catalyst to a 100ml batch of resin?? Your reply is highly appreciated bro! btw i am attaching a pic of our car to be made here..it is to be a one piece mould. Attachments 1.JPG (358 views, 31.00 KB) 3.JPG (345 views, 14.00 KB)
	Reply Like 3
ajb100	ajb100 posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 346, Visits: 4.4K	Mixing is done by weight, not volume, so 100g with 2g MEKP.
	Reply Like 3
Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 11 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	Catalyst doesn't matter. You can mix it by weight or volume, the difference is negligible. I prefer to mix by weight, simply because I don't then have to be careful pouring quantities to a specific line.
	Reply Like 3

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