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Brake cooling duct fabrication question
Brake cooling duct fabrication question
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Brake cooling duct fabrication question
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AlpineCoupe
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AlpineCoupe
posted 6 Years Ago
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Hello all, Im new to the forum and new to making composite parts. I have made a couple of splitter vents for a race car of mine and now am working on brake cooling ducts for the front air dam.
My question is how to lay up the carbon fiber to ensure a reasonable release from the mold. It currently looks like this:
I was thinking I could lay it up (after sanding and smoothing of course), as is, vacuum bag it, and essentially make it as one piece. But as I read a couple of other posts on this forum I started to second guess myself. Any suggestions from the collective?
Thanks in advance!
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Mikerw
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Mikerw
posted 6 Years Ago
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Following this with interest!
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Brake cooling duct fabrication question
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
Should be fine if you haven't got any mechanical locks, so watch your draft angles. That is essentially exactly how I made these Lotus Brake ducts, but the moulds were CNC'd.
Hanaldo
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6 Years Ago
My draft angles should be good. Did you coat yours in gelcoat? And what did you use as the base plate? Thanks!
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
Bondo has extremely bad release properties. I would use pva as a release agent, even tho i hate pva usually...
SleepingAwake
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6 Years Ago
Following this with interest!
Mikerw
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6 Years Ago
If you're happy with the basic shape, in that it doesn't pose the risk of a mechanical lock, after sanding back the filler/bondo it would probably be best lay a couple of light fibreglass layers over...
MarkMK
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6 Years Ago
Thanks for the replies everyone! I should have mentioned that I didn't plan on just laying the carbon fiber over the bondo. I'm still in the planningstages and thought I might put some gelcoat, or.....
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
My mould was just CNC'd tooling board, primered and then sealed with tool sealer like EC's S120.
Hanaldo
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6 Years Ago
Thank you, that's very helpful!
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
Just wanted to say that I moved forward with primer and clear coat on this mold. Going to do some finish sanding and then seal the mold in some way. Thinking I might go with partall wax and PVA just....
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
I usually just use a paste wax (formula five) for the plug and as i had good luck with partall in the past I'm sure this would work. However, as it is a brake duct and you probably don't have big...
SleepingAwake
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6 Years Ago
I think I'll use PVA on the first one I make just to ensure everything comes apart. As far as how to lay the carbon fabric I was thinking about using 5 different pieces with slight overlap to cover....
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
That approach to laying down the fabric sections looks okay. You could likely do away with a separate surface piece at the horizontal base and just make the side section pieces a touch longer so that...
MarkMK
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6 Years Ago
Thanks! That's a good suggestion!
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
Well got the part made... and ran into a problem when de-molding it. Turns out the mechanical lock was too much for the connection between the foam and the board I adhered it to. So a one and done.....
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
Looks great and no doubt you'll have learned a lot from the experience that'll stand you in good stead when making more As mentioned previously, if you're building-up a mould from scratch, rather...
MarkMK
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6 Years Ago
Yeah, I should have done the fiberglass as mentioned earlier in the thread. No doubt that will be part of the plan on the next one. I think I hesitated to make the mold in a traditional way (gel...
AlpineCoupe
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6 Years Ago
Just bumping this back up because I made another mold of the part, this time using the more traditional gel coat and fiber glass approach. Hope to get some carbon fiber laid up on it this week.
AlpineCoupe
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5 Years Ago
Happy to report that the new mold worked! Thanks to all for the suggestions! Used FMS, Loctite 700, and then about 9 coats of partall wax and the part slid off of the mold while I was removing the...
AlpineCoupe
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5 Years Ago
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