MarkMK
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I'd be a touch wary of taking-in everything you might see on You Tube and potentially introducing methods that are unnecessary and counter-productive I'm not doubting the findings, but I don't think that it offers anything in the way of delivering a better result and it is not necessary to restrict the inlet flow at all. It would be misleading to imply it was somehow necessary when infusing parts Looseness in the bag around the inlet when resin begins to flow is not an issue to worry about, as mentioned earlier and assuming that the bag is perfectly sealed, everything will tighten once the part is closed-off and pressure equalises. I've infused hundreds of parts to date, many of them quite small and relatively quick to wet-out and have always had a consistently perfect cosmetic finish. The use of resin breaks sized in proportion to the part size/infusion speed and allowing a small amount of resin flow after closing-off the vacuum port has been more than enough to ensure those consistent results. I've not yet encountered a single scenario where choking the resin flow would have been desirable. On smaller parts, in particular, choking the resin flow tends to lead to the gas in the resin becoming greatly expanded as the vacuum pressure at the front has a bigger impact. Whilst this might reduce when both ports are closed-off as pressure equalises over the whole part, it feels an undesirable method of trying to achieve a void free finish, especially where resin is likely to reach the exit fairly quickly. The appearance of the gas is likely to be far more prominent and not just at the front. At the extreme, it's only been the sudden appearance of lots of large bubbles across an part being infused that's alerted me to the fact that the bottom of the inlet tube has vacuum sealed itself to the base of the resin pot. As an aide and it's been debated a few times before, I don't bother with degassing any more either, prior to infusion, as I've found that it doesn't deliver a completely gas-free resin or impact on the part's cured cosmetic finish. Some swear by it, but I've yet to find any cosmetic difference in results, even on more complex-shaped parts. The OP's issue was voids and/or dry areas around the inlet, which seems to indicate a slight starvation of resin in this area, so it appears that his previous process might have been restricting the flow of resin towards the end of the infusion. I don't think that introducing a restriction of resin flow would help matters at all and would be more likely to introduce unwanted cosmetic issues
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FrankZane
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Loss of bag tightness is caused by the pressure gradient between the vacuum port and the resin port. the resin port needs to be restricted to prevent it's pressure dropping to ambient. Link below shows this phenomenon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4In9_Eyz6gs
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MarkMK
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In that case, it's possible that the inlet side is being a little starved of resin and it's more likely if your part is quite small. Try doing things the other way around and leave the inlet port open a little while after clamping the exit. Assuming that everything's air tight, I wouldn't worry too much regarding the looseness around the inlet, as things will consolidate well once the vacuum level equalised after close-off and any excess resin will likely be removed along with your stack materials
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Lester Populaire
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+xThanks for the info MarkMK, Yes we do already give it a resin break, but one thing we are doing is clamping off the inlet line first and a minute later clamping off the exit. No resin is traveling down the exit line when we clamp. But I do notice that the small pits we are getting are in the inlet side. So i’m guessing it has to do with the bag being looser on that side? Or maybe since there’s more resin on that side at the time it gassed off differently and shows signs on the surface? No resin gasses off only at the flow front where the pressure is low. The resin break, while being a very good thing, does not do anything for your problem...
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mscomposites
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Thanks for the info MarkMK, Yes we do already give it a resin break, but one thing we are doing is clamping off the inlet line first and a minute later clamping off the exit. No resin is traveling down the exit line when we clamp. But I do notice that the small pits we are getting are in the inlet side. So i’m guessing it has to do with the bag being looser on that side? Or maybe since there’s more resin on that side at the time it gassed off differently and shows signs on the surface?
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MarkMK
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The unevenness in bag tightness is quite normal Basically, once the resin begins to flow, the inlet side will only be at the ambient pressure of the incoming resin. Once the whole set-up is clamped-off, the negative vacuum pressure closest to the exit port will begin to equalise across the surface of the part. I don't think that this alone would cause issues with surface quality once cured and everything should tighten-up after infusing If you suspect that your part might be infusing too quickly, you can (if not already using) create a 'resin-break' just ahead of your exit line. This involves cutting your flow media short of the exit edge to leave a gap of around 20mm or so before another strip of flow media along that edge of the set-up that the exit port sits upon. This should help ensure that all areas of the part have enough time to wet-out prior to the resin starting to travel up the exit line and help slow things down a little. This is especially helpful on small-ish moulds Leaving the inlet port open for 30 seconds after clamping the exit to let-in a little more resin should also help to make sure that there won't be any dry spots
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mscomposites
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yes the resin pot is always siting on the same table as the part, which is the same height. I will set the pot lower if not in the ground and slowly open the resin inlet hose and slowly flow the resin in. I have heard that it’s ok to fully open the resin inlet hose and pump away, but also heard flowing to fast can cause surface pitting. Any feedback on that?
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Lester Populaire
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+xhad a lot of auto corrects in that last message please let me know if it dosnt make since... 🤦🏻♂️ Is the resin pot on the same height or higher than the part? In this case resin will flow into the part by itself which results in pooling. Keep the resin pot lower, and maybe don't fully open the line if needed.
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mscomposites
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had a lot of auto corrects in that last message please let me know if it dosnt make since... 🤦🏻♂️
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mscomposites
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I don’t have a photo as of now, But basically if you had a 2x2 square and on one side had a resin inlet manifold running along the entire edge and then on the opposite side of that had a vaccum manifold running all good the entire edge. Once i start flowing resin the inlet side always loosens up and stay that way the whole time and slowly starts to tighten back up once I lock off the resin inlet and after a couple of minutes I lock off the vaccum side too. But to me the bag never goes back to full tightness. No side if it’s caused by flowing the resin to fast. or the amount of air that’s not the line between the resin and the lock off clamp? not really sure what’s going on....0
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