I just have some pictures of printed positive moulds on hand and thought i would share them. printed in PLA on a Prusa printer.


second layer of spray filler


sanded to 800 grid


with tooling gel coat


finished mould (made with vacuum infusion) and the first part


first part close up. Finish straight out of the mould.


Another project with the bar and the lower mould have printed to get an accurate split line exactly in the center of the bar.


this is how the first mould have is made, then the lower part is removed and a composite mould is made instead.


And a close up of the finish. getting a really smooth finish and decent dimensional accuracy is really easy even with a relatively big layer height.

I hope this helps.
Cheers, Reto

+x

 

scottracing - 5/16/2018 7:38:05 AM

ive done plenty of 3d printed tooling, if you are doing room temp wet lay then you can get away with PLA printed materials but you need to make sure they are properly sealed and released as Epoxy resins stick to them really well. Plus there will be a bit of wet sanding to get them smooth, or you can cover them in flash tape or PTFE release film like Tygaflor

If you are looking into elevated temperatures or autoclave curing then you really need to be looking at better engineered materials, have a look at the graphite am website and there range of ceramic and carbon printed materials.
I would also investigate the use of stratasys ULTEM 1010 and 9085 materials as they are suitable for high temp and autoclave curing.

Thanks Scottracing, 

As it will be cured by ambient temperature the conventional materials will supply my needs well.

Do you have any pictures of a 3D printed mould ?
Thankful.

ive done plenty of 3d printed tooling, if you are doing room temp wet lay then you can get away with PLA printed materials but you need to make sure they are properly sealed and released as Epoxy resins stick to them really well. Plus there will be a bit of wet sanding to get them smooth, or you can cover them in flash tape or PTFE release film like Tygaflor

If you are looking into elevated temperatures or autoclave curing then you really need to be looking at better engineered materials, have a look at the graphite am website and there range of ceramic and carbon printed materials.
I would also investigate the use of stratasys ULTEM 1010 and 9085 materials as they are suitable for high temp and autoclave curing.

Hello friends,

I was studying making 3D impression moulds and sealing with epoxy resin to make carbon fiber parts in the Wet Layup + Vacuum Bagging or Vacuum infusion process. 

Has anyone done any 3D impression mould?
What better material for printing?

The composites will be cured at room temperature.

Thanks!